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Domino’s stands its ground against animal rights ‘extremists’

Animal rights groups have been successful in pressuring many of the top food companies and restaurant chains to adopt stricter animal welfare policies, such as cage-free eggs and gestation stall-free pork.

One notable exception is Domino’s Pizza, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which has stood its ground in the face of extreme pressure from animal activists.

Domino’s spokesman Tim McIntyre tells Brownfield their philosophy is simple: Farmers know best.

“We will never tell a farmer how to farm. We will never tell a rancher how to raise his or her animals,” McIntyre says. “What we believe is they’re the experts. They have the most vested interest in raising their livestock. It’s not just a job, we recognize that. It’s a life and we appreciate that—and we’re not afraid to stand up and say it.”

Even though the “extremists”, as McIntyre calls them, have pushed hard, he says Domino’s will not cave.

“Over the years, because we have taken the tact of what I’ll call ‘leaning into the punch’—and we’ve taken the punch and sometimes we punch back—we’ve been lucky enough to see that the extremists will go away when they realize that we are not going to cave,” he says.

“The best answer is to be deaf. To not hear them, to not respond, to not give them a platform. The biggest mistake we make is believing that they are reasonable people. We’ve learned they’re not. That’s why they’re called extremists.”

McIntyre is one of the speakers at this week’s Animal Ag Alliance summit in Kansas City.

AUDIO: Tim McIntyre