In this episode of 'Celebrating Small Family Businesses,' hosts John and Connie Kuder interview Derrick and Bill Jerome, the father-son duo behind Honey Badger's Bee Farm.

Initially motivated by Derrick’s quest to alleviate his allergies with local honey, the business began with just two hives in the city and has grown to over 200 hives. They discuss the evolution of their products, from raw honey to innovative smoked and flavored honeys, and their recent ventures into honey-infused teas and a unique, patent-pending tea emulsification process.

The Jeromes also share their challenges, including a forced rebranding from 'Hobbit Honey' to 'Honey Badgers' due to copyright issues.

The episode touches on their success in expanding their product line, securing national retail opportunities with Walmart, and the importance of family involvement and trust in their business's growth.

They explore how the business adapted to commercial demands, patented their unique products, and the significance of community and environmental contributions, such as bee rescue operations and supporting local agriculture.

00:00 Welcome to Celebrating Small Family Businesses

00:47 Meet Honey Badger's Bee Farm: The Origin Story

02:41 From Backyard Hives to Innovative Honey Products

05:32 The Evolution of Honey Badger's Bee Farm

08:32 Innovating Tea with Honey: A Delicious Accident

15:24 Expanding the Brand: From Tea to Testing New Ideas

21:18 Family Dynamics and Business Challenges

24:41 Navigating Business Roles and Dynamics

26:29 Embracing Strengths and Overcoming Challenges

26:56 Innovating with Patents and Expanding Product Lines

31:18 Scaling Up: Infrastructure and Future Plans

34:31 Navigating Costs and Sourcing Challenges

41:30 Community Engagement and Educational Initiatives

46:40 Celebrating Small Family Business Success

John and Connie: Hi and welcome

to another episode of Celebrating

Small Family businesses.

We're John and Connie Kuder..

And today we have with us Bill

and Derrick, sorry, Derrick

in foreground, Bill Jerome.

And they are Honey Badger's Bee Farm.

They have a fascinating

story and a fascinating line

products I've never before.

So we are excited to be here.

Hi Derrick.

Hi Bill.

Derrick and Bill: Definitely.

John and Connie: Welcome to the party.

Derrick and Bill: Hi, I'm Derek.

I'm Derek Jerome.

And this is my father

right here next to me.

Uh, it is a family business.

, My brother couldn't make it today.

He's, he's under the weather.

He's the third badger.

John and Connie: That's a third badger.

All right.

Love the name of, of your business.

That is fabulous.

So how did your business get started?

What, uh, what got you into

Derrick and Bill: this?

Well, basically I, my, well, my dad

thought I was crazy, but I have real bad

allergies in the, uh, the spring and fall.

And I would track down the local

redneck at the flea market that

had three teeth and suspenders.

and look for the authentic honey

with the guy and I would find him

and I would go and get the comb

honey that was in the big mason jar.

And I was like, I know this guy went out

in his backyard or up a tree to get this.

And I would use the honey and I would

eat the honeycomb and in the spring

and the fall, my allergies would stop.

And I was like, this is fantastic.

This works great.

Um, because I would get to the point I'd

have to take so many pills or I would

take Benadryl and start chewing them

up like Flintstone vitamins and become

narcoleptic as I was trying to walk.

So I was like, I got to get honey.

So I started taking it and I went

to go find the guy and he was gone.

I was like, man, how am

I going to get honey?

So I went to the local Trader Joe's.

I went to all the health food stores.

I was like, I want real honey.

And as I read on the, on the

different jars, I found out, well,

this is from Argentina, this is from

Pakistan, or this is from another

state or God knows what it is.

And I would try to take some of

it and it wouldn't work for me.

So I came up with the idea and I come

home one day and I told my wife, I

said, I, you know, I've been YouTubing

and I've been studying getting bees.

I want to get bees.

And she told me I was crazy

that we lived in the city and

I was not going to get bees.

And I said, you know what?

I'm going to go to the local

meetings with the bee club, meet

with some other people that do bees.

And I said, I'm going to learn about it.

And I'm going to get bees.

I'm bringing them home.

No, no, no.

You're crazy.

