Phyliss Rothschild - Marketing the #1 Organic and #1 Free Range Egg Brand

today we're speaking with Phyllis Rothschild
Chief Marketing Officer of Pete and Jerry's Organics
the No. 1 organic egg brand and the No.
1 free range egg brand in the US
before coming into coming in house
Phil spent I think
30 years or so
as a consultant at some of the big names like Mckinsey
Oliver Wyman profit as well
so a lot of really good experience
and excited to get into it
probably
a fairly small group of listeners in the CPG world
that aren't that familiar with Team Jerry's
love to just kind of get quick lay of the land
kind of the origin story and the why behind the brand
core products in the lineup
yeah thank you
well thank you for having me
appreciate it
always love talking about our wonderful eggs
so Pete and Jerry's is uh
as you said
the largest premium egg provider in the United States
we are very much a purpose backed brand
our mission is to um
commit to animal welfare
family farms and sustainable farming
as well as to one another
so very much focused on those core principles
we are nationwide so distributed nationwide
we do have some national
distribution in places like Walmart and Whole Foods
and then in all the major grocery retailers
we're in BJ's as well
recently into Costco on the West Coast
so have great distribution
um and we have two primary brands within our portfolio
we have the Pete and Jerry's brand
which is sort of our uh
heritage brand that the company was founded on about 30
so or so years ago
right when I got started in consulting Adam
as you pointed out and then we also
and that is our sort of premium
top shelf higher end brand
really focusing on the health and wellness space
with organic and pasture raised
and then we also have our Nelly's Free range brand
which is more of our gateway to premium
and both of them are really strong and
and doing well that's great
you know you spent a lot of years in
in that role before and I think it was in 2023
you made the jump to run marketing in house
at Pete and Jerry's for like
what was it about Pete and Jerry's specifically
that was finally that was the one that
that made you take the leap inhouse
that got me I would say that first and foremost
I really did find a lot of passion in the notion of
being purpose
driven every time I for 30 years in consulting
it always helped me when I would talk to my kids
to say what I do
and particularly I did marketing and branding
strategy consulting
um it always helped to connect them
to the reality of what I do
when I would work for purpose driven
or purpose back brands
it always felt very rewarding to me
I also was really keen on finding brands
that have room to grow
I really wanted to go in and work with a team
and shape the growth trajectory
and the contribution to the overall business growth
and Ben and Jerry's certainly has a long runway
and opportunity for growth
food and beverage is a passion of mine as well
it's always nice to know
that you're believing in something
that you're putting in your body
actually yeah
and he doesn't love eggs I personally love eggs
and we can talk all about our favorite egg dishes
but that was great it's local to me
I live in the Massachusetts area
and Ben and Jerry's is based in New Hampshire
so it's nice to interact with people on a regular basis
live sometimes after many years of being remote
I think all of those things were huge contributors
to the decision
and it's a fantastic leadership team too
as well and
just the growth that the team has been able to drive
over the past three to five years
has been phenomenal
and it was nice to get on that moving train
what was that transition like
and I I guess really what was
thinking back what was the thing
that's a few things that surprised you the most
it's a great question I think that um
first you hear a lot of people say
when they're in consulting
they don't get to see
the impact of the work that they do
and they don't get to live
or actually make those decisions
that's not entirely true
having spent so long in the space
and I had some really long term clients that I
I did get to work closely with
and see the fruition of our work
um but I think in more so is the day to day
the scrappiness the roll up your sleeves side of it
that
and decisions at the minute level that you're making
you know you're not sort of big picture
Big Sky every day even at the CEO
sweet level you're not
you have to in order
especially in a company that's of our size
and we're somewhat lean
you really do get down into the weeds sometimes
and you're making decisions
on how to allocate shopper marketing dollars
or whether or not to make an investment
in a particular campaign
allocation in a particular region
with a particular platform
and that's the kind of stuff that just requires a
a different level of focus
and collaboration with the team
so that took a little getting used to and
and working with the team on that
and then you know
I think
having come from some of the bigger consulting firms
as you mentioned
I do have a lean team and so
it is really
figuring out how to best allocate resources
it's not not that you could snap your fingers
in the Mackenzie days and get analysis
but you do have to be more efficient and smart about
it's not just
