How can you compete with a dozen different egg brands that fill the refrigerated shelves? What are the marketing methods a small business used to crack this market?
My local grocer has nine brands that each sells three or four different products making the egg case a crowded marketplace. Handsome Brook Farms in Franklin, New York had a fresh idea.
Pasture Raised Eggs
Betsy and Brian Babcock created a demand that retailers didn’t even recognize. They found a niche that allowed their brands to stand out in the crowded scramble of egg brands. From Whole Foods, Harris Teeter, Kroger and Fresh Market, their hens are pasture-raised.
They grew slowly from farmers market to local grocery stores to regional distribution. Betsy and Brian found a unique, distinct customer for their product. Through a highly personalized sales pitch, they visit buyers at grocery chains telling their personal story. They don’t have a sales manager because who better than the owner can bring the passion to their pitch.
In their pitch, they have to educate buyers and explain that pasture raised eggs are not the same as free-range. They bring in data to show how their product outsells competitors in other chains and to make sure the buyers recognize why they are different. The buyers want you to help them learn and to understand who you would replace in their store.
From an operations perspective, they have a scalable business model by working with contract farms who are nearby the retailers. They can add more flocks that follow their pasture raised model, as demand grows. All operations are internal including having staff veterinarians who can help them protect the flocks and to make sure their farm contract partners follow their regimen. They even provide the feed for the flock so that the taste of each egg is consistent across the broad distribution area. Seventy percentage of the cost of the egg is the feed so they can also help manage costs.
From a packaging perspective, they have done some very smart things. They recognize that to stand out in the case; they have to jump off the shelves. They use colors that others don’t use, and their branding is front and center on the front facing of their package. Betsy even keeps a sample of her competitor’s package in her office to monitor consistently how their brand separates from the competition in a refrigerated case.
And, their core message PASTURE RAISED is dominant, prominent and bold. It is simple, clear and consistent across all their communications. The owner’s home phone number is even printed on every package so anyone can reach them with the cluck, or click a few buttons. Cage free means the chicken weren’t in cases, they can still be confined in small spaces. According to the USDA regulation, free range only means that the chickens were allowed “access” to the outside with no specifications as the quality or the duration of that outside exposure. Vegetarian fed means that the chicken got vegetarian feed but chickens are carnivores and do eat insects and bugs.
How is your brand separating from the pack?
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Scrambling to find a niche? I’d be happy to egg you on. Connect with me.
Photo credit: Handsome Farms image from the website. Copyright Handsome Farms
