At Bloomin’ Brands, we are committed to bringing people together to share a delicious meal, and that starts with how we source our ingredients. Our sourcing team keeps sustainability, animal welfare and business resilience in mind when making purchasing decisions.
All companies who provide goods and services as part of our supply chain are required to review and attest a commitment to our Supplier Code of Conduct, a document that outlines the practices we expect from our suppliers. These approaches help us give diners the peace of mind to fully enjoy their experience at our restaurants.
Sustainable Sourcing
We continuously strive to source as many sustainable land-based proteins and seafood products as possible, working closely with our supplier partners to continuously improve sustainability throughout the supply chain.
Animal Welfare
We require our suppliers to confirm that they treat all animals humanely and ethically.
Safe Food
Serving safe food is our first priority, beginning with our commitment to purchasing the most safe and wholesome ingredients available.
Animal Welfare
More than a decade ago, we created an Advisory Council – comprised of distinguished animal science and food safety experts – to guide our policies and assist with assessments of advancements in animal welfare and food safety.
As one of many buyers of animal products, we have standards for animal welfare that consider a multitude of requirements and expectations. We follow evolving research and conversations on this issue and engage stakeholders from various viewpoints to ensure our approach to animal welfare is current, relevant and effective.
Our vision is that all animals in the food supply chain experience higher animal welfare in alignment with the Five Domains Model for animal welfare framework. This framework sets expectations for the equally important physical and mental needs of animals.
This includes:
- Nutrition Domain: providing appropriate and balanced diets vital to support growth, energy levels and overall health.
- Environment Domain: creating a safe, clean and enriched living space with appropriate temperature, space, odor and noise control.
- Health Domain: preventive care and prompt treatment of illness by licensed veterinarians.
- Behavior Domain: understanding and addressing unique and natural behavioral needs of species by providing opportunities for exercise, exploration and play.
- Mental State Domain: providing mental enrichment, companionship and positive social interactions for nurturing emotional well-being and fostering a sense of contentment.
All of our land-based protein suppliers have established humane handling practices and meet and or exceed the applicable laws, rules and regulations of applicable federal, state and local governments. In addition, these suppliers for the U.S. market meet or exceed USDA standards. We encourage our suppliers to follow the North American Meat Institute, Beef Quality Assurance, United Egg Producers, and National Chicken Council guidelines for humane handling of animals. To help ensure compliance with these guidelines, we require a compliance audit completed by a recognized independent, third-party specialist at each of our protein supplier facilities, at least annually.
We believe that the humane treatment of animals is an ethical obligation we owe to ourselves and our customers. We continue to make significant progress toward achieving our species-specific animal welfare goals to fulfill this commitment.
Our suppliers share our commitment to offer safe, high-quality, animal-based proteins in a manner that supports and balances the health of people, animals and the environment.
We are committed to further extending that alignment through communication of our animal welfare vision (the Five Domains Model) and through various efforts to influence and facilitate a transition to high welfare and improved reporting and transparency. This includes:
- Participating in animal welfare and industry collaborations
- Engaging with animal welfare stakeholders to ensure alignment with the evolving fields
- Ensuring eggs procured globally are 100 percent cage-free by 2030
- Ensuring that 90 percent of the pork we purchase globally is raised in group housing once pregnancy is confirmed by 2029
In the U.S., we are working to purchase only cage-free eggs by the end of 2024. Currently, at least 66 percent of our purchases are from cage-free hens, and 100 percent of the purchases will be cage-free by the end of 2024. In our international markets, we are working to purchase only cage-free eggs in Brazil by 2025 and globally by 2030.
Antibiotics
The availability of high quality, safe food depends on many factors, including the health of the animals in our food supply chain.
We are committed to the responsible use of antibiotics. We believe that antibiotics should be used only when medically necessary to treat sick or injured animals or to control the spread of disease. Our antibiotics requirements are aligned with the established guidelines outlined by leading industry organizations and government agencies including the World Health Organization (WHO) and World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH, formerly OIE). We also require that suppliers follow Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines related to the use of antibiotics and use them only when diagnosed and prescribed by a licensed veterinarian.
Food Safety
Serving safe food has always been our priority, from our commitment to purchasing the safest and most wholesome ingredients available to ensuring we properly handle, prepare, and serve the highest quality items to our guests.
We utilize both internal auditors responsible for supplier evaluations and external third parties who inspect supplier adherence and kitchen practices to ensure quality, food safety, and product specifications.
We adhere to the best practices for food handling in all of our restaurants, and regularly monitor and innovate to improve procedures. Our restaurant teams have many touchpoints to ensure food safety, quality, and freshness through all phases of preparation.
Deforestation
We recognize that our commitment to providing a memorable guest experience starts before people place an order in our restaurants. Our sustainability journey is constantly informing us so that we can select ingredients that are respectfully sourced.
We are committed to addressing deforestation with the recognition that it is a complex and evolving matter that also requires the commitment of our partners.
The prevention of deforestation will be embedded into our wider sustainable sourcing practices and supplier expectations. We seek to partner with suppliers who share our mission to protect forests and other natural ecosystems to build a healthier future.
We have set a global goal to source at least 60 percent of land-based proteins from suppliers that have deforestation-free supply chains by 2025.