let's boil the ocean and do all this analysis
and figure out what it's telling us
it's really like
here are my hypotheses and the questions I have
let's do some real targeted analysis
and figure out what the answer is
so that we're not wasting a lot of effort
yeah on that kind of topic of like
is kind of shaped how you approach making decisions
when it comes to everything marketing
everything that you own that
maybe different than someone that's come up
through the traditional you know
CPG brand manager path
through the you know the
the crafts of the world or something along those lines
you know
I don't know whether one path is better than the other
I would say that um
in my case it was leaning heavily into the analysis
and the data back I mean
from a consulting background
you always wanted to have data back uh
recommendations and being able to say
here's what the data says
and here's what we think the impact is gonna be
and so I think really
emphasizing the notion of analysis and data
and measurement was something that was almost
you know first principle for me when I started
and I think that that's not always the case
in marketing traditionally going
you know especially rising up through the ranks
it doesn't mean I don't lean into the right brain side
and I also love the creative aspect
and sometimes you do have to go with your gut
on some of the creative side
but I think that healthy balance
is what I was able to employ when I was in consulting
and then
it certainly applied when I got to Pete and Jerry's
and I think this the pace right
because we are in CPG as you know
is so fast paced today
there's always something changing
the trends are crazy
and you're always trying to keep up
up with what the latest is
and that is true in consulting
very much so you don't have the time to sit back
cause sometimes you're on a
you're on the clock with the client
and you have to be able to show impact
and prove that you're
what you're doing is worth their while
so I had that mentality I think
when I came in which is let's have some impact early on
let's show what marketing can do for the business
and for the brands and let's measure that
so I think that helped yeah yeah
how there's just historically
been a fair amount of confusion in the egg aisle
whether it's cage free range
organic pasture raised
it does seem really confusing at times
and I think that you've said that
the research that shows that the consumers
that are more educated
really understand the differences
are more likely to buy premium
how did we get to like
where we are at this level of confusion
was this intentional what's your take on that
I laugh when I you use the word intentional
because I do think some of it was intentional right
particularly the large industrial egg producers
didn't necessarily want consumers to know
how those hens live their lives
and so using a little bit of phrasing
like farm fresh or natural
like why would your egg not be natural
which is right but that those
that's the kind of language that I does
I do think creates confusion
even cage free creates confusion
there's a lot of misconception out there
that cage free means
that the hens are running around in pastures
and they're absolutely not
they barely see the light of day
so the fact that there's a lot of confusion
when people are walking in the aisle
and seeing all these phrases
and even the phrases that do mean something
like organic or free range
or pasture raised kind of get lost in that word soup
yeah and we have to really try hard to sort of
hone in on what matters
and get that consumer to know that
free range hens go outside
cage free hens do not like very simple distinctions
pasture raised hens not only go outside
but have lots more space to be on the pasture
they eat bugs and worms that means they're out
so just simple things that
in the consumer's mind
helps them know that they're actually outside
enjoying sunshine fresh air
fresh snacks that's the kind of thing
that we really have to emphasize
but it's hard as you said
I mean the aisles are
are crowded and they're getting more crowded by the day
and some of the phrasing purposely drives that kind of
head cock of like wait
what does that mean right
totally yeah
how important do you think
had this somewhat of an education driven approach
has contributed to reaching that top spot
we take the role very seriously as
as a thought leader and authority in the egg space
and P and J's was a pioneer in premium eggs
was the first company to launch a branded organic item
it's first company to be B Corp certified
first company a company to be humane certified
we take it very seriously
and we really do want to take that position of
the more you know
the more you'll make a better decision
so we do try to create very simple graphics
for instance around what we call education um
and so we do say here's what it means to be cage free
here's what it means to be free range
here's what and literally one cent
like one phrase not even a sentence
and then imagery that's associated with that
and we actually have created signage
that's a brand agnostic
and worked with some of our retail partners
to put those strips on shelves
so that people can automatically have a Q that says
oh okay
now I get what this means
organic means they're fed organic feed
