Let’s Get Cracking

Written by Tracie Grimes

Wong Louie, a Chinese immigrant who came to the San Joaquin Valley with her husband in the early 1900s, didn’t realize she was starting her own family dynasty when she began collecting eggs and selling them from a baby carriage. She was just trying to keep her seven children fed and clothed after the sudden death of her husband.

“The ‘old-timers’ tell me that when she first started pushing that baby carriage around Dinuba [the Louie’s—later Anglicized to Lewis’—first home in California], it wasn’t eggs she was selling,” smiles John Lewis, Wong Louie’s grandson. “She was selling whiskey.”

Although Lewis isn’t sure how the transition from whiskey to eggs was made (“Probably had something to do with Prohibition”), sometime around 1925, Wong Louie became known as “Daan Ga,” Chinese for “The Egg Family.” Eggs she collected from local farms replaced the whiskey bottles in Wong Louie’s carriage and Farmer John Eggs, a family enterprise that would span generations, was born.

“My dad [John, Sr.] and Uncle Ray started running things, with my dad gathering eggs up and down the Valley and my uncle running the farm,” explains Lewis, the third-generation family member to run the business.

Today, Farmer John Eggs consists of over 600,000 chickens, a feed mill, a processing plant, and other farms in the Bakersfield area.

And judging from the way Lewis runs things from the helm, it’s one big, happy family.

“My cousin!” he says as he leans back and smiles to answer a phone call from a colleague.

The sound of his voice prompts the three large dogs (“We’re not sure what breeds they are. They just showed up and now won’t leave, so I just keep them in here”) sleeping in various corners of his office to rise and move towards Lewis for a scratch.

“I’m proud of the way we operate around here,” he says of the relaxed atmosphere. “We’re like family and that’s how it should be—we take care of each other, do what it takes to get a job done.

“I try to do things the way my father did: I really think those guys in my dad’s generation were the best. They had to make it through the Depression and knew that they would just have to buckle down and do whatever it took to get the job done. My dad didn’t take much time off; he worked 10- or 12-hour days, took care of problems even if he had already put in his 8-hour day. And he always pushed me. Now, it’s my turn to imitate my father and push my son, John Lewis, III, so he can take over when I retire.”

But even considering Lewis’ pride in his business and family atmosphere, running an egg business isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

“A lot of people think being in the egg business is simple. They think, ‘People are always going to eat eggs, right?’

But if they start looking down below the surface, it’s pretty complicated and can be cutthroat at times. We deal with the same kinds of things any other business does, but then you add things in like stories that come out saying, ‘Don’t eat fish because there’s too much mercury,’ then the next week the same guys are saying, ‘eat lots of fish because you need the omega-3’s.’ ” Lewis shakes his head. “We had that happen a few years back when they were saying ‘Don’t eat eggs because they have a lot of cholesterol.’ But now they’ve decided that eggs are good for you. You just have to go with it and ride out the rough patches, like in any other business.”

And just like most businesses these days, Farmer John Eggs is feeling the effects of our current recession.

“The recession has hurt us,” Lewis remarks. “Sure, people are staying in and eating home more, but that means the restaurants aren’t placing as many orders and that’s affecting all ranchers.”

Another thing that’s really affected Farmer John Eggs is California’s cutbacks in the WIC (Women, Infants, and Childrens program). “You know eggs have the highest quality protein and nutrition, next to mother’s milk, and are low in fat, yet the government has made such deep cutbacks, it’s getting harder for ranchers like me to keep supplying for the program. Last year, they were paying us $1.50 for a dozen eggs but now they’ve cut us back to $.85 per dozen. Our costs are just the same as they were last year, so we’re really losing a lot in this program. I know our state’s having problems, but you’d think they’d want to make sure eggs are always going to be available to those in the WIC program. With cuts like these, ranchers may find they’re losing money if they supply for the WIC program. I’m just a simple chicken farmer and I don’t know how to solve all our state’s money problems, but these cutbacks just don’t make a lot of sense to me.”

And state cutbacks aren’t the only bureaucratic problems John is facing.

“Mandates are coming down saying that all [chicken] ranchers have to replace or upgrade their chicken houses to give the chickens more room. But the thing is, you can put a hundred chickens in a huge warehouse and I guarantee all the chickens are going to end up huddled in one corner. They’re chickens, it’s in their nature to flock together—it’s just what they do. So we could give them all the room in the world, but it won’t make a difference. And with the state cutting their payments to us, how are we going to pay for these upgrades?”

But though these mandated upgrades are a thorn in the side of most chicken and egg ranchers, they may end up evening things so suppliers for the independent markets and the super-stores have the same set of rules, Lewis notes.

“It’s been really tough to compete with the big suppliers that supply for the Targets and Wal-Marts, but I’m thinking that if the Humane Society gets in and forces these changes, we’ll all be on the same playing field.”

So far, Farmer John Eggs has managed to weather the bureaucratic and economic storms, although Lewis is careful not to count his chickens until they’ve hatched.

“It’s so competitive in our industry. I’ve seen a lot of businesses that have had to close down over the years because it’s hard to find money to upgrade machinery, chicken houses, etc.

Although investing in new equipment can be costly, the new machines can also increase productivity.

“The last machine we put in processed about 150 cases an hour. Now we’re talking about putting in machines that will process 300 to 400 cases an hour. It’s amazing to think about how much the industry has changed just during the time I’ve been running things [since 1969].”

Still shaking his head as he answers a call from his son—there’s a problem with one of the machines—Lewis advises John III, “Don’t be afraid to just pick the eggs up off of the machine with your hands.” He begins reflecting on the more positive aspects of his business.

“I work with some pretty great people,” Lewis begins. “I know almost everyone in the business, have a lot of ‘cousins,’ and I’m proud of the way we operate and feel I have an obligation to do my best.

“We make it a point to be a part of the community by taking good care of our employees. Most have been with us for years and years because they leave when they want to. If they get to a point where they can’t do the particular job they were hired to do, like load crates, we just shift them over to another less strenuous job. It makes me happy to provide this kind of stability to our employees and to give back to our community. If you’re at a church breakfast, you’re probably eating Farmer John eggs. And I feel blessed that I’m in a position to hand out eggs.”

Strong ties to his Catholic church means Lewis is always willing to help out his priest, even with the most out-of-the-ordinary request. “Maybe it’s my Catholic upbringing,” he chuckles, “but any time Monsignor Craig calls me up with a request like, ‘Hey John, I saw some pretty big Farmer John trucks over in Arvin the other day; do you have one with a lift? Can you send it to pick up and deliver a piano?’ And I’m proud to be in a position to be able to help.”

It’s been a great way to make a living, Lewis sums up, thinking back on how Grandmother Louie got things started by putting a few eggs in her “basket.”

“It’s pretty amazing to think that ‘Daan Ga’ starting this whole thing,” he says, gesturing in the air to encompass the chicken ranch, processing plant, and Farmer John’s other farms. “She started out walking around Dinuba and now we’re covering Kern, Kings, Madera, and Merced counties. We’ve really grown into something more than just chickens and eggs.”

Article appeared in our 27-3 Issue - August 2010