The Happy Egg Company

The Happy Egg Company
Happy Egg UK Logo
Owner Noble Foods
Country UK
Introduced 2009
Markets UK and US
Website thehappyegg.co.uk

The Happy Egg Company is one of the UK’s largest free-range egg brands.[1] Originally setup in January 2009 by Noble Foods, the brand’s annual turn over for 2013 was close to £75 million.[2] The brand philosophy is to put the welfare of their hens first and the company claim to operate above established free-range egg production standards. The company’s farms have 20% tree coverage and assorted environmental enhancements.[3]

The brand launched in the US in October 2012.[4][5] In January 2015, the American Humane Association announced that the company is the first egg producer to receive humane certification.[6]

History

  1. January 2009 – Date of company setup.
  2. July 2011 – Company is awarded The Good Egg Award from Compassion in World Farming.[7]
  3. September 2012 – Company is awarded a second The Good Egg Award from Compassion in World Farming.[8]
  4. October 2012 – Brand launches in US.[4]
  5. February 2014 – Announcement of one million packs sold in the US.[9]
  6. September 2014 – Happy Egg US wins Golden Egg Award at 50th International Egg Commission Conference.[10]
  7. October 2014 – Announcement of Happy Egg US reaching $10 million brand value.[10]

Operations

The company operations in the UK are managed from Lincolnshire. Currently, the company operates over 100 farms across England, Wales and Scotland, and they sell over 3/4 million eggs a day. The Happy Eggs brand is sold in all major supermarket retailers; including Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrison’s and The Co-op, along with some smaller chains and independent retailers.

The company head office in the US is based in San Francisco with farm operations in various preferred US locations. Since 2012 the US brand has grown to supply over 4,000 retail outlets across the country including Wal-Mart, Kroger and Safeway stores and has since launched its free-range eggs in 6 count cartons into the market.

Marketing

Nice Pecks

Inspired by an academic study showing that hens are calmer in the company of cockerels, but knowing that cockerels mixed with chickens result in no eggs, the company created a pin-up calendar for hens in December 2012 and 2013.[11][12]

Pancake-o-matic

In February 2013, the company produced video content centred on a contraption that automatically makes pancakes from eggs laid only minutes before. Nicknamed the Pancake-o-matic, it was produced ahead of Shrove Tuesday and it took a group of four designers and engineers over two hundred hours to build, and over one hundred follow up hours to test. Following the release of the advert, the original contraption was on display at the London Design Museum until June 2013.[13]

External links

  1. UK Website
  2. US Website

References

  1. ↑ "Our current corporate partners". British Hen Welfare Trust.
  2. ↑ "Happy egg organic launch ‘a positive step’ for recovery of organic". British Free Range Egg Producers Association. 25 April 2014.
  3. ↑ "Animal Welfare". Noble Foods.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Happy Egg aims to crack US free-range egg market ahead of 2015 caged egg ban in California". The Grocer. 20 October 2012.
  5. ↑ Nassauer, Sarah (November 11, 2013). "The Hunt for a Perfect Egg: How Does an Egg Company Make a Healthier Egg? Start With the Chicken". Wall Street Journal.
  6. ↑ "Producer In The United States To Achieve Humane Certification From American Humane Association" (Press release). PR Newswire. 27 January 2015.
  7. ↑ "Good Egg Award for happy egg- Farming UK news". British Free Range Egg Producers Association. 29 July 2011.
  8. ↑ "Happy Egg Company scoops second Good Egg award". Farmers Weekly. 11 October 2012.
  9. ↑ Briggs, Fiona (5 May 2003). "The happy egg co. celebrates US success and reaches one million packs sold". Retail Times.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "the happy egg co. Wins Prestigious Golden Egg Award at 50th International Egg Commission". Marketwired (Press release). 17 September 2014.
  11. ↑ Glotz, Julia (10 December 2012). "Happy Egg Co creates pin-up calendar for chickens". The Grocer.
  12. ↑ Hutchinson, John (7 December 2014). "No fowl play here! Behind-the-scenes look at the production of the Happy Egg Company's 2015 Nice Pecks calendar... as hen parties rejoice everywhere". Daily Mail.
  13. ↑ Tepper, Rachel (8 February 2013). "'Pancake-omatic' Is 'Wallace & Gromit'-Inspired Rube Goldberg Machine (VIDEO)". Huffington Post.