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Eggheads is the go-to podcast for egg industry professionals who are interested in leadership and innovation in the egg world. Host Greg Schonefeld explores the evolving world of modern egg farming, from the latest in cage-free innovations and organic certifications to navigating the economics of large-scale production. Whether you're an egg producer, supplier, or involved in poultry genetics, this show provides the insights and expert discussions you need to thrive in the industry. Crack open the science, strategies, and stories behind the egg industry’s biggest challenges and opportunities.
Mark Kellen: You don't have to be an expert in every single field. You just got to be able to have the right team, build a team, and actually be able to manage it all together, and trust your team and build off of that.
Greg Schonefeld: Hey, there. I'm Greg Schonefeld and this is Eggheads. At the heart of every egg on the table is a massive web of people, systems and decisions, often invisible to the everyday consumer. And while the poultry industry keeps evolving, especially with the challenges of avian influenza and the shift to cage-free production, there's still one constant, strong leadership makes all the difference. Today, we'll sit down with someone who knows what it takes to lead at scale.
Mark Kellen: I'm Mark Kellen. I'm the Executive Vice President of Daybreak Foods.
Greg Schonefeld: Mark grew up on a small family farm in Minnesota, where he learned the fundamentals of poultry farming the old-fashioned way, early mornings, hard work, and putting animal care first. But Mark didn't stop there. Mark's story is about more than just climbing the ranks to oversee one of the country's largest egg producers. It's about curiosity, adaptability, and building up the next generation of leaders. Hey, quick note before we get back to the episode. Eggheads is starting to look for sponsors. If you or your company are interested in reaching people who care about the future of eggs, farming and food systems, we'd love to connect. There's a link to the show notes where you can learn more.
Mark Kellen: I was fortunate to grow up on a small family farm. My grandpa started in early '60s with roughly about 18,000 chickens that would go right to the tables. My dad continued with that passion for poultry and farming. And he took the farm, expanded it from Minnesota. About a small 150, 60,000 bird farm in South Dakota.
Greg Schonefeld: Before Mark was overseeing millions of birds and managing operations across six states, he was just a kid on a small family farm in Minnesota, a place where poultry farming meant doing a little bit of everything.
Mark Kellen: After high school, I went to the family farm and really wanted to learn as much as I could. I didn't want to just say, "Hey, I'm going to be a poultry farmer."
Greg Schonefeld: And for about two years, Mark bounced between different jobs. He wasn't just killing time, he was building skills. Every stint, whether a few weeks or a few months, gave him a broader view of agriculture. And all the while, he kept returning to the family farm. And there they did it all, grinding their own feed, packing and shipping their own eggs, and handling every part of the business from start to finish.
Mark Kellen: So, from there, I got to some conversations with Sparboe Farms. Sparboe at the time was building a new facility in Iowa, a state-of-the-art facility. And I went down, interviewed. I got a job offer right on the spot as a production supervisor.
Greg Schonefeld: Mark took a production supervisor role at Sparboe Farms, part of a large two and a half million bird operation. Just a few years out of high school and without a college degree, everything he knew came from his family and those early hands-on experiences. Not long after, Mark was promoted to complex manager, what many would call a general manager today, overseeing the entire complex at just 25 years old.
Mark Kellen: So, being a 25-year-old. And I tell a lot of students coming out of college or a consortium program, or things like that, I said, "College teaches you one thing." But I said, "Once you can sit at a facility and listen to a production supervisor or a processing supervisor that's been there for 30, 40 years, there's a lot of knowledge there. And you can incorporate that with what you've learned, with what their experiences have, and it's just going to set you up for a better position."
Greg Schonefeld: After a few more years of sharpening his leadership at Sparboe, Mark made the leap to Daybreak Foods, stepping into an even bigger role with new challenges. And while his instincts served him well, Mark learned quickly that every company, every culture and every team is different. One thing you've talked about is the need for well-rounded GMs in your operations. I guess, first, what are the keys to that role in general? What all are you responsible for in that role?
