Expanding on a pledge to sell cage-free eggs in its corporate stores by 2025, Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. is adding its international franchised Circle K convenience stores to this endeavor.
Couche-Tard first announced plans to transition to cage-free eggs in 2018.
“Couche-Tard is well on its way to fulfilling this commitment by 2025 for its corporate stores, which represent more than two-thirds of its global network,” the Laval, Quebec-based convenience-store chain said. “As supply chains and adoption of cage-free egg production continue to improve in North American and international markets, the company expects to build momentum toward the goal line in the coming years.”
International franchisees operate more than 2,000 of Couche-Tard’s 14,300 stores and source the eggs sold in their stores from within their regions, the company said.
- Alimentation Couche-Tard is No. 2 on CSP’s 2022 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count.
“For Circle K franchisees outside of Canada and the U.S. to commit to the company’s corporate goal to sell cage-free whole eggs by 2025, they needed access to reputable and sustainable suppliers, which until recently has been challenging in some regions,” Circle K said.
To overcome these challenges, Couche-Tard is working with Hong Kong-based Lever Foundation, a global non-profit organization dedicated to helping companies attain a more humane, safe and sustainable supply chain, with a focus on cage-free eggs, Couche-Tard said.
Lever, which gives egg producers advice, materials and resources to help them shift toward cage-free production, is helping Couche-Tard connecting franchisees to those suppliers.
“Nowhere does our value of doing the right thing come to life more than on our sustainability journey,” said Helena Winberg, director of global sustainability for Couche-Tard. “We are constantly looking at ways we can do more and do better for our people, our customers, our planet and our prosperity.”
Couche-Tard’s 24-country network includes more than 7,100 in the United States, primarily under the Circle K and Holiday Stationstores banners, and approximately 2,100 in Canada under the Circle K, Mac’s and Couche-Tard banners. In Europe, under the Circle K and other banners, Couche-Tard operates a retail network in Scandinavia, Ireland, Poland, the Baltics and Russia with more than 2,700 stores and unmanned automated fuel stations. And under licensing agreements, more than 2,200 stores operate under the Circle K banner in 15 other countries and territories (Cambodia, Egypt, Guam, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Jamaica, Macau, Mexico, Mongolia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam). This brings Couche-Tard’s total worldwide network to approximately 14,300 mostly Circle K-branded stores.
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