Grill’d in court for allegedly misleading customers about ‘Tree Day Tuesday’ donations

This article was contributed by Sustainability Tracker.

The following article was first published by the ACCC on 16 June 2026 and reproduced here with attribution. Read the original here. These are allegations, not proven findings.

The ACCC has commenced proceedings in the Federal Court against Grill’d for allegedly making false or misleading representations to customers about the circumstances in which it would make donations to an environmental cause, in breach of the Australian Consumer Law.

Between January 2021 and April 2024, Grill’d ran a promotional campaign called Tree Day Tuesday, in which the ACCC alleges Grill’d made various representations, including that it would donate $1 from every burger purchased on a Tuesday towards the planting of trees.

“We allege Grill’d misled customers by overstating the extent of the donations it would make and the environmental contributions from its Tree Day Tuesday promotion. We consider this to be a form of greenwashing,” ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.

“In fact, only a small percentage of purchases on Tuesdays qualified for a donation by Grill’d because of the detailed conditions of the promotion, which we say were not disclosed or not adequately disclosed to customers.”

For a purchase to qualify for a donation under Grill’d’s Tree Day Tuesday promotion, it had to satisfy the following conditions:

• the purchase had to be made on a Tuesday,
• the purchase had to be of a ‘main item’ (being a burger or a salad),
• the buyer had to be a member of Grill’d’s Relish loyalty program,
• the purchase had to be dine-in only and not takeaway, online order, or delivery,
• dine-in orders had to be placed at the front counter (orders made via QR code at a table did not qualify),
• the buyer had to scan their loyalty program bar code at the counter when ordering, and
• the purchase could not be made in conjunction with any other offer.

Over five million burgers were bought on a Tuesday during the period between January 2021 and April 2024, but only around four per cent of those purchases qualified for a donation by Grill’d under its Tree Day Tuesday promotion.

Of those five million burgers, more than one million burgers were bought by Relish members, but only about 17 per cent of those purchases qualified for a donation under the promotion.

The ACCC’s case includes 26 separate Grill’d advertisements on social media, online and in store. While the extent to which these conditions were disclosed to consumers varied between these ads, the ACCC alleges that the ads all overstated the circumstances in which donations or contributions would be made.

“Grill’d is a large fast-food chain and operates across Australia, meaning that its conduct had the potential to mislead many consumers nationwide about the environmental benefits of their purchase,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.

“We allege that Grill’d deprived consumers of the ability to make an informed decision by overstating the circumstances in which it would make a donation to an environmental cause, which may also have given Grill’d an unfair competitive advantage.”

“Any business that seeks to appeal to consumers’ environmental concerns must make sure that its claims are accurate and that any conditions or qualifications are adequately disclosed,” Ms Cass-Gottlieb said.

“When we see a business seeking to exploit a consumer’s environmental concerns through misleading or deceptive conduct, we will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action.”

The ACCC is seeking declarations, penalties, costs and other orders.

Examples of Grill’d social media advertisements for the Tree Day Tuesday promotion

Screenshot of a post from the Grill’d Instagram page:

Screenshot of a post on the Grill’d Facebook page:

Grill’d advertising statements

The 26 Tree Day Tuesday advertisements contained allegedly misleading statements including:

• GROW-A-GRILL’D FOREST. For every Tuesday Grill’d burg purchase, $1 goes towards planting a tree (a statement on the Grill’d Facebook page and Instagram Page);
• You can help us grow our 100-year protected forest by buying a burger today. A burger for you, a baby tree for the planet (a statement on the Grill’d Facebook page);
• If you don’t have time in that busy schedule of yours to plant a tree today, swing by for a burger instead and we’ll plant one for you. Every burger purchased by our Relish members today helps grow our Grill’d Forests. That’s something for you and something for the planet. (a statement on the Grill’d Facebook page); and
• Thanks to you our Relish members, we’ve raised enough to plant 4 of our 10 forests with Greenfleet. Together we’re donating $1 from every burger ordered by Relish Members on Tuesdays to team with the Traditional Custodians of the land and plant trees that will be protected to grow from root to branch to leaf for a century. (a statement on the Grill’d Instagram page).

Background

Grill’d is a large, well-known fast-food restaurant business with a significant annual turnover.  Grill’d has around 173 stores operating throughout Australia, the majority of which are owned and operated by Grill’d, with a small minority operated by franchisees.

Grill’d markets itself as a business which has a focus on sustainability, the environment and contribution to the community. It has a loyalty membership program called “Relish”, which consumers can join for free. 

The Tree Day Tuesday promotion was a partnership between Grill’d and Greenfleet Trust which describes itself as an environmental not-for-profit organisation.

This issue was brought to the ACCC’s attention by an anonymous report.

Other recent actions in relation to alleged greenwashing include the ACCC’s proceedings against Edgewell and Australian Gas Networks, and the proceedings brought by the ACCC  against Clorox Australia which resulted in an $8.25 million penalty being imposed by the Federal Court.

Concise statement

This document contains the ACCC’s initiating court document in relation to this matter. We will not be uploading further documents in the event this initial document is subsequently amended.