Mark Kellen: So, typically, a general manager at a facility or some call it a complex manager, it all depends on the site. They really have the full ownership of that facility. They would oversee our community relations, environmental for that area. These GMs, they're going to be there around the clock. They're just available. I shouldn't say they're working around the clock, but they're available to their facility. Their offices is right there. They're on the farm. But they're going to have the scope of the community, environmental. If they have pullets, they're going to be in charge of their pullet facilities in that area. They have a feed mill. They're going to oversee the feed mill. However, some may be a breaking facility, a grading facility. Some are just a farm packing facility. So, they'll have a different aspect of the processing plant and then there's other things around that area.
We support them from corporate level with QA, quality assurance, safety programs, a lot of those different areas that we support with. And some GMs, if there's two close facilities, we'll have a GM over two facilities. And then underneath them, there's production managers, processing managers, feed mill managers. And then typically, depending on department and size, there might be one or two supervisors, maybe a house lead. Within those layers, there's always opportunities for someone that... I'm a brand new house worker, caretaker, animal caretaker, and I oversee these two chicken houses and this is my job. Well, I can move up to a number two or I can move up to a lead, or to a supervisor, or I want to get involved in the feed. There's different opportunities for ground level to move all the way up to that GM level.
Greg Schonefeld: I guess I'm getting the picture. It's almost like running a business. I mean you're in charge of a lot of different aspects.
Mark Kellen: We always try to tell the GMs or the complex managers back in the day, was you need to treat this as if you are the owner. You are the owner of this facility. A GM on the corporate side would be looking for support, but then they have to review budgets, they have to manage their financials. There's that whole backside that they're working with as well to make sure that we're staying in check. There's also, for a GM, the other side of it, they're going to have customer service. Because once those eggs come through the wall, they go through the grader. It's focusing on efficiency of the grader, efficiency of the birds, the health of the birds, the nutrition of the birds.
But then as the eggs make it through, and into an egg carton, and they pass everything that needs to happen there, well, now it's, all right, did the eggs make it to the end user? Is there a complaint? Was there damage? There's the logistics piece of it. So, the GM, they're not going to be the salesman of the egg, but they got to ensure that what those customer specs are, that we can meet them, and we can be efficient and profitable by doing so.
Greg Schonefeld: Whether you have a background more like yours, where you've just worked hard and you work up the ranks or college educated background, I mean you've seen people from both those kind of backgrounds successfully be able to reach that position.
Mark Kellen: I think majority, I would say would have the live bird experience coming into their role as a GM. Doesn't mean you can't come up through the processing side or the pullet side, or even the feed mill side. I've had a controller that worked for me, that just intrigued seeing numbers. But he was like, "I want to get on the floor. There's so much more I can do to fine tune these processing numbers." So, we actually took him. He went to one of our facilities, and was overseeing some of our plants and diving into the detail. But then all of a sudden came back after I'd say about six months and I was like, "This people part of this, I really like the numbers efficiency, but dealing with the employees, the training of the employees, the development, not for me. No, I'm just fine going back into the office, and going back to focus on the number, and figuring how I can support and be more engaged on the farm, not actually have to do it."
At Daybreak here, we're across six states. I think we're up to 21 facilities. Our goal when we develop a training program for that GM to make sure and help them be successful, we're going to look at what are their strengths, what are their weaknesses. And if one of their weaknesses is more around the people, because they're going from the production side. And say they have 20 to 40, maybe 50 employees, now you could take in the GM role. You add a different level, but now you understand that the hourly employees managing them. You got to get to a level where now I got to manage supervisors, I got to manage managers. It's different. You got to handle it a little bit different.
It's a lot more of a challenge, even though you think it's less. And it can be done. So, when we build a development program around that, we got to look, okay, you're lacking processing experience. You may not have the people, what else do you need to help you be successful? We know you got the live bird side. Maybe you understand a good chunk of nutrition, you understand bird health. You may be a little bit in the feed mill. But so, you got to build that, because to be a GM someday, you don't have to be an expert in every single field. You just got to be able to have the right team, build a team, and actually be able to manage it all together, and trust your team and build off of that.
Greg Schonefeld: What's the ultimate key? Is it the leadership piece or is it something else?
Mark Kellen: I had this happen to me, oh, I think I was still in Iowa. I was only a couple of years in. And I became a production manager. And I'm like, oh, man, this is awesome. I'm just working with the people, the birds, the chickens. And that's my happy place. It's still to this day, I mean, if I'm sitting there at my home office or working... I know earlier this year, I was working on the budget program for all these facilities. And we're working on a budget and I finally just said, I have a farm in Iowa. It's three and a half hours from my house. I'm like, you know what? Tomorrow, I need a break. I'm jumping in my truck, I'm going on the farm, and I'm just going to go, and walk the chicken houses, and kind of be in my happy place.