and as opposed to conventional feed
and so it's just very simple and straightforward
how the hen lives what the hen eats
um to get people to choose the premium space
because I think most consumers
if they saw their hands the images of the hands
either crammed into a cage or crammed into a building
which is what cage and cage free is
they probably a lot of them would choose to move up
we do know that roughly
two thirds of consumers value animal welfare
and what they choose today for their food
through their protein sources
so if you do value that
then it behooves you to do a little bit of homework
to see what that true all those phrases truly mean
yeah I know
in terms of gauging the impact of how this education is
is having on consumers
well we
so we both look at the macro environment
and see what the shifting is from commodity
when we include cage and cage free in commodity
so from commodity to premium
so we'll look at numerator data and Surkana data to see
on a net basis are we seeing increase and growth
in the volume of purchases
not just dollars
but volume of units being sold in the premium space
then we also look at the net impact
even in our own brands
because it's one thing to get people to shift up
it's another thing to get them to choose our brands
within the premium space
but we do look at those metrics
and we look at conversion rates
from commodity to premium
and then we just and we look at um
consumer knowledge of those phrases
so we'll do consumer research periodically
we'll literally define those different categories
and then
have people match the definition to the phrase
and interesting
measure how well people are improving in that process
and then we ask them
how confident are you in your answer
so we're tracking that over time to see
and granted you know
we have a smaller megaphone
than some of the big industrial players
but we're just tracking over time
to see how much smarter consumers are getting
during that communication phase
you have the P and Jerry's brand
and then also you mentioned Nelly's free range
sitting right next to each other on
on retail shells
how did you and the team think about managing like
the two distinct brands in the same category
same retailer
so grounded in data grounded in analysis
we did some segmentation
and understood that the premium egg buyer
does fall into a couple different segments
there's clearly overlaps
and things that they care about
like animal welfare and quality and value
but when you take it down a level
you can see that there is a consumer
who really does like to tick all the boxes
she is she tend she intends to be a she
she tends to be more family oriented
price a little more price sensitive
really cares about animal welfare
the planet people being kind to each other
companies doing what they say
health for her family
and so that tends to be the free range buyer
someone who wants to step up a little bit
and have something
a little more special for her family
but doesn't necessarily have the financial flexibility
to go all the way into a more premium brand
and so we call her Ellie the egg involved
and we very much talk to her directly
with the Nelly's product and the Brinley's brand
it's a very kind and exclusive
nurturing brand and we use that voice and imagery
you have a lot of illustrations of a little cartoon
Nelly chicken walking around
there's a little girl on the package holding a chicken
it's a it's very funny
when we've done research there's so many people say
the purple carton with the little girl
like that is how what Nellie's is associated with
and so we very much and we keep our pricing
according to that particular consumer
so as I said it's our gateway to premium
it's the most accessible
brand and the most accessible product
then when you move into a little bit more of a premium
higher end level of the premium egg shopper
we have the organic buyer
and this cuts across categories
but people who tend to choose organic
for them it's a shortcut to health and wellness
they truly believe that there's no gunk in there
and I don't want to put anything
that's not organic into my body
and so you have someone who really emphasizes
whether it's clean protein
the nutrients and vitamins that are in eggs
the fact that there's GMO free and antibiotic free
just those types of claims
and we emphasize those on pack
and as you know in our Pete and Jerry's organic package
it says organic in really big letter letters
because that is the Q for that shopper
and we call her Beth the better for you Egger
like she is very focused on that piece
when you talk about the pasture raised consumer
that is someone that is what we call Heather
the hen hugger she really
truly believes and this notion of animal welfare
caring for them
she wants to know that the hens are well taken care of
they're well fed
they get to go outside and frolic in the pastures
and she knows the stat that on pasture raised farms
hens get 108 square feet per hen of outdoor space
she has that number memorized
so we prominently display on the pasture raised carton
108 square feet per hen outdoor space
and some of our pasture raised competitors do the same
but we know that both Heather and men
even a step up which is pasture raised organic
so they both live the pasture life
but also get organic feed
are just very much focused on the top tier
and so that's how we create the distinction
and then we use price pack architecture
I mean
we make sure that our pricing is according to that
step up
so that it's clear when they're sitting on shelf
next to each other not just
you know hey
these packages are different colors or what's going on
but they're priced according to where they are
in that graduation yeah
traditionally is commodity
so it's even harder
to create some distinction between them
I think first of all is from a product perspective
understanding who your target is
and what the claims are that matter to them
and the things that the decision process
that goes into purchasing that product
I think is really important to emphasize
you can eat see that on our cartons
you see that in our communications
it's very targeted to the needs and wants
and priorities of those different segments
and then the brand voice
you wanna create some distinction between them
so that there is clarity
and that's important with brand guidelines
and making sure our team
not just in the brand management side of the thing
but our social team too
has to speak with two different voices
when we're posting in social
or sending emails
or just communicating broadly with consumers
so it's really important to keep that distinction
from a corporate portfolio perspective
you don't want to necessarily then therefore
be at odds with each other either
so that's a fine line to balance right
is how do you particularly when it's tiered
you don't want the top tier brand to in any way
shape or form
say things that are denigrating to the lower tier brand
point out what's important for that tier
without necessarily slamming what's a the lower tier
and so
that's an important message to have to be done as well
you're not saying one's better than the other
necessarily you're saying this for this consumer
this is what matters to them
and here's that's why I'm gonna communicate it
yeah that makes total sense too
and correct me if I'm wrong
if my research is off here
but I think prices increased
you know I don't know
50 to 90% shelves are empty at some point
and they've obviously come back
you know at this point
but I think for Pete and Jerry's
the because of your distributed family farm model
you were able to keep prices fairly flat for that
really um
volatile time
while commodity prices were going all over the place
and exploding um
assuming I got that right
and you guys were able to kind of maintain that
well within that volatility
how did you guys really
and I leverage this opportunity from a marketing
trials perspective and
and anything else related to this kind of
unique opportunity
yeah
last year was a tough one for the egg industry broadly
with HPA or high path avian influenza
I think that you know
if you look at the statistics and the data
tens of millions of hens
were put down because of avian flu
and they
99.9% of them were in the caged and cage free segments
so I think it was fortunate
for a lot of the premium producers
to not have been personally affected
but as you point out we were all affected
because of what happened with pricing
what happened with shortages on the shelf
and so we made a commitment
at the very beginning of last year
that we were not going to raise prices
in that environment which is not true of everyone
even in the premium space
and so we we said
we're not gonna raise prices
we're going to stay true to who we are
and what we stand for
but we are gonna do a ton of communicating
we are gonna be transparent
we are gonna be authentic to our voice
to our brands and talk about and take the position
as I talked about before
of Pete and Jerry's being a leader in the space
and share very openly with consumers what's happening
so we literally created the where are my eggs website
we created a microsite and we were very open
and we did weekly tracking of where is H P a I
hitting how many birds are
is it affecting what's happening on the shelf
and just to just give people information
so that there wasn't as much confusion
and people pointing fingers and saying hey
it's the greedy egg producers
that are making this happen um
and so it was an opportunity
that you could have either sort of been more secluded
and say hey
we've got to tighten things up
we can't communicate too much
there's too much volatility
or you could be open and say
here's exactly what's happening now
granted we had an advantage to be open
cause we had positive things to share about our brand
our distributed farm model is a much more
a resilient supply chain if you will
so we have over 350 farmer um
family owned farms that we partner with exclusively
you know knock on wood
they all experienced a a good solid year last year
but it was not easy and you had to exercise
you know significant biosecurity measures
we didn't have anybody going on farms
that didn't belong there um
or didn't need to be there
I should say um
we kept our as much as possible
from a distribution and logistics perspective
kept our shelves as full as we possibly could
and just made sure that we were partnering
both with retailers and with consumers
during what could very easily have been called
a crisis in the space sure totally
yeah it must have been a wild
a wild time it was very much a wild time
raised significantly those
you know 59%
you guys kept prices the same
I imagine you know
the prices all became a bit more uh
similar across the board
I have to imagine the people that had
consumers that had been buying
um you know
the cage cage free ones
where those prices increase
I imagine you saw at least some of
a good amount of those consumers shift over and say
well these are the same price
I might as well now buy Pete and Jerry's
assuming I got that right
after prices went down and the other
that had transitioned over
continue to stick around once they realized wow
the quality here is different
and I feel better about buying these
and all those things
yeah you know
I mean some cases
I think it's lots of brands dreams right
how do I create trial right
what is what's a circumstance that can create trial
so it definitely created trial
we had a lot of
in terms of what you talked about before metrics
we measured new to brand and we always do
but we had some good new to brand numbers last year
and because of the gap closure
between commodity egg pricing
and premium egg pricing and in particular our pricing
people were certainly trading up from a
to a premium egg
even though they didn't have to trade up price wise
um and so yes we
we did see a lot of that and it
to your point the goal is to
how to make that sticky and keep them there
we have found that once people do trade up
they do stay because they see the higher quality
the yolks are creamier and darker
they the shells are harder and sturdier
the white it's are more viscous
and what we call proud on the plate
and they just taste better
so the experience
the product experience delivers when people do test it
I think that then the question is is
to your point do they go back down
when the price gap widens significantly
sure some do
but to your point we
we measure net flow so we try to say yes
there's some movement back and forth
but overall if you look at the data on a net basis
there is upward movement
and not a lot of downward movement
so yeah
what we try to do
is make sure that once someone is in the family
we make the experience
whether it is the product or the brand experience
as strong and as pleasant as possible
so that they're gonna stay with us
it sounded like it was for all the
all the volatility it sound like
it was probably a good opportunity for you guys
yeah it was a wild ride
and now to your point
we've got the this year is a little bit of the opposite
because what happened last year is
lots of businesses and companies in the egg space
did what we call put on hand
so they bought more and more chicks
to replace the ones that were put down
and so you're seeing more of an egg surplus in 2026
and so now it's a
it's really where the competition comes out
you have to say okay
if people are having a lot more choices now
they're not facing empty shelves anymore
how do we make sure they stay
stay with our brands yeah
totally interesting
I believe across both the organic
and the new pasture raised lines
was just the question of of why
Pete and Jerry's pasteurized in our bright yellow box
and the decision was even uh
even if you take a few steps back before that launch
was a little bit of who who has permission
Nelly's or Pete and Jerry's
to deliver against a pasture raised line
because of its step up in premium
and the communication around the lifestyle of the hens
and we did a fair amount of consumer research
search and understood
that Pete and Jerry's does have that permission
to move into that space
and talk very credibly about the lifestyle of the hen
even if it wasn't necessarily an organic product
which was a big insight once that decision was made
we had to
obviously create a carton that tapped into the legacy
and some of the assets
visually and communication wise of Pete and Jerry's
it was a premium brand
and the things that mattered to consumers
but also had a little bit of differentiation from our
sort of main brand
which was the Pete and Jerry's organic free range egg
so the decision was understood about what again
what matters to that pasture raised buyer
versus that organic buyer
what are the um
sort of cues from a color perspective
from an imagery perspective
from a claims perspective
so all of those things were taken into account
very much so so
not only did we redesign the Pete and Jerry's organic
free range but we had to create a brand new package
which was the pasture raised
first and foremost
we wanted people to know about pasture
and what do you think of when you think of pasture
you think of sunlight
the bright yellow color um
we wanted to then infuse the whole sort of
level of brightness and happiness
Pete and Jerry's I think
prior to 23 was a little bit of a serious
more clinical brand from the organic side
and we wanted to give it a
just a little more personality
and infuse a little bit more of frivolity into it
um and so that's why we ended up taking
if the original package had actually a
a picture of a farmer
and decided we Learned through research
and decided that we didn't necessarily need a farmer
an actual farmer on the carton
for people to believe that
so we replaced it with illustration
we also were uh
clear about the heritage color
of Pete and Jerry's Organic
which was navy so we created that navy
sort of more um
saturated type
carton for the Pete and Jerry's organic one
so that you could start to do some color blocking
cause we knew in the future
we were gonna be launching pasture raised organic
so we had to create some color association
so
Navy was more sort of health and wellness and organic
yellow Sunshine pasture raised
and then we ultimately that last year
launched Pasture Raised Organic
which is blue skies so it's a sky blue carton
bright blue carton
and then what we call the Sacred Ribbon
which is the side panel
that everyone sees when they're shopping
that part
you had to make sure that there was big writing
and something that was
that automatic q for the consumer
so you can see on the Pete and Jerry's organic one
it says in big bright white letters
organic
and then little
small letters says free range underneath it
because
that consumer didn't care as much about that piece
whereas the yellow carton
it says in big bright blue letters pasture
so that consumer could automatically reach for it
and know that that's what matters to them
as the pasture raised and as I mentioned before
it also had the little
hundred and eight square feet stamp on it
so that was what went into the thinking um
and the why behind it and
we had to support that you can't just assume
that you're going to throw those things on the shelf
and replace the other ones
and it's automatically going to
so a lot of communications
a lot of collaboration with our retail partners
just to give people the heads up
that this was happening
and that we were growing in that space
and we are now the fastest growing pasture raised brand
that's awesome amazing
for um
let's just say I was a brand leader of another brand
maybe not also introducing new lines
but just going through you know
a packaging refresh in general
or maybe a combination of the two
how do you balance
how do you think about balancing the need for
obviously there's you're creating a fresh look
and doing a packaging refresh for
for a particular reason
while also keeping some of those familiar
legacy brand elements for existing customers
so when they're walking down the aisle
they still recognize the brand right away
can find it right away not
and then it's not so different looking
that they can't even find anymore
or don't know what they're looking at anymore
it's such a hot topic now
especially what happened last year
with some logo redesigns that we go unmentioned
but I think that it is it's really important
sounds so basic but know who you're talking to
know who your consumer is and what matters to them
and make sure you're sort of bringing along your legacy
sort of die hard loyalists
but also determining how you attract a new buyer
so that you're growing
ultimately growing the franchise at some point
and so you what you can't do
is 100% abandonment of what got you to where you are um
and recognizing that
but then also knowing if I wanna modernize
if I wanna freshen if I wanna appeal to a new consumer
what's gonna matter to them
so striking that balance is really
really important and it
we definitely did that um
with both Pete and Jerry's and Nelly's
because we also relaunched Nelly's in 2024
with a packaging redesign
and it was very funny because at the time
I wanted to create more linkage
between Pete and Jerry's and Nelly
so that we could speak to our family and friends
so there is a little egg button on the Nelly's package
that says part of the Pete and Jerry's family
it's honestly not that noticeable
so we are working to figure out
how to create that linkage
even more
but even the illustrations have some commonality
whether it's tufts of grass or the sunlight
we were gonna go completely illustration with Nelly's
the same way we did with Pete and Jerry's
but we found that our loyalists
as I mentioned before
are so attached to the little girl
and when we turned her into an illustration
there was such outrage from the testing
there are people saying
what did you do to the little girl
um and so it's things like that that you sort of say
okay the purples
people love the purple but
could we bring some color elements
from Pete and Jerry's like the marigold yellow
and so there are nods to creating some linkage
the toughest grass as I said
the blue skies
but can we sharpen up the little girl a little bit
clean up the background so
there were things that we did to freshen it up
and modernize it
even the font is a little bit more fun and playful
just to again honor who got us to where we are
and continue to welcome them
but then also to appeal to a new audience too
looking back now
any big learning lessons from the process that jump out
that could be helpful for other CPG leaders
that that are about to go through a a
a similar process
and anything you think you might have done
done differently at all I mean
I think communication is so important
and
making sure that you're teasing it with your audience
you have your die hard
loyalist fans on social and on your email list
so making sure that they're brought into the loop
and are waiting for it and creating some
I think honestly
we probably could have done that even more
I think you know
creating that anticipation
and honoring that launch in a more
sort of significant way
could have been something we worked on
but you can't under communicate a change like that um
and I think even a lot of brands fall into the trap
that they're sick of it
therefore everybody else must be sick of it
and that's not true
you just have to keep messaging and communicating it
because you know
again there's so much noise out there
people are hearing messaging from brands constantly
and so
you have to figure out how you're just continuing to
camera home something
and be so deliberate about making sure it gets across
as small percentage of it actually
probably reaches someone's inner brain
in terms of like
a lot of categories in CPG
I think my sense in in
in the egg aisles is a category where a
good percentage of the purchase decisions are made at
at shelf and I think
especially in kind of the refrigerated frozen aisle
you know kind of
you know in store
you know signs and shelf talkers and that kind of stuff
there's it can be even a bit more challenging
just cause you're sitting behind a glass door
or what not and you mentioned you've worked
you did some stuff for some retailers non branded
like you know
it's kind of strips
explaining the differences between the categories
or what not but yeah
what does your kind of
in store strategy kind of look like
and what have you found actually has the biggest impact
from a velocity and trial standpoint
yeah that's a great question
so I have to say at one of the biggest
daunting statistics that I heard
when I joined Pete and Jerry's
was 75% of the decision from which egg brand to buy
is made at at shelf and yeah
that's daunting for a marketer right
cause you're like hey
I don't get to communicate with them along the way
there's no consumer journey
they're just standing there and making a decision
and so you we had
I had to tease that apart when I got here and said
well what about a premium
what about a branded chopper
what about and so
we've done a fair amount of research
and conversations with consumers
and walkalongs and shopalongs and things like that
to truly tear like tease that out
and yes
a majority of the decision is still made at shelf
there are a lot of different things
that factor into that and then there is still
as you know in the marketing world
there is still a journey that someone goes through
when you are permeating their inner soul
at some point along that journey
not just you know
snap when they're at the shelf
so the truth is is that the premium buyer
it is a lower number
that there is a little more intentionality
when they go shopping that they know
I'm gonna look at this particular category
or this segment within the category
and then the branded buyer is even more so
so that's 1 two
when we do a little bit of consumer journey mapping
yes
the number one bar on what made you aware of this brand
or what influenced you is still
I saw it on the shelf
but when you add up all the other things
like I saw it in an ad
I read about it online I saw it on social media
I follow them on social media
a friend referred me
all of those little bars add up to a higher
bigger bar than I saw it on shelf
so immediately we were like okay
marketing can help um
and so that's one thing
that we really didn't want to just say okay
only focus on in store or online
then two to your point what do we do in store
sure we have the strips
that's helped a lot um
you're only so dependent on
only so good
as you can get them to execute that in store
and no offense to 16 year olds
but often times you have a 16 year old who's sort of
you know
just putting the eggs wherever they go on the shelf
and not necessarily
keeping them where you want them to be
so we do a lot of partnering with our retailers
around shelf sets and what's an ideal shelf said
and how consumers eyes go across or vertically
and where do you wanna put the premiums
and do you wanna keep all the organics together
so
we've done a lot of consumer analysis to look at that
and then
we share that information with our retail partners
so we help them actually create the merchandising
a set for them um
and then yeah
tags we do a fair amount of
when we can inserts around
you know whether it's dis uh
disruptors things that say it
whether it's new item or new price
or even some education things that have images of
like what's behind me
of hens on grass
you'd be surprised at how much people are influenced
by actually seeing a hen on grass
and so you'll have
sort of a small disruptor with that image there
and then our brands
so all of the above is kind of where we go
from that
we explored things like digital signage and Whole Foods
for instance that helps
you know in those particular activations
floor decals door decals
for the partners who do have the eggs behind doors
so all of that we've been exploring
and try to measure as much as we can
yeah that will make sense
um I think Kate
like Kate
Tree
legislation is rolling out across more states recently
where where do you think the premium egg category
kind of goes from here and yeah
where where you
how do you think that impacts
and where do you feel like this
just this general kind of trend and it is going
yes we've been looking at that very closely
um starting with California and Massachusetts
back in 2022 were the first two states
to legislate against caged hens
um and now we have seven states that are
