Kaitlyn and Sarah Bonnema. Photos: Chris Emeott
Sisters run chicken egg delivery business while bracing for their future.
When Kaitlyn Bonnema got her braces off, she was devastated.
“I was really sad the day I got them off. I thought, ‘Oh, this is a stage of my life that’s completely over,’” Kaitlyn says. Waconia’s Kaitlyn and her younger sister, Sarah Bonnema, both loved having braces, inspiring their interest in pursuing a career as orthodontists and opening a shared practice.
But their first business together is far from working with teeth. One Cluck at a Time is an egg delivery business run by Kaitlyn and Sarah. Started around nine years ago, the sisters now deliver more than 100 dozen eggs per week to clients in Chanhassen, Chaska, Excelsior, Greenwood, Minnetonka, Shorewood, St. Bonifacius and Victoria.
Kaitlyn and Sarah’s father bought the family farm after he graduated from the University of Minnesota, as he was inspired by his time spent on his grandparent’s farm. When Kaitlyn was in sixth grade and Sarah in fifth grade, they asked their parents for chickens. “We really wanted a farming experience. We didn’t have any farm animals at all except for stray cats,” Kaitlyn says. They requested netted chickens—a dozen—naturally.
Once the chickens starting producing, Kaitlyn and Sarah sold the extra chicken eggs to friends and family, and One Cluck at a Time grew out of that experience.
Kaitlyn and Sarah estimate they spend around five hours a day caring for the chickens, including twice-daily feedings and waterings. Collecting, packaging and delivering the eggs takes up a lot of time, too. Delivery to Minnetonka is set for Wednesdays, which takes around six hours. (Whole roasting chickens are also available for sale.) The sisters’ parents help with deliveries, and their grandparents step in to assist if the family is away on vacation.
Both sisters graduated from the University of Minnesota in December 2023 with degrees in biology. The money earned from their egg business goes toward financing dental school tuition, and they have their hopes set on attending the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry.
“It’s definitely a big part of our lives, and everyone that knows us, knows about our business, too,” Kaitlyn says. “[One] semester, one of our professors put us at the end of her presentation in class to tell everybody there’s eggs available if they want to buy any.”
One Cluck at a Time has given Kaitlyn and Sarah a foundation of what it’s like to run a business and work with each other. “On the business side of things, we know a lot about accounting and dealing with customers,” Kaitlyn says. “We also like marketing and networking. We reach out to a lot of other poultry professionals as we go to a chicken convention every year in Minneapolis, and so we meet a lot of people there.”
Kaitlyn and Sarah have plans to keep their egg business running while in dental school. Sarah says it would be difficult to let the business go, especially since they’ve dedicated so much of their lives to it at this point. “We’re super close, not just in age, but we get along really well,” Kaitlyn says. “We hang out all the time together. It’s nice to be able to run a business with somebody that I get along with and enjoy being with.”
Main Menu
Eggs are one of the most versatile food items. Naturally, the duo has its favorite ways to add eggs into their meals. Sarah goes for a classic egg breakfast burrito while Kaitlyn prefers an egg bake, which she and her family enjoy on a weekly basis.
The Weekly Dish
Kaitlyn Bonnema plays favorites when it comes to the business she co-runs with her sister, Sarah—which is eggs. (The duo runs One Cluck at a Time egg delivery. Read more in the January issue.) When asked how she favors preparing and eating eggs, Kaitlyn answered in a way that many Midwesterners do: egg bake.
She offers her family’s take with the recipe below. While it might not seem to be too different from other similar egg bakes, there is a difference—and it’s all in the eggs. All eggs are not created equally, and the freshness that comes by way of locally sourced eggs can’t be underrated when it comes to cooking and baking. No wonder Kaitlyn enjoys egg bake once a week!
Bonnema Egg Bake
- 3/4 loaf white bread, broken into cubes with the crust removed
- 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
- 12 eggs, slightly beaten
- 4 cups milk
- 1 tsp. mustard
- 1 tsp. salt
- ground pepper to taste
- 1 pkg. sausage, cooked, crumbled and drained
Place bread in well-buttered 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Combine the next five ingredients in a bowl. Pour evenly over the bread and cheese. Sprinkle cooked sausage over the top. Cover, and chill overnight. Preheat oven to 325 F. Bake uncovered for 45-50 minutes. Tent with foil if top begins to brown too quickly. Makes eight servings.
Small but Mighty
Eggs provide us with essential vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin B12, a nutrient that helps keep the body’s blood and nerve cells healthy, and iodine, which helps make thyroid hormones that keep cells healthy, according to the American Egg Board.
Both high in protein and nutrients, eggs, it notes, also contain disease-fighting nutrients like lutein and zeaxanthin.
For information, email onecluckatatime@gmail.com.
Incredible Egg
Instagram: @onecluckatatime