I had one of a leader, a mentor of mine that came in and said, "Mark, where do you fill up this sheet?" And it was one of those simple... I'm like, "Well, God, this is like we're back in high school. Where do you see yourself in 5, 10, 15 years?" At first, I didn't take it real serious, and then I got back on it and I was kind of like, you know what? I don't want to do processing. I don't want to deal with people. People isn't my strength. But I didn't know. All I did was a family farm. I liked doing a lot of everything. I'm one of those people that I really need to be busy. So, I filled that out and I kept it. And on that sheet it was like, nope, comfortable where I'm at. I don't ever see myself going into the next level. I do not see myself as a GM. I definitely don't see myself as a director.
Seeing that sheet, and now looking back at it, and I look at it, I'm like, okay, so you didn't want to work at this level. You didn't want to do this. And now my current role, I interact more at the corporate level, dealing with myself, and the CFO, and our VP of QA and HR. At this level of leadership, I feel I'm doing really well. But it's 20 years ago, 22 years ago when I filled that sheet up. It's like, I'd love to go back and tell that person and say, "Hey, you said you were never going to go more than a complex manager, and this happens." And I had one processing manager. They told me it was a supervisor. And goes, "Hey, at some point is there any possibility for me? I'd really like to understand the chicken side of it."
And I said, "Really?" I said, "Why is that? Is that just something with birds?" And he goes, "No, I'd like to see it." So, one of the commitments we did with him is we knew there was some shorter days, and we had him go out on afternoons, on Thursday afternoon for four hours. It was a easier time. And we paired him up with our production manager or production supervisor and they got to go out on the farm. They got the shadow for an afternoon of what the people do in the barns. It helped him understand a lot of what goes on behind the scenes when the eggs come through the wall. But it got to a point where he had more and more interest, and that interest on the farm, to where we could slowly develop that training. And that's what we're trying to encourage here at Daybreak and do more of.
We started this past year of looking at different key level managers or leaders within our company and tried to determine... give them some exposure of the rest of the industry. We did a program, I don't remember if it was six weeks. And it was kind of like a Daybreak University type deal, where we took people across all of our regions. And we keep the groups small. And there was eight to 10 that did it in the first class. And each week, we would have someone, whether it's coming from the quality assurance. And we just have an hour, hour and a half long conversation on what is QA in our company. What is safety in our company? What is production? What is processing?
And through that, it gave them just a really high level exposure to each department within our company. But then you know what? Afterwards, you start having a conversation, the employee like, "You know what? I was really intrigued by processing. How do I get involved there?" And from those conversations high level, we can go back to that employee, find out what their strengths and weaknesses are, find out what their interests are. And we can actually now cater a very specific development plan for that employee to set them up to be successful. You got to get away from the mindset when we were so short, where if you had a production manager role empty, we got to fill it. It's whatever warm body you got. We got to fill this role.
And next, again, it's that term of setting someone up to fail. And I've seen people. I've learned from my experiences when I was a young manager that I'd bring in a student or I'd promote someone within, you try to work with them, you think you have a good plan, and then it just didn't work out. They were just so overwhelmed, you pushed it too hard, and then all of a sudden they fail. They go off to another company, to a different role. And then five, eight years later, you find out that they're a complex manager for one of your competitors. And they're really good and they're doing a great job.
And I've gone back to some of those employees that I've had. I asked, I said, "What did I do wrong?" He said, "Well, I was very young. I was right out of college. Or that promotion, I just didn't feel I had all the tools." Or some of them personally were just not set up for that kind of responsibility. So, that's where I think, again, it comes down to just communication. No matter if it's a college student fresh out of college or someone that you're promoting within, a lot of it comes down to just having a conversation. Just communicate, over-communicate, talk, make sure those people that you're looking at promoting are being honest with you on where they feel their shortcomings are or where they need help with. And encourage them that this is how we're going to set up and actually having a plan.
