Hello. My name is Joe Wexler. If you care about preventing cruelty to animals, I’m asking for your help.

Did your chicken come from a house of horrors? If you eat at Qdoba, the answer is likely yes.

Qdoba allows its suppliers to abuse chickens in ways other chains have banned for being too cruel. Raised in near total darkness, many birds are bred to grow so large, so fast they are crippled by their own weight. Many suffer from constant leg pain so severe the animals can’t stand, so they spend almost all their time sitting in their own waste. At slaughter, they are shackled upside down and shocked with electricity before their throats are cut open—all while fully conscious. Many are even scalded alive.

Unlike other restaurants, Qdoba refuses to publish a basic chicken welfare policy. Qdoba has already fallen behind the leadership of Chipotle, Panera Bread, Shake Shack, Le Pain Quotidien, Pret A Manger, and Starbucks—restaurant chains with detailed public commitments for improving the welfare of chickens in their supply chains. If current CEO Keith Guilbault can't meet consumers’ urgent demands for transparency and accountability, it’s time for Qdoba to find a new CEO who can. 

Please join me in asking Qdoba’s leaders to adopt the same basic welfare commitments for chickens as their competitors, and stand with me in boycotting their restaurants until they do. Qdoba should agree to source only chickens from farms that use higher-welfare breeds; do not use live-shackle slaughter; and provide enrichments, reduced stocking density, and improved light and litter quality. The company should also commit to third-party auditing to demonstrate compliance with these standards.