Here’s the Buzz on a Booming Business in Bees (2024)

Erik and Rachael Messner’s home on an acre in south Kansas City gave them plenty of room to indulge in a host of hobbies.

They made coffeeliqueur, ceramic jewelry, soap and more, gifting the items to family and friends. They shared “maybe a dream” of selling them one day.

For their soaps, they even created a“MessnerFamily Farm” label.

“I didn’t want to give it to anyone without a label. I thought it looked better,” Rachael said. “But everyone turned around and thought we had started a business. That was exciting.”

But it was their two beehives, buzzing with activityinside, that would turn that dream into a booming four-acre complex on the eastern edge of Raytown.

Building Buzz

TheMessnersnetted their first real harvest of honey and beeswax from the two hives in the summer of 2014. They bottled the honey and made beeswax lip balm, added their ceramic jewelry, spun wool and soap to the inventory.

Rachael then put on a Crossroads craft fair, inviting other area makers to take part.

But her customers were particularly drawn to thebeeproducts.

She also worked for a variety of entrepreneurs, gaining experience in bookkeeping and accounting, human resources, customer service, business licensing and more. By fall of 2015, when she was making enough money on the family business, Rachael quit her part-time job to do more events.

“It was about getting in front of as many faces as possible. Just non-stop go, go, go,
making connections,” she said. “I was wholesaling the lip balm at local businesses. I always gave away free samples. People love free samples.”

She would sell so many products at showssuch as Boulevardia, Kansas City Pride, the Kansas City Renaissance Festival and area farmers’ marketsthatshe would come home and stay up until 2 a.m. rebuilding the inventory for that day’s sales.

“That’s not unusual at craft sales. People are out there hustling,” she said.

By 2017, the business had grown to the point that thecouple had to make a choice. They could stay at the current sales level with some craft shows and wholesale customers, or expand by hiring employees and opening a commercial kitchen.

“We have a consumable product. People who bought one lip balm came back and wanted six,” she said. “I would have had to start turning customers down, turn wholesale customers down, stop adding more events.

“We are two humans, and I was sleep deprived. But we weren’tgoing toput the brakes on the growth.”

The Business of Bees

Family Connection

Erik’s mother had four acres at 8301 Westridge Road in Raytown. She ran her interior design shop in one of the buildings, temporarily living in another. A refurbished barn on the site was used for events. But she wanted to sell it all.

Erik and Rachael bought the property, gutting the interior design shop for a production facility and a retail shop that opened in October 2017. They moved into the house.

MessnerBeeFarm continued to grow until the COVID-19 pandemic. Then they developed a hand sanitizer, focusing on online sales that grew 1,000% during2020. During the pandemic, the shop was temporarily closed and became a shippingand receiving area.

Erik, a structural engineer, started working forMessnerfull time in late 2022.

In October 2023, the couple moved production to the barn’s basem*nt and reopened the shop in November. They started the year with eight employees and ended it with 15.

They now have 35 bee colonies at the Raytown headquarters and three other area locations. There are more than 30,000 bees per colony.

‘Learning Curve’

At first Erik wanted anall-natural colony. But he said thatwasn’t what was best for hisbees,so he looked to the successfulcompanies with the lowest losses.

“The learning curve is so steep. You are making sure they have room to grow, that diseases are under control, and hoping and praying that everything is going well in there,” Erik said. “Thebeestaught us to value science, listening to thebeesand what they need and how to care for them.”

Some beekeepers have only one harvest a year.Messnerhas two. The spring harvest produces light-coloredhoney with a floral flavor, which is already presold. The summer harvest is a darker, nuttier honey. They sell raw, infused and cream styles.

The other half of their business is beeswax products, including lip balm (from lavender lemonade to strawberry rhubarb), honeysuckle vanillahand salve, solid perfume and cologne in suchscents as honeysuckle, and lavenderoatmeal soap.

They get ideas from customers and employees. But while no one was asking for honey cotton candy, it is now a top seller.

Employees in “Beeswaxland,” in the lower level of the barn, came up with a new solid perfume scent called “As You Wish” and described as a juicy berry blossom, light and sweet. The staff collaborated on the label, name and what pressed flower to put inside.

Production employees also spend time working retail so they can see firsthand what customers like about the products, how they engage with the label, and if the labels are easy to read and understand.

That respect and empowerment for employees helps them keep workers. Job openings often attract hundreds of applications.

Some days the couple are focused on production, some days retail, some days the bees, and some days all three.

Bringing Joy

“Being around the bees just brings me lots of joy. Even though I know they don’t recognize me, I still feel a connection. I miss them when I can’t see them,” Erik said. “When you figure out how to just be successful in keeping them alive it feels good to know that you are helping advance the cause of honeybees specifically and pollinators in general. It feels good to be on that side of the conversation when you are talking about the environment.”

Their customers like buying natural environmentally friendly products where they can interact with people who make them, theMessnerssaid.

“I’ve been a return customer for several years. I won’t buy honey from anyone else. Quality product and carefully shipped,” posted one customer on their Etsy page. Another declared: “Best honey in the land!”

While customers liked their solid deodorant, it was labor intensive and not fun to make. So, they dropped it because it didn’t fit intotheir philosophy: Bringer of joy.

“It is extremelydifficultto make a business inbees. If you do everything right and the customers really love it, youmake a little bit of profit. Then you grow but the growth sucks thatlittle bit of profit,” Erik said. “As soon as I see the money hit the bank it is always going to something else,reinvested in the business. There’s never a point where ‘Oh, I made it.’ ”

Their rapid growth— about40% annually on average — comes with its own issues.

In hindsight, the couple said they might have delegated more quickly, such as outsourcing label manufacturing instead of doing it by hand. Still, some things they delegated were not handled,leaving them scrambling.

Their retail shop carries their products as well asbee and other nature themed items — jewelry, toys, stickers, stuffed animals, T-shirts, hoodies and tea towels from neighbor GreenBeeTea Towels.

Some of their products are alsosold at Made in KC, Shop Local KC and Whole Foods Markets. They hope to start selling soon on e-commerce site Shopify, as well as increase their social media presence. Their mobile pop-up shop,Beeatrixthe Trolley, still heads to events and serves as a promotional tool. They would also like to expand theirRaytown shop and add an education center.

Rachael said she doesn’t want to make the business sound romantic or easy. TheMessnerswork every weekend, missing out on social events, and sleep.

“It is really hard. But I wouldn’t want to do anything else,” Rachael said. “It is great to be able to create and make brands that people want to buy. The farm, the employees, the customers, the brand and products, andthat we get to advocate forhoneybees.

“We’re a small business. We know the future is unwritten.”

Flatland contributorJoyce Smithcovered local restaurants and retail for nearly 40 years with The Kansas City Star.Follow her on X and Facebook at #JoyceKC, and Instagram and Threads at #joyceinkc.