The story of an Abbotsford family business and its growth is being featured in a new book.
First with the Finest: Vanderpol’s Eggs, a Family Enterprise was written by long-time Abbotsford resident Pieter Vanderpol and shares the story of how his immigrant family built a door-to-door egg delivery service in the 1950s into the largest egg processor in western Canada.
From the late 1970s until 2013, Vanderpol’s operated a large processing plant on Mount Lehman Road that employed hundreds of local residents.
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“First with the Finest is above all about people,” stated Vanderpol, who was president of the company for decades. “Starting with my parents, it’s about the family members and long-time employees who made the company prosper. To understand them — their personalities, backgrounds, values, and motivation — is to understand why things happened and why Vanderpol’s enjoyed such success.”
In addition to Pieter’s account, First with the Finest includes excerpts of interviews with over a dozen family members and long-time employees.
The hard cover book is 223 pages long and features full colour photos.
Vanderpol’s Eggs ceased to be a family-owned business in 2013, but the legacy is being carried on by two of Vanderpol’s sons. Phil Vanderpol is president and CEO of Vitalus Nutrition Inc., and Mike Vanderpol is president of EggSolutions Vanderpol’s. Both companies occupy the Mount Lehman plant once operated by Vanderpol’s Eggs.
Copies of First with the Finest can be ordered and paid for in the online store of EggSolutions Vanderpol’s vanderpolseggs.store and picked up at their plant at 3911 Mount Lehman Road in Abbotsford. The cost of the book is $20.
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