First Take

Eggs

Eggs have staying power in consumers’ diets and shopping lists. Eggs are a solid source of protein that can be integrated into dishes in any form —over easy, scrambled, an omelette, Benedict—during any meal whether it’s nestled in a breakfast sandwich or a hamburger. In recent years consumers have begun paying attention to the way hens are caged and raised on farms and are mindful in their shopping trips, selecting brands that draw attention to the fact their hens are humanely raised. Eggs remain a shopping list staple that even the choosiest eaters and strictest diets can’t turn away.

“We are very excited to serve our customers in 2023,” said George Weaver IV, Marketing and Brand Manager for Utopihen / Nature’s Yoke. “We intend to focus on supporting our customers with excellent service and quality product. Our Utopihen Farms Duck eggs are a continued focus when it comes to consumer interest and demand.”

“As a fourth generation, family-owned business, we are committed to setting goals and strategies that best meet the needs of our customers, farmers and employees,” Weaver added.

“We’ve been in a period of major growth as a company over the past few years, and we are not slowing down on finding new areas of opportunity and how we can better our current business,” said Whitney Fortin, VP of Marketing at Happy Egg Co. “There is a lot of misinformation when it comes to shopping for eggs, which oftentimes leads to confusion for the consumer. In 2023, we are looking forward to sharing more about the intentional choices we make as a company to produce quality eggs, working closely with our farmers and partners to help educate consumers on what this means—and more specifically, why our eggs are the easy, confusion-free choice.”

“We pride ourselves on being a little different from others in the category,” Fortin continued. “Our intentional business choices make a difference; just take a look at our orange, flavorful yolks for proof. Every new year, we see an influx of consumers looking for new, fresh ways to keep a healthy and balanced diet, and they often look to eggs as a quick and affordable source of protein to help achieve this. We are constantly seeing dieticians, chefs and at-home foodies using Happy Eggs in their dishes and recipes on social media—we will continue to partner with these folks to not only connect with their audiences, but to support the retailers they frequent and make sure Happy Eggs are always on the grocery list.”

“We are thankful that at Braswell Family Farms our trust is in the Lord and even when years like these past two come, we can still find hope,” John C. Watson, III VP, Account and Marketing Stewardship said. “We will continue to evaluate our infrastructure and systems to make sure we are prepared when unthinkable things happen such as the pandemic, and most importantly, as always, we will continue to supply the eggs the consumers want.”

“As category advisors for many of our customers, we will continue to advise as to what is working and what is not regarding category growth from our perspective,” Watson continued. “We are focusing on getting the right product in the right markets and driving consumer trial and conversion across all segments.”

With a new year in front of them, Utopihen / Nature’s Yoke is taking a wait and see approach to forecasting how the new year will unfold and which category and industry trends will emerge and influence the direction the eggs category moves towards. “With conventional egg prices as high as they are, it’s hard to say what trends will happen this coming year, as we are currently in the middle of a new supply and demand challenge,” Weaver said.

Happy Egg has paid attention to the correlation between knowledgeable consumers and their demands for eggs from hens that are humanely treated. Further, with rising costs in front of them, consumers are looking for fairly priced ingredients to prepare meals at home. These patterns give Happy Egg reason to believe these trends of conscientious shopping and mindful eating at home will continue. “For years, birds have been raised in small cages and have not been given the care they need to thrive and produce the best possible egg. As consumers learn that birds having access to the outdoors, sunshine, fresh water and quality feed produces an egg that’s truly higher quality, they are seeking out outdoor access brands,” Fortin said. “At Happy Egg, we don’t compromise on our standards simply for profit and in turn, we produce an egg that consumers can feel good about purchasing and consuming. In this period of inflation, eggs also continue to serve as a more affordable source of protein compared to meat and other options. We believe this trend will continue into 2023 as shoppers look for more ways to feed themselves and their families healthily and heartily.”

Braswell Family Farms has steadfastly locked in on providing consumers a choice when they go to their local grocery retailer, Watson said. “We are producing eggs of all types for our customers,” he explained. “This year, trying to find opportunities to improve cost for our consumers will be a major focus for us. Like every other agricultural producer, we have incurred some hefty cost increases with packaging, corn and organic soy meal at an all-time high as an example. We are trying to keep a reasonable price difference in commodity and value-added eggs on the retail shelf. We have our work cut out for us this year to try and keep things in line so our consumers can continue to have affordable high quality all-natural protein.”

Eggs suppliers are faced with unprecented challenges and issues that are unique to the eggs category. Suppliers are up to the task and are strategizing on the best and right way forward.

“Today, we are in a period of unparalleled challenge as we face incredibly high demand,” Fortin said. “Not only have consumers started to move to purchasing outdoor access eggs over caged and cage-free, but with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) heavily impacting the non-outdoor access markets, we are seeing even higher demand for our products. Our team is working diligently to supply and ship as many eggs as possible to our valued retailers each week.”