Greg Schonefeld: Whether it's encouraging a young manager, helping someone step into a new role or creating space for employees to discover their own path, Mark's approach is all about giving people the tools and the time to succeed. When you're talking about you're filling out this sheet and what are your ambitions. And I don't know, maybe you weren't as ambitious that day as how things turned out, how the switch flipped for you. Was there a defining moment?
Mark Kellen: I got bored. I mean, you could ask my wife or the friends. Like I said, I don't like to sit still. I was at a point where my kids were getting a little bit older. And as a complex manager, I had a great team. For a while there when I was in Iowa working 12 days on, two days off, and they were some 10, 12 hour days on a new facility, to now finally getting to a point where you're comfortable. Because new in a role like that, trust is a big one for any type of management level, let alone a leader, is you got to trust your team. And that was probably one of the biggest hurdles I had, was I didn't want to look as a failure. Reefer on a truck gets shut off. We were right along the highway. We had that happen once. Switch got shut off, the eggs got too warm. We had to dispose of a truckload of eggs.
As a general manager and you get told that this is your facility, you feel like that hit you. That is your fault. So, you start to go through little scenarios like that or a misfeeding, or just things that would really bother me. So, we got through all that. I started to work towards really trusting my team, building the team that I needed. Right now, it wasn't going in every Saturday for a few hours and a half day on Sundays. It was I didn't have to be the first one at the facility every morning and be the last one. It was, okay, why do I need to be there? It's really starting to ask your questions, do I really need to do that? You know what? The team can handle a startup, then I can focus on these items and be more efficient as a GM, rather than a micromanager. And I think that was probably the toughest for me. But once you figure that out, then, like I said, I started to get bored.
Greg Schonefeld: In fact, you could say boredom has been one of Mark's biggest motivators. As he moved from production manager to director and eventually to executive vice president, he didn't just climb the ladder. He learned every rung along the way. Whether it was managing construction projects, handling land and environmental permitting or simply stepping into roles no one else was available to take on, Mark kept looking for ways to grow. And at every stage the lesson was the same. Leadership isn't about knowing everything. It's about listening, learning and surrounding yourself with the right people. Can we touch on just some of the changes in the industry today? I mean, you've noted the conventional cage systems were really dialed in. And now the cage-free brought new challenges. And I guess, what does it take to adapt to those challenges?
Mark Kellen: It's been a challenge. We talked about this the other day, that when I was coming up through the ranks, pretty much the majority of the industry was conventional. It was pretty much one dominant breed of birds. So, once you figured out the breed of bird for whether you were a liquid company and you wanted a K-suite or you wanted just volume of eggs focused on large, if you're on the shell side, that was the makeup of it. Things started to move towards going away from molting. And you'd have management that would adapt well to that, would embrace it. And then you had some that were like, "No, molting is the way to go. We've done this forever and we're not changing." And then implementing some of the new food safety rules and different things that started to hit us on the conventional side, but then all of a sudden came cage-free.
And when you jumped in cage-free, we started with the nest box systems to the step systems, the aviaries. There's many different styles. For us, we have conventional and cage-free. We have different styles of cage-free. And you can really tell for the employees that are new, that they're going to more gravitate... We can fill the positions on the conventional side, but the facility that may have conventional and cage-free barns on the same site, it's just a lot more intimidating going into the cage-free, just the environment, what you're working on.
A lot of it comes down to, when you're in a conventional, when you walk the barns, you're inspecting your hens, you're just walking your houses throughout the day, the hens are loose. And with these systems, you got hens that are eye level with you. And for some it can be... I shouldn't even say for some. It's still for me, it's still intimidating, very intimidating for myself.
Greg Schonefeld: You're outnumbered in there.
Mark Kellen: Yeah. You're outnumbered and chickens are curious. I mean, next to you, you'll stop and you're wearing a biosecurity suit or you're in your scrubs, and next thing you look down and you got chickens pecking at your feet. And you'll turn over, and look, and you got them looking you right in the eye. And as long as you keep moving, you're fine. But if you stop, they're going to come and check you out, which is amazing.
Greg Schonefeld: You said that's your happy place earlier.
Mark Kellen: Well, I didn't say it was in a cage. No. You get used to it, but you could imagine, Greg, if you were a new employee and you've been in cage-free barns. You walk in there, it's like, oh, man, this is overwhelming.
Greg Schonefeld: Yeah. No, that was a foreign world for me. But yeah, they're getting out of your way, but then flying back over your head.
