November 2006/Volume 111 Number 11
Boom Continues for Specialty Eggs
Industry News
Universities Are At Forefront of Cage-Free Battle
Know More About Egg Shoppers Than Your Buyer
On The Road by John Todd
Marketplace
1
6
7
9
11
14
News for the Egg Industry Worldwide
www.wattpoultry.com
Boom Continues for Specialty Eggs
Specialty Eggs—Millions of Dozens
Other
Organic
Nutritional Claim
100,000.0
90,000.0
80,000.0
70,000.0
60,000.0
50,000.0
40,000.0
30,000.0
20,000.0
10,000.0
0.0
63% growth from 2001-2005
87.1
5,772.7
15,835.9
65,534.1
53.3
6,134.4
8,545.8
38,665.5
58.2
6,583.9
9,487.7
42,107.8
71.3
7,666.7
11,596.3
52,073.4
82.7
6,166.4
13,708.8
62,780.6
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
Source: Nielsen Supermarkets, +$2MM/Yr Graph: Pactiv Egg Processing Products
By Edward Clark, Editor
An egg is not just an egg anymore,
and consumers are responding. While sales of conventional
eggs are slowly inching up, demand is
booming for eggs that are nutritionally
enhanced, organic, and cage-free. According to Nielsen data, specialty eggs
sold in supermarkets increased by 63%
from 2001 to 2005 (see chart). The to-
tal specialty market may have actually
grown more rapidly than that, however,
some say, because supermarket data do
not track health food stores, where a
number of consumers go to buy specialty eggs.
“Eggland’s Best has had 116 consecutive months of double-digit egg
sales growth,” says Charles Lanktree,
president and CEO, who estimates
that his company has 75% to 80% of
the specialty egg market. “When we
started, people in the industry said we
were nuts, lunatics, and now some of
these very people who said there was
no business there are getting into the
specialty market.”
Eggland’s Best, Cedar Knolls, N.J.,
sells eggs that are nutritionally-enhanced with higher levels of vitamin
E, omega- 3, less fat and cholesterol,
and with higher lutein content, from a
patented vegetarian food that includes
vitamin E, rice bran, alfalfa meal, and
kelp. Among its offerings, Eggland’s
Best also markets eggs that are organic
and cage-free, and brown.
Eggland’s Best brand, started in
1992, is now a cooperative owned by
its franchisees, which include some of
the biggest names in the egg business,
such as Cal-Maine Foods, Rose Acre
Farms, and Mo-Ark.
What’s Driving the Market?
For R. W. Sauder Inc., Lititz, Pa., “the
biggest growth area over the past four
years has been cage-free,” says Paul
Sauder, president and CEO. “
Cage-free is close to 15% of my business.
I’m in cage-free to satisfy my customers’ needs and wants,” he says. Sauder
predicts that within five years, probably
50% of eggs sold at retail on the East
Coast and West Coast will be specialty
eggs, which include cage-free, organic,
and nutritionally-enhanced products,
although probably 10% to 15% nationally. Sauder has been in the organic
