Publicly, we’re proud to be a publicly traded company.
But let’s be honest, you didn’t come here for a PR spin. You came here for the real story; the inside scoop on what it means to go public as a mission-driven food company.
So here it is: We’re proud to be a publicly traded company.
And here’s why:
- Anyone can own our stock. You, your neighbor, and your neighbor’s cousin’s best friend can all go buy a share of Vital Farms right now. BlackRock is only one of thousands of shareholders.
- About BlackRock: BlackRock is an investment firm that manages funds, including a lot of people’s 401ks and pensions. So there’s a real chance some of your retirement savings may be in a BlackRock-managed fund. They’re not a private equity firm calling the shots — they’re investors who buy stock. That’s it.
- Most of our crew members have an ownership stake in the company. That’s something we offer because we believe the people who show up every day to keep Vital Farms vital deserve to share in what we’re building together.
- We get to call the shots. How we set our farming standards or treat our hens and farmers are our decisions alone. Institutional investors — like BlackRock and hundreds of others — hold our stock because they believe it’s worth investing in. And we think that’s pretty cool.
But the biggest reason? Since going public in 2020, we haven’t just maintained our standards — we’ve actually raised them.
The money we’ve raised has allowed us to scale our ethical farming practices across hundreds of small family farms. We also expanded our regenerative farming practices, reduced emissions at our egg processing facility, and introduced additional audits to ensure each of our farms is held to the highest standards: ours.
To help hold us accountable to those standards, we chose to become a Public Benefit Corporation. That’s not a tagline — it’s a legal requirement to focus our impact on people, animals, and the planet. And, as a certified B Corporation, we welcome third-party assessments to make sure we can back up what we say.
We could’ve sold to a large food conglomerate (like other mission-driven brands you see come and go). But having to answer to a parent company would’ve meant less transparency, less autonomy, and less of what makes Vital Farms Vital Farms.
Still, going public wasn’t a choice we made lightly. It was a choice we made to better serve our farmers, our hens, our crew, and you.
And we hope you find the results as exciting as we do.
Watch this video on Instagram to learn more about what being a publicly traded company is all about.
