For the food

Chickens are obviously a big part of what we do, and it’s important to us that we stand up for chicken welfare and try to raise standards across the food industry wherever possible. All of our chicken is from right here in the UK and is Red Tractor assured, meaning it’s met high standards of food safety, animal welfare and environmental protection.  

Higher chicken welfare standards 

We’re proud to say we’re raising our chickens in barns with facilities that are above regulations. All of our chickens: 

• have access to natural light 
• have pecking objects so that they can do what chickens like to do: peck! 
• have perches, bales or bale-like objects so that they can play around and display natural behaviours 
• are only given antibiotics when they’re ill, as prescribed by a registered vet. Routine use of antibiotics is completely banned 
• are fed soy feed where we’ve bought RTRS credits to make sure that we’re supporting sustainable soy production and not contributing to deforestation

And we won’t stop there. We have partnered with Compassion in World Farming, FAI Farms and the Soil Association to introduce a new long-term chicken welfare policy. This will include a range of key welfare metrics so we can measure and track its progress to help drive real change in the chicken industry.   

In May 2020 we signed the Better Chicken Commitment, which means that we pledge to fully implement higher standards of welfare for chickens in our supply chain by 2026.  With this commitment, we are pledging to give chickens better lives, and we are working with suppliers and industry groups to:    

• Make a 100% shift to a breed of chicken that is naturally slower growing.   This breed is a stronger, healthier chicken that has already been proven to enjoy increased playing and jumping, which in the chicken industry is a true sign of health and wellbeing. These birds will be given more space in which to roam and live.  
• Work in partnership with farmers to help deliver improved farming practices that add value to both the birds and the farms themselves.  
• Invest in studies to advance understanding of how Nando’s can further reduce the impact of chicken feed on its carbon footprint.

Nando’s Better Chicken Commitment 

Our food donation program

We’re conscious of avoiding food waste so at the end of every night, any cooked chicken that hasn’t been used is temperature-checked, frozen and given to one of the restaurant’s local charity partners. We have over 387 unique charity partners across the UK and Ireland, supporting all kinds of causes, including youth, homelessness, refugees, and women and family shelters. Each restaurant has a personal relationship with the charity they’re donating their chicken to and can see the impact it’s making in the community.

Watch the impact here.

Never wasteful

We’re conscious of the impact that meat has on the planet, so we are making sure our chickens are sustainably sourced and that we use the whole bird (wings, breast, leg and livers) rather than picking certain bits and wasting the rest. We even had a delicious gravy for Christmas made from our chicken bones, going to show that every part can be used responsibly.

We describe our food as modern Afro-Portuguese cuisine. It harks back to when Portuguese explorers brought their traditionally flame-grilled spatchcock chicken to Mozambique, and it mixed with African spices, chillies, lemons and garlic to create PERi-PERi chicken. Our founders then opened the first Nando’s in South Africa back in 1987 to celebrate this seriously delicious flavour sensation. 

We’re always on the lookout for ways to introduce new foods and flavours from our heartland, so you’ll often see new and improved recipes on our menus, from seasonal specials to innovative additions that perfectly complement our chicken. To make all this happen, we aim to work with suppliers who share our ambition to protect the environment by reducing waste and sourcing sustainably. 

Local is where it’s at

We like to source our ingredients locally where we can, so all of our chicken comes from right here in the UK and Ireland, and the same goes for the potatoes in our chips. We also buy our corn from the UK when it’s in season here. Our eggs are free range from British hens and our milk is organic British as well. 

No one does beer quite like the British so it stands to reason we stock two local craft beers – an XPA from Hackney in East London and the Freedom Pilsner from Abbots Bromley. And our cider is made by Bensons, who select and press the finest Herefordshire cider apples. Cider apples are especially important for us because they help bees to flourish as well.

Celebrating the home of PERi-PERi

Here at Nando’s, we’re proud to be known for our PERi-PERi flavour. To make sure our flavour is always exceptional and always unique, we have our very own trademarked Birds Eye Chilli grown in the sun and soil of our Southern African homeland. Find out more about our family of farmers and how we get the best PERi-PERi from that little chilli here. 

Getting the good stuff

With certain foods, we know we have to find it in the places that have the highest quality ingredients and from people who know how to do it properly.

We source our halloumi from its spiritual home in Cyprus, where it’s made from a combination of goat, sheep and cow’s milk from animals fed exclusively on grass.

Our green olives come from the sunny slopes of Greece where they grow fat and ripe in the warm Mediterranean climate. And our balsamic vinegar comes from a small, family-run business in Modena, Italy, where they’ve been perfecting the blending process over many, many years. Did we mention it’s the same balsamic used in the Royal Opera House and the House of Commons? Just saying…

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