#94 – Sunnyside Egg Co. – Patrick Samuels (US Army)

That bright orange yolk you're paying a premium for? There's a good chance it's been manipulated.

Patrick Samuels went from West Point to Army Ranger School then to Special Forces — deploying to Iraq and Tajikistan - running partner force operations. He left the military because he felt he and his men didn't have the autonomy they needed to make a difference. According to Patrick, nobody wanted to actually win.

So he went and built a company where the only limits are the ones he sets.

Sunnyside Egg Co is doing what the rest of the pasture-raised egg industry claims to do — chickens actually outside, year-round, on pasture. No factory barns. No doors the chickens never walk through. No sales reps calling to help "craft the yolk color you want."

Yes, the last part really happens.

Patrick lays it out plainly in this episode: virtually every major pasture-raised egg brand on the shelf is artificially darkening yolks with additives — synthetic pigments, spices, etc — because they know customers associate a dark yolk with a chicken raised outdoors. And less than 15% of "pasture-raised" birds ever actually set foot outside.

The standard says chickens need access to 108 square feet per bird. It doesn't say they have to use it. Inside the barn? The requirement is only 1.2 square feet per bird. Do that math.

Patrick did. And then he built an alternative — starting with 300 chickens in western Kentucky and scaling to 25,000 birds in production across the country, headed for national retail.

And here's where it gets interesting for veterans: the same skill that made him effective as a Green Beret — walking into a foreign community, building trust, recruiting a partner force — is exactly how he builds his farmer network today. His growers are mostly Amish and Mennonite families. He goes to the meeting. He earns the room. He signs the contracts.

From Special Forces to egg company entrepreneur. One more episode that proves the skills transfer — just sometimes to places you wouldn't expect.

Enjoy!

VetsInAg #veteransagriculture #eggproduction #pasture #pastureraised #eggs #growers #farmers #regenerative #Army #SF #GreenBeret #RangersLeadTheWay #Rangers #Retail #nutrientdensity #WestPoint