Mark Kellen: If you're a site that's just cage-free, that's just what you have. A lot of those employees don't know any different. We used to have standard breeds. Now with cage-free, you got browns, you got whites. There's what? Five, six different mean breeds that people are using. Conversation I had the other day with one of my directors was just when you think you got this style house figured out and this breed of bird figured out, you get that same breed in that same house, and they're raised in the same pull-up barn, and they act like a whole completely different child. And I think that is really the fun part about our industry, because now all of a sudden you just had this layer flock, it was a great flock. You had it all figured out. And now all of a sudden this new one comes in. And maybe there's too many floor eggs or they're not going up in their nest box the way they're supposed to or they're not...
What do I need to do differently? Do I need to add more training? Do we need to walk the houses more? What is it that we're doing? A close friend of mine, he's been in the industry, he always called it the bucket method. He'd come to our facility. It was a cage-free when cage-free really was getting going. And Bill would go sit on a bucket. He'd just leave you alone. He goes, "Mark, if you guys don't mind, go do your thing. I'm going to sit in the middle of the house on a bucket. I'm going to watch the birds." So, as I moved along and I'm trying to explain cage-free to other employees, I said, "Well, use the bucket method." Sit there, watch the birds. How are they coming down? Are they going up?
The light's dimming down. What are the birds doing? Are they working their way up? Are they still feeding? What are they doing? So, you got to be a lot more patient. A lot more patient, a lot more observant. And that's kind of for all levels to make that adjustment. And some do well and some just don't want to do it.
Greg Schonefeld: It sounds like observing, maybe even tinkering, problem solving. But for someone that finds that fun, it's a great opportunity.
Mark Kellen: Right.
Greg Schonefeld: I guess speaking of the challenge of cage-free, I mean the other huge challenge right now is avian influenza. And I would like to touch on that with you, because I know you've gone through that experience. When you're dealing with it the first time and you got to figure it out, can you talk some about what went through your mind and what that was like?
Mark Kellen: Yeah. It was an emotional roller coaster. And I'm sure everyone in the industry, whether you're the GM, the owner or the hourly employee, there's a lot of emotions going on. One experience I had was I got word that we had some samples that were going in. And looking at the case of the birds, we knew it was 90% sure that it was going to come back as a positive. I let the owner of the company know that, "Hey, this is what's going on." I found the first earliest flight at X time. It was 4:00 in the morning and I was sitting there waiting for my flight, going through what needed to get done. And in this state, there wasn't a lot of experience there. We were the first one to experience it. And I'll share it was within Colorado. And so, it wasn't my home area for Minnesota.
We're working with the staff in Minnesota, the U of M, Carol Cardona and that team. Colorado, I didn't know all the same players. I ended up going to the airport that morning. And the owner of the company, Beth, she met me there. Another true leader. And we're just like, "All right, we don't know what we're getting into." But we got a meeting at a hotel with the conference room, with some of the people from USDA, and different groups on where we're going to go from here and you just go. And we got there. And they didn't have a lot planned from what we experienced in Minnesota, but they did a good job. The state vet, the team that we had helping us was good. But you really just had to jump in. As the birds were going through this challenge, putting birds down, it just got real emotional.
I look back on it, the University of Minnesota did a phenomenal job on doing some training programs, some of us in Minnesota. And I don't know if that got to other states, if they've ever used the same thing, but we did training. And some of the different trainings that the U of M actually created was, right away as a producer you think, okay, the bird's got to get put down however way that is. You got composting. Do I get compost material? Do I have the equipment? Do I have the carts to get the birds out of the building? Do I have the cleaning...? All this stuff is going through your head. And then you throw on top, like some of these, what we're dealing with this year is that 20 below zero, and you're trying to open up houses, and there's just so many factors. But the one you forget about that really opened my eyes as we were kind of building our response plan was the employee emotions.
What's going through that employee's head? Do I have a job? Am I going to feed my family? Am I going to get sick from the birds? You kind of miss that. So, it was a good reset when we worked with Carol and that team to be able to have a plan and really make sure that we were upfront with the employees right away. And I was surprised. When we broke, we had crews coming to help and we had 100% of our farm employees. We told them the scenario that says, we're going to be doing some heat assisted ventilation shutdown. The next day when you guys come in, we will be pulling mortality out of the buildings. We understand if that's not something you want, but this is the hours that we approved to work. And we had 100% of them.
