Opinion: What happens when community is a long-term stakeholder

Mike O’Brien

Businesses spend a lot of time talking about stakeholders. Customers, employees, suppliers, investors – the list is familiar. But there is one that’s often spoken about warmly and considered lightly: the community where a business operates. 

In my experience, that’s a mistake. 

When leaders genuinely understand the long‑term priorities of their community, they make better decisions. Decisions that last, reduce risk and build trust. Over time, those decisions create resilient businesses, and a deeply collaborative network of aligned stakeholders. 

For us at Vital Farms, Springfield is where that lesson became real. 

Springfield isn’t a market our executives visit occasionally or a place on a map where work gets done. It’s where hundreds of our crew members live and where much of our supply chain has been built alongside nearby family farmers. We’ve learned that the more closely we align our decisions with community resilience, the stronger our business becomes. 

Community as strategic input 
Many companies treat community engagement as an output: something to give back to once, some may say, the real business decisions are made. We’ve found the opposite works better. 

When you treat your community as a stakeholder input – something that shapes where you invest, how you grow and what tradeoffs you’re willing to accept – it fundamentally changes the quality and accountability of your decisions. 

That perspective has influenced everything from how we’ve expanded our footprint to how we think about workforce growth and infrastructure. Investments like leasing our new facility near Egg Central Station weren’t made to add square footage. They were made to help our crew connect more directly with the people and the places behind their work because proximity still matters. In our experience, those connections lead to fewer blind spots, better operational decisions and stronger long-term accountability. 

Culture bridges gaps 
Earlier this year, Springfield hosted the centennial kickoff celebration for Route 66 – a highway born here to move people, commerce and food across the country. Long before it became a cultural icon, Route 66 was an economic artery – connecting towns and rural producers to national markets. Springfield sat at the center of that movement. 

It reminds us that Springfield has long played a connective role – not just geographically, but economically. When communities like this invest in infrastructure, relationships and shared purpose, they don’t just move products. They move opportunity.  

Seeing Springfield step back into that connective role during the centennial reminded us of something we’ve learned as a business: Shared culture can bridge gaps that spreadsheets can’t. We invited a cross-section of stakeholders to spend meaningful time in Springfield during the celebration, to provide context around how our community thinks about their impact. 

Leaders make clearer long‑term decisions when they experience the environments those decisions affect. You hear different questions. You notice different constraints. You gain a longer view, and that longer view leads to better outcomes. 

Long‑term commitment  
Anyone can say they care about the long term. Fewer are willing to prove it. 

Choosing to grow deeply in Springfield has meant making investments that balance speed with durability. It’s meant building strong local partnerships, growing our facility and workforce thoughtfully, and investing in community organizations that help strengthen resilient food systems. 

These choices are about durability because strong communities create steadier labor markets, lasting partnerships, and more predictable growth. When communities thrive, businesses face fewer disruptive surprises from turnover to capacity constraints. 

That kind of stability compounds, just like trust does. 

Taking the long road 
Route 66 was never the fastest way to get somewhere. It was the route that connected towns, built livelihoods and stitched together economic opportunity across generations. That feels like an apt metaphor for how businesses should think about community today. 

If Springfield has taught us anything, it’s that long‑term thinking isn’t abstract. It’s practical and helps earn trust more consistently. It shows up in location choices, in who you invite into decision‑making, and in whether you treat community as an afterthought or a partner. 

And in the long run, that kind of trust may be the most valuable return of all. 

Mike O’Brien is director of plant operations at Vital Farms Inc.’s Egg Central Station in Springfield, where he leads day-to-day production. He can be reached at mike.o’brien@vitalfarms.com.