Vital Farms is the leading producer of pasture-raised eggs in the country. They partner with small family farms across the nation to deliver high-quality, ethically sourced food products to the tables of American families. Vital Farms’ products—including shell eggs, butter, hard-boiled eggs, and liquid whole eggs—are sold in more than 24,000 stores nationwide.
Vital Farms’ size and projected growth required logistics partners that could scale and provide exceptional customer service.
They found those partners in Ruan, one of the largest privately held transportation and logistics companies in the country, and Cold Zone, a premier provider of cold storage solutions.
Accommodating Growth
The continued expansion of Vital Farms’ network of farms and grocery stores meant scalability was critical for a logistics partner. Ruan owns and operates a dedicated fleet, working closely with Vital Farms to hire, train, and retain drivers to meet the customer’s expanding needs.
“Given our fast growth, we had a need to find a logistics partner that had expertise in operating a dedicated fleet on our behalf,” said Phil Trendell, Vice President of Supply Chain and Logistics at Vital Farms. Beginning with 15 drivers in 2022, the committed team is now 27 strong.
Leveraging Expertise to Deliver Tailored Solutions
In addition to scalability, Ruan’s logistics experts work tirelessly to optimize and tailor supply chain solutions to better serve each of our customers, including navigating the unique challenges presented by transporting eggs. Customizing our services to meet Vital Farms’ needs begins with adhering to strict farm procedures to ensure animal welfare and providing exceptional customer service to more than 300 partner farms. Our professional truck drivers secure the fragile cargo at farms and transport it safely to Cold Zone in Springfield, MO, which operates in an underground industrial park. Here, the Cold Zone team unloads, weighs, and stages the eggs for shipping to Vital Farms’ Egg Central Station for further cleaning, testing, and packaging before being distributed to grocery stores nationwide.
In a unique underground storage environment with many loads arriving throughout the day, there was an opportunity for optimization. Initially, all Ruan truck drivers arrived within a similar time frame to unload product, which resulted in congestion and hours of trucks and drivers sitting idle. “Ruan developed a strategic plan to hire a shuttle driver to take trailers one by one down to the Underground to eliminate wait times,” said Ruan’s Dedicated Operations Leader Matt Fleming. “Ruan drivers picking up from farms drop the trailers off at a secured lot near the Underground, saving Vital Farms time and money.”
Ruan specializes in streamlining logistics needs and successfully implemented a solution to reduce long wait times and inefficiencies in the process. Ruan’s experts overcame a challenge by purchasing equipment for and hiring a shuttle driver, enhancing the supply chain and reducing costs. And with our best-in-class transportation management system, Vital Farms always has transparency to their loads and products.
“We have seen significant improvement in supply chain visibility and increased access to data, which allows us to identify where there are opportunities for additional improvement. As we continue to scale and optimize the fleet, we are confident in our partnership’s ability to drive bottom-line value,” said Trendell.
Despite two logistics partners involved in the process, Ruan’s communication, data availability, and routing have made the process seamless.
“Since our partnership with Ruan began, communication has been exceptional. Ruan dispatchers are on-site with us, and we can collaborate real time,” said Brittney Lewis, Cold Zone Warehouse Manager. “Ruan has provided equipment and trailers that decreased wait times for our team members and customer.”
Offering scalability, logistics expertise, and tailored solutions, Ruan was the ideal dedicated logistics provider for Vital Farms to achieve their projected growth. Ruan’s commitment to continuous improvement drives success and enables long-term, enduring partnerships with valued customers like Vital Farms.
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