Yes, this is our farm. We're going to do what we can. We went to the plant and we said, "Hey, we're not going to have eggs to process. Do you guys want to come out on the farm?" We had a good chunk of them, came out from the plant as well, never been in the barns, that say, "Hey, this is our farm." And the passion of employees really came out. And Beth and I were right there in the barns. And it got emotional between Beth and I. And you get teared up a little bit about it again now because we shared a lot of emotions. Then you deal with that, trying to do your job, getting birds out.
But then at the same time, you have to deal with government agencies trying to tell you what to do. But yet you as a farmer... And it's gotten a lot better and they did well. But it's like managing the government that's on site trying to help you. And then you got the government piece of it that's not on site, that's trying to tell them what to do, to tell you what to do, but yet they're not on site. So, as a leader trying to manage that without losing your temper, which might've happened one or two times, to focusing and really making sure they understood what the emotions the employees were going through. That farm has nine poultry barns on it. I did the ventilation shutdown on the majority of them, until finally one of my directors, Jared says, "You need a break. I'm going to take care of this one."
And he quickly realized why I was doing what I did. We'd set the heaters up and then I'd send the employees home. And one of the USDA agents and myself would do the ventilation shutdown. And one night, I had a employee that had been there for 30 plus years, good friend of mine. And he goes, "Mark, you're not doing this alone. We're doing this together." I said, "Okay." So, we started the process. We walked the houses, we got outside the house, and he pretty much just broke down in tears. And he goes, "Those are my chickens." So, it's a tough experience for any producer, anyone that's passionate about their hens.
We did do a great job turning that facility around, coordinating, getting things in, getting the site clean. And we got rehoused fairly quickly. And as things got back up and running, we reached back out to employees. A lot of them already had other jobs. And I never thought in Colorado, in that area where we're at, not too far outside of Denver, it was really tough facilities to fill, just given the work availability in that area. And I was surprised. I think we rehired, I think 85 or 86% of those employees, came back to work for us. So, I think it really shows how we treated our employees. That's part of it. And Daybreak does the same. You've got to treat your employees well and they'll want to come back and work for you, even through that stressful of a time.
Greg Schonefeld: Mark's story is a tough but important reminder that leadership isn't just about hitting targets or managing operations. It's about leading through those really hard days, too. Mark clearly is someone who leads by example. You can almost imagine him in the building right there with his people, helping them believe they can get through the tough times. Whether navigating the shift to cage-free or handling the emotional toll of an avian influenza outbreak, Mark shows how steady leadership, honest communication, and care for people make all the difference. I'm grateful for Mark Kellen joining us today. Mark's deep experience and thoughtful approach to leadership highlight the importance of building strong teams and adapting to change.
I appreciate the lessons he shared on developing people, navigating challenges and leading with heart. It's this type of leadership that I admire that makes up the backbone of the egg industry. Make sure you follow Eggheads on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. And connect with us on Instagram and LinkedIn, too. If you want to be a guest or have topic ideas, please send us a message. Until next time, I'm Greg Schonefeld and we'll talk to you soon. I do have one last question.
Mark Kellen: Absolutely.
Greg Schonefeld: How do you prefer your eggs?
Mark Kellen: Oh, boy.
Greg Schonefeld: Hardest question yet.
Mark Kellen: I love a good deviled egg.
Greg Schonefeld: Yeah. No one's said the deviled yet, but that's a great one. Deviled eggs are great. I've had some good ones with pickled onions on them or bacon. If you go get something at the restaurant, they always spice it up with something.
Mark Kellen: Yeah, bacon or sriracha.
Greg Schonefeld: There's so many varieties of just deviled egg.
Mark Kellen: There's one, they put the breadcrumbs and the pork all the way around it. They're cooked, like deep-fried. And you take them out and you just cut them with the fork.
Greg Schonefeld: That's unique.
Mark Kellen: I can't remember what they call it.
Greg Schonefeld: Well, thanks a bunch, Mark.
Mark Kellen: You bet.
Greg Schonefeld: Really nice talking with you.
Mark Kellen: You picked a Friday and I said I'm going to take the rest of the day off after this.