#3 Fastest Growing Private Company: Taylor Egg Products

From left: Brad Taylor, vice president; Bill Taylor, president; and Brian Taylor, vice president. (Christine Carignan)

Three-Year Average Annual Growth: 63%
Rank on Private 100: 94
Headquarters: 242 Littleworth Road, Madbury
Product/Service: Liquid and frozen egg products
President: William Taylor
Founded: 1973
Total Number of Employees: 18

This third-generation family-owned business cracked the code for overcoming the high prices of eggs by upgrading its automation. In 2020, Taylor Egg Products, which sells liquid and frozen eggs primarily to large bakeries that serve grocery stores, chain restaurants and schools, invested $1 million in a new egg cracking machine that doubled its capacity, allowing it to break 144,000 eggs per hour.

Taylor Egg Products had initially planned to bring the machine online in April 2020, but the uncertainty surrounding the outbreak of the pandemic caused the company to delay implementation for six months, says Vice President Brad Taylor.

Now the challenge is to increase capacity on the back end of the production process. After the eggs are washed, sanitized, and cracked open by machine, the whites and yolks are mixed into a liquid and pumped into a refrigerated silo and pasteurized before being stored or are frozen for customers who have smaller orders.

Taylor, who runs the business with his brother Brian, vice president, and their father William, president, says within the next five years the company will have to invest in new pasteurization equipment to keep up with the capacity of the egg cracking machine. The company can pack 150 pounds of eggs per minute and plans to eventually invest in technology that will allow it to pack 250 pounds per minute, Taylor says.

While Taylor Egg is one of the smallest operators in the country, Taylor says it is nimble and can provide on-demand service its larger competitors cannot provide as quickly. That competitive advantage has allowed it to amass customers throughout New England and into New York.

Taylor Egg Products sources its eggs from several farms, some as far as Michigan, but the bulk of its eggs come from a large farming operation in Connecticut, Taylor says. While a volatile egg market has seen dramatic price increases, which has proven challenging, Taylor says it is stabilizing. Taylor credits the company’s long-time employees, many who have been with Taylor Egg for a decade, for the company’s success. “We have an amazing loyal crew here,” he says.