Cal-Maine Foods Positions for Growth in Prepared Foods with New Leadership and Expansion Plans
RIDGELAND, Miss., Dec. 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM), the largest egg company in the United States and a leading player in the egg-based food industry, is strengthening its prepared foods platform through new leadership appointments and targeted prepared foods production capacity expansions.
Johnathan Zoeller has joined Cal-Maine Foods as Chief Financial Officer, Prepared Foods, adding valuable external experience with over 25 years as a senior financial and corporate accounting executive. He most recently served as Vice President, Treasurer and Head of Investor Relations for Westlake Corporation, a global diversified industrial company, where he led the global treasury operations, cash management, credit, collections, risk management, and investor relations functions for the Fortune 500 company since 2018.
In addition, Dave Jordan has been promoted internally to President, Echo Lake Foods, previously serving as Senior Vice President, Operations. Dave is a seasoned food and beverage operations leader known for modernizing manufacturing networks, driving large-scale transformation, and building high-performance, people-centered cultures. He brings deep expertise in enterprise operations, capital improvement execution, and continuous improvement across complex, multi-site organizations to the role.
"Talent is at the center of every chapter of sustained growth," commented Sherman Miller, president and chief executive officer of Cal-Maine Foods. "We are thrilled to welcome John and celebrate Dave's well-deserved promotion. Their leadership, expertise, and dedication will be central to our prepared foods platform, and we are excited to have them as part of the Cal-Maine Foods' management team as we continue to grow and serve our customers."
In parallel, Cal-Maine Foods is launching a new $15 million network optimization and capacity-expansion project at Echo Lake Foods, expected to add 17 million pounds of annual scrambled egg production by mid-fiscal 2027.
The project consolidates all scrambled egg manufacturing into a single, modernized facility, creating a more efficient, centralized operation, and expands capacity with a new production line at the facility to support both near-term demand and long-term organic growth. By centralizing production, Echo Lake Foods eliminates redundancy across sites, streamlines workflows, and strengthens supply reliability. In addition, the upgraded equipment and automation are expected to improve yields and reduce labor requirements. Together, we believe these improvements will enhance Echo Lake Foods' operational efficiency, increase throughput, and position the network to meet rising customer demand as part of Cal-Maine Foods' broader long-term prepared foods strategy.
This investment builds on the previously announced $14.8 million high-speed pancake line project, which is expected to add an additional 12 million pounds of annual production through early fiscal 2027.
While these expansion initiatives are underway and expected to drive higher output, improved efficiency, and greater operational flexibility once complete, Echo Lake Foods has and will experience a temporary reduction in production volumes and higher costs, which began late in the second fiscal quarter of 2026 and are expected to continue through the remainder of fiscal 2026.
In addition, Cal-Maine Foods announced that its joint venture, Crepini Foods, will invest $7 million through fiscal 2028 to add 18 million pounds of additional production capacity. This growth will be achieved through a series of new equipment and line installations, which is expected to gradually increase capacity over the next two years and expand Crepini Foods' volume by more than sevenfold.
In total, these planned investments are expected to grow Cal-Maine's prepared foods production capacity by more than 30 percent in the next 18-24 months.
"These prepared foods investments are a critical component of our multi-year plan to strengthen mid-cycle earnings, enhance portfolio resilience, and capture accelerating demand for high-protein, ready-to-eat, and convenience formats," Mr. Miller said. "By investing in our facilities and building an exceptional leadership team, we believe we are creating a bigger, stronger, more capable prepared foods platform for the years ahead."
About Cal-Maine Foods
Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM) is the largest egg company in the United States and a leading player in the egg-based food industry. With a strong national footprint, Cal-Maine Foods provides nutritious, affordable, and sustainable protein to millions of households every day.
The company's portfolio spans the full egg value ladder—from conventional to specialty, including cage-free, organic, brown, free-range, pasture-raised, and nutritionally enhanced—serving both retail and foodservice customers nationwide. Cal-Maine Foods also participates in the growing prepared foods sector, with offerings such as pre-cooked egg patties, omelets, folded and scrambled egg formats, hard-cooked eggs, pancakes, waffles, and specialty wraps. Its branded portfolio includes Eggland's Best®, Land O'Lakes®, Farmhouse Eggs®, 4Grain®, Sunups®, MeadowCreek Foods®, and Crepini®.
Headquartered in Ridgeland, Mississippi, Cal-Maine's strategy combines scale, operational excellence, and financial discipline with a commitment to innovation and sustainability, to enable the company to deliver trusted nutrition, enduring partnerships, and long-term value for its stakeholders.
Forward Looking Statements
Statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and include but are not limited to the amount and timing of projected investment amounts and related potential increases in production and other related potential operational and financial benefits, anticipated synergies and long-term financial expectations for Echo Lake Foods. The forward-looking statements are based on management's current intent, belief, expectations, estimates and projections regarding our Company and our industry. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that are difficult to predict and may be beyond our control. The factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements include, among others, (i) the risk factors set forth the Company's SEC Filings (including its Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K), (ii) the risks and hazards inherent in the shell egg business (including disease, pests, weather conditions, and potential for product recall), including but not limited to the current outbreak of HPAI affecting poultry in the U.S., Canada and other countries that was first detected in commercial flocks in the U.S. in November 2023 and that first impacted our flocks in December 2023, (iii) changes in the demand for and market prices of shell eggs and feed costs, (iv) our ability to predict and meet demand for cage-free and other specialty eggs, (v) risks, changes, or obligations that could result from our recent or future acquisition of new flocks or businesses, such as our acquisition of Echo Lake Foods completed June 2, 2025, and risks or changes that may cause conditions to completing a pending acquisition not to be met, (vi) our ability to successfully integrate and manage the business of Echo Lake Foods and realize the expected benefits of the acquisition, including synergies, cost savings, reduction in earnings volatility, margin expansion, financial returns, expanded customer relationships, or sales or growth opportunities, and our ability to realize the expected financial and other benefits of the Echo Lake Foods expansion projects (vii) our ability to retain existing customers, acquire new customers and grow our product mix including our prepared foods product offerings, (viii) the impacts and potential future impacts of government, customer and consumer reactions to recent high market prices for eggs, (ix) potential impacts to our business as a result of our Company ceasing to be a "controlled company" under the rules of The Nasdaq Stock Market on April 14, 2025, (x) risks relating to potential changes in inflation, interest rates and trade and tariff policies, (xi) adverse results in pending litigation and other legal matters, and (xii) global instability, including as a result of the war in Ukraine, the conflicts involving Israel and Iran, and attacks on shipping in the Red Sea. The Company's SEC filings may be obtained from the SEC or the Company's website, www.calmainefoods.com. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements because, while we believe the assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, there can be no assurance that these forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate. Further, forward-looking statements included herein are made only as of the respective dates thereof, or if no date is stated, as of the date hereof. Except as otherwise required by law, we disclaim any intent or obligation to update publicly these forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events, or otherwise.
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