article How the Bird Flu—and the Media—Changed Kakadoodle

I’ll never forget how the media frenzy began...

A couple of local outlets had reached out, but I (Marty) was heading to a pastured poultry conference—of all things—so we asked to delay interviews until I got back.

I was standing in line at the airport, about to board, on the phone with MariKate and my parents when MariKate said, “Fox News just reached out. Now NBC. Wait—CBS just messaged. They’re coming to the farm tonight, with or without us.” The word was definitely out.

Then my mom—totally out of character for her—cut in and said, “Marty, get out of line. This is more important.”

So I did what any good son would do: I listened to my mom! I was next to scan my boarding pass. I turned to the gate agent and said, “I’ve gotta go,” walked out of line, got in my car, and drove straight back to the farm.

That afternoon, we did back-to-back interviews with four different outlets. I thought that the craziness had calmed—so that evening, I hopped back on a flight to the conference.

Nope.

The next day was just as wild—Zoom interviews, phone calls from my hotel room, and more in-person interviews happening back at the farm. It was nonstop.

Over the span of a week, we were featured on CBS, NBC, FOX, WGN, the Chicago Tribune, and more. A couple months later, we ended up on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt

Below is a chart showing our site traffic and new customers over the past two years. You can see the moment the local media hit—huge spike in visitors, and a solid bump in customers. Most of those visitors were likely outside our delivery zone, but it was still a noticeable lift.

Interestingly, the NBC Nightly News segment didn’t create nearly the same spike. Despite upgrading our servers in advance, the traffic hit all at once and temporarily crashed the site. It was a flood, but short-lived. In contrast, the local stories were spread over a week and much more aligned with our actual customer base.

Now check out the next chart—our weekly sales over the past two years. You’ll see Thanksgiving bumps in 2023 and 2024, followed by the bird flu.

Then came the bounce.

When we reopened after a 2 week break, we hit a new record: $14,000 in sales in a single week. That was all of you rallying with bigger orders to show your support.

Sales dipped again when eggs were either limited or not available, but we kept asking ourselves: Where will things land?

Now, a few months later, we’re seeing things level out around $11,000/week. That’s up from an average $9,000/week before the bird flu.

A $2,000/week lift—sustained. And we think that’s largely thanks to the media attention and expanded awareness it created.

We’re more fired up than ever to prove that a self-sustaining, local food system is not only possible—it’s happening. Thanks to you all for being part of the ride with us!