Well, I went and got two hives.

I brought them home.

And put them right in the backyard.

And this is, at this time we lived in

the city, so you walked out our back

door and there was two full size hives

sitting right outside our back door.

And that pretty much started everything.

Uh, we're over 200 hives now

that we currently manage.

Uh, but those first two hives that I got

started it in the city, in the backyard.

So that, that basically, and that was my

medicine was to go out there and get that.

And I was like, this is fun.

I got a bunch of extra honey.

What am I going to do with it?

I'm like, I'll sell to the guys at work.

This is pretty cool.

And we started bottling it

and I started selling it.

I started rescuing bees.

, My brother and I started, uh, he

has a pest control company and

we started going out and taking

them out of fascias, soffits, out

of houses, water meters, and that

continued to bring more and more bees.

So every time we had a rescue,

then we got another hive.

And as we were doing this

and started selling honey, My

dad, he goes, that looks fun.

Let me, join you guys.

Do we want to start a little business?

I'm like, okay.

So pop jumped in and, uh, he

has a huge culinary background.

Dad and I used to have

a restaurant years ago.

Uh, we, we shut down , back in 2010, but

we had a barbecue restaurant for 10 years

and, , we started playing around with the

honey, going to flea markets, selling it.

And, uh, we were like, well, raw

honey's all right, but it just

doesn't have a, a big appeal.

I'll see you once a year, every

six months, and it was like,

we got to do something else.

So we came up with five pepper smoked

honey and we tried it at a flea market

and people went, Oh my God, this, we've

never seen anything like this before.

And that was pretty

much our eureka moment.

And we went, I think

we're onto something, Dad.

I said, uh, let's figure

out what else we can do.

And the next one he came

up with was smoked garlic.

And we took that out there.

People absolutely loved it.

They fell in love with it.

They went, Smoked honey,

garlic, this is awesome.

I said, yeah, it's all

local farms around here.

When we live in Brooksville, I said, we

just get to get the ingredients and smoke

it up and throw it right in the honey.

Oh, this is neat.

And I'm like, okay, I think

we're onto something dad.

So we just kind of puttered around

doing different small trade events.

, and under that, um, guys as a

beekeeper, you're in the cottage law.

So you can basically sell honey.

You can kind of manipulate it

a little bit and work with it.

And as we continue to progress and grow,

we got to the point that, uh, we made too

much money to have it as a hobby or as

cottage law, and we had to go commercial.

So we actually went with the USDA and

Department of Ag and became bottling

manufacturers and got certified.

And then we continued to take the,

uh, the brand and line and go with it.

So it's, it's been a crazy ride

and It seems like every couple of

months, something else pops out.

We get going even more.

Yeah.

And originally we were known as

Hobbit Honey, but because when we

become a little bit popular and people

started seeing us on Facebook and

everything else, the people from, uh,

um, what's the name of their company?

Middle Earth Industries.

They contacted us and said,

we own the word Hobbit.

Take it down or we'll

fine you $15, 000 a day.

So we took it down and we

came up with Honey Badgers.

And it's basically

Honey Badgers don't give

a

Derrick and Bill: care.

John and Connie: I remember

that little YouTube video that

was going around like a meme.

Honey Badger's bada**

That

was so funny.

Oh my goodness.

Derrick and Bill: It's a

bit of a nickname for me.

I'm small and furry and ferocious.

So a lot of the boys at

work, that's what they said.

And when I was changing my name.

Yeah, it's a bit of a nickname.

go, well, you're like

a little Honey Badger.

Yeah.

Yeah, you're, you're mean and mean

like a little honey badger you

want to scratch and bite, and I'm

like, oh, well, that worked for me.

John and Connie: I love it.

I love it.

Better name anyway.

I'm really curious about

the, the smoking idea.

I mean, did that come from the

barbecue restaurant or what?

I mean, what, where did

that idea come from?

I've never heard of smoking, you

know, mixing smoke and honey.

Derrick and Bill: It was, uh, it

was one of those kind of ideas.

I've made a pepper sauce from scratch

that I actually made for the restaurant.

And it was wildly popular.

We also made hot sