75 Years of Egg-celence
If you are a regular consumer of eggs in the state of Arizona, then the name “Hickman’s” should not be unfamiliar to you. This local, family owned and operated business has reached its 75th year of serving our bellies and community and that’s no eggs-aggeration.
Veronica Garcia of Hickman’s Marketing and Public Relations team explained the story of how the company first got started in Arizona 75 years ago. “Hickman’s Family Farms began in Glendale, Arizona in 1944 when Nell Hickman began raising a few hens for fresh eggs for her family,” Garcia said. “The practice was not widespread in Glendale, so Nell added to her flock as neighbors began purchasing the fresh eggs from her back porch. In 1957, Nell’s daughter-in-law, Gertie, became her partner and the two women went into business selling eggs out of the back seat of a ’55 Ford Coupe to local cafés and grocery stores. Today, Hickman’s Family Farms is the largest egg producer west of the Rockies and proud to be celebrating our 75th year of business.”
The highly successful company now has four locations throughout the state, one of which is in the city of Buckeye. President and CEO of the Buckeye Chamber of Commerce Deanna Kupcik spoke about why Hickman’s Family Farms has been a great addition to their community over the years. “Having Hickman’s Family Farms in Buckeye is a great fit with our agricultural heritage and mindset,” Kupcik said. “Besides the large number of jobs they bring to our community, the program they have in place to employ inmates from the Lewis Prison after they have been released is innovative. They even provide housing and a savings program to assist with integration back into society.”
Hickman’s not only has the future of our community in mind through their job support efforts, but in recent years have also made a huge push for “greener” practices. “One of the biggest innovations is our cage-free hen housing which we began in 2015,” Garcia said. “This affords our hens the ability to roam freely inside their fresh-air environment where they are watered and fed, protected from predators and happily monitored by our staff, nutritionist and on-staff veterinarian.”
They have also adopted 100% recycled PET packaging, which is made from 3-5 water bottles per carton. “This carton saves bottles from ending in landfills and through this effort, Hickman’s can recycle on average—1 million bottles per week,” Garcia said. These environmentally friendly cartons are visibly identifiable by their key-lime green, fully transparent packaging. With innovative measures such as these, consumers can not only see all angles of the eggs to check for breakage, but they can also feel good about the eggs they are eating.
Hickman’s believes that the biggest reason for their success in reaching 75 years of business, and hopefully many more in the future, is attributed to their focus on innovation. Their aim is to be forward thinkers with an adaptive mindset to meet the needs of their consumers.
Hickman’s Family Farms eggs products can be found all throughout Arizona, California, Colorado and Hawaii
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