Denny’s shareholders will soon receive proxies asking them to vote on The Humane Society of the United States’ resolution urging the restaurant chain to decrease its reliance on eggs from caged hens. A HSUS representative will present the resolution at the company’s May shareholder meeting in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Nearly all of Denny’s eggs come from hens confined in battery cages—barren enclosures so tiny, the birds can barely move an inch their entire lives. The resolution simply asks Denny’s to commit to phasing in ten percent cage-free eggs. The restaurant chain has more than 1,500 locations.
Denny’s attempted to prevent shareholders from voting on the HSUS resolution by filing a challenge with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company argued unsuccessfully that the resolution should be declared ineligible for consideration. HSUS lawyers challenged the proposed exclusion and the SEC ruled in The HSUS’ favor. As a result, Denny’s must allow shareholders to vote on the resolution.
“We are thrilled with the SEC’s ruling that shareholders have a right to vote on this important animal welfare issue,” stated Josh Balk, outreach director for The HSUS’ factory farming campaign. “It’s time for Denny’s to make a meaningful and practical step in the right direction by switching ten percent of its eggs to cage-free.”
The SEC’s ruling makes clear that, when a restaurant chain’s menu options have socially significant ramifications, such as animal cruelty, shareholders have a right to raise these issues in a resolution.
Facts:
- In a landslide November vote, Californians approved the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act—a new law making it a criminal offense (with a phase-out period) to confine hens in battery cages, pigs in gestation crates and calves in veal crates. California is the top agricultural state and home to more than 400 Denny’s locations.
- U.S. factory farms confine about 280 million hens in barren battery cages so small, they can’t even spread their wings. Each bird has less space than a sheet of paper her entire life.
- While cage-free doesn’t mean cruelty-free, cage-free hens have 250-300 percent more space. Like caged hens, they may not be able to go outside and may have parts of their beaks cut off, but they can at least walk, spread their wings and lay eggs in nests.
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