Local egg producers seeing more business following the egg recall

BRISTOW, Okla. - At Fisher Farms, employees say they're getting a lot more calls from businesses and restaurants wanting to purchase eggs locally.

"It goes from 10 to 20, then we have a lot of people that just drive by and want to come in here, we've had customers come here as far away from Miami," says Don Bruce.

Demand for their cage free eggs has risen dramatically. But 25 thousand chickens producing about 20 thousand eggs a day isn't enough to keep up with new requests.

"Well we're pretty busy all the time, and we've got so many customers we're full right now so it's real hard for us to handle all the excess people coming in right now," Bruce says.

Earnest Fisher says the egg business is really competitive. The recent recall has given them a slight boost during a year when business has been marginal for them.

"We're delighted because the price has gone up considerable, so it's much more profitable now," he says.

The family says people are showing more of an interest in where their eggs come from. They've received a lot of calls from existing customers asking if their eggs are safe. The Fishers say everything they sell is produced in Oklahoma.

Even though they're not equipped to take in new business during this recall, employees say it's not a bad problem to have.

"It's definitely got the local name out there, it's getting pretty much city wide," Bruce says.

The Fisher family says their biggest customers are Gateway Market and Las Americas in North Tulsa. In addition to Whole Food, they also deliver to several restaurants throughout the area.

Industry analysts say wholesale prices for eggs are up about 40 percent since the start of a major recall.