Vital Farms: We consider ourselves an egg education company

Education continues to be a primary use of growth capital for the brand, which went public in July 2020 and reported a 23% growth in net revenue for the first quarter of 2021.

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(Vital Farms)
(Vital Farms)

Vital Farms is invested in both pasture-raised egg production and consumer education, Russel Diez Canseco, President and CEO, Vital Farms, explained during the Goldman Sachs Global Staples Forum on May 18.

“When I first joined the company in 2014, our then CEO Matt O’Hayer told me once that he wasn’t sure if we were an egg company or an education company because most of what we did at the time was help educate consumers that there was an alternative way to bring food to market,” he said.

Education continues to be a primary use of growth capital for the brand, which went public in July 2020 and reported a 23% growth in net revenue for the first quarter of 2021. Other priorities for Vital Farms include expanded distribution into new retail and foodservice customers and a new packing facility.

Building trust with distrustful consumers

Diez-Canseco says there is a lot of distrust in the food systems of this country among consumers, highlighting the value of transparency throughout the egg supply chain

“What we learned is that it’s less important to these consumers exactly what we claim we do than it is that we have transparency and consistency between our words and our actions,” Diez-Canseco said. “They are looking for brands they can trust and if they trust you, they’ll also trust that you make the right decisions about how you go to market, produce the food, treat your farmers, etc.”

Conscious capitalism

He believes conscious capitalism, a philosophy that takes a holistic approach to running a business, is a major asset for Vital Farms.

“We treat each of those stakeholder groups – whether it’s our employees, our farmers, the communities in which we operate, shareholders or customers – as co-creators. This means they help us develop our business model, develop our products and prioritize the way we operate,” Diez-Canseco said.

Started on a single farm in Austin, Texas, in 2007, Vital Farms is now a national consumer brand that works with over 200 small family farms and is the leading U.S. brand of pasture-raised eggs and butter by retail dollar sales, according to a spokesperson from the company.

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