what we call cage free legislated
and you know
it slowed down a little bit last year
because of avian flu and people were just saying
we just need any eggs um
but I think it'll start to pick up again
and so what we did is some analysis
to look at what happens the year after
so not surprisingly
there's this massive shift from cage to cage free
in those states because they can't buy cage anymore
but what we also saw was that
in the year after that happened
there was a very significant increase to free range
so because I think consumers were saying
well now cage free is the bottom of the barrel
this is all sitting here at the bottom
so I'm in the bottom bunk we call it
so now I'm gonna step up one level and go to free range
and so the volume in the States that get legislated
is seven times higher for free range
than it is in the non um
legislated states
so we very much keep a close eye on what's happening
and actually double down in those states
when there's legislation about to come
to make sure that our Nelly's brand is um
out there and ready to receive all its
it welcome with open arms all our new buyers
and then the other thing that we look at is um
you know how much education we can do in those states
and partnering with the retailers to emphasize
you know what this means for them
and you know the thing
that also is a really good piece of information
for the retailers
is just the basket size that they get
or the dollar basket size that they get
when consumers are purchasing more premium
so it's in their best interest to see
to continue to encourage that premium buy
and so there's still lots of room to grow um
annoyingly and shockingly
the caged egg is still the majority of purchases
across the United States
but we do think that in the next five years
maybe three to five years
it will shift below 50% wow
that'd be awesome and that would be awesome
and so there's um the pie is getting bigger
and so we're just gonna continue to ride that wave
and then obviously
encourage more and more into our brand
as I talked about before
so it's not just riding the wave
but
it's also getting people to come over to our surfboard
I guess right
totally and the analogy
last question for you Phyllis
you definitely have a a a
a great pulse in the CPG space in general
outside of Pete and Jerry's
any particular brands
or just kind of trends outside of egg space
that you've gotten kind of particularly excited about
or you've just been kind of keeping your eye on
just cause it's big your interest
I think that the trend that I love
and particularly toward what helps us as a tailwind
is this notion of whole food sources
and that people are starting to get smarter
about the ingredients in their food products
and so
you know
you can't get something purer and cleaner as a protein
than than eggs
and
it actually is the number one absorbable pre protein
across all protein sources
um we
we refer to it as Nature's Perfect Protein bar
and it truly is I mean it
it's got not only so much protein packed in it um
but it also has tons of nutrients and vitamins
and things that can help promote health
that is something that I I love to see
and I think
more and more brands and companies are talking about
clean ingredients and simple ingredients
and minimal ingredients and
you know if you look at some of the protein bars today
first of all you can't even pronounce
all the ingredients that are in there
but you also um
you know
you run out of space on the package to list them all
so I think that is a trend that I love to see
I try to incorporate it into my own diet
it's not always easy but I think that just they
they move away from processed
and multi ingredient products is
is something that's a great trend
totally so I'm excited about that one
yep I agree with that
well yeah
Phyllis this has been awesome
um what's the
what's the best place for people to follow
along with you and all your expertise
and then
what's the best place for people to follow along with
Pete and Jerry's and
and Nelly's these days as well
for me is on LinkedIn
so please come visit Phyllis Rothschild
and then Pete and Jerry's and Nelly's
we have wonderful social content
across the different platforms Instagram
TikTok and so we'd love to
to see you come visit us there
um it's a lot of fun
the content is both enjoyable
we do a lot of recipes
a lot of partnerships with some fun influencers
and recipe developers
but we also do educational content as well
and sharing um
where our food comes from
where the hens live what the content is of an egg
and so it's a I think it's an enjoyable
worthwhile way to spend time
perfect love it
Awesome Phil
think that's great I think that's
I think that's a pot appreciate the time
just in terms of
your first inhouse role after so long
how do you think about your consulting background
that that's so extensive
totally shifting gears I've heard you talk about
being in the number one spot
what metrics are you measuring
you do have two brands in a category that hey
avian flu crisis it had had a pretty big impact
did you see some of those consumers
you guys did a pretty significant packaging refresh
I just want to start with
the company was launching the pasteurized line
the in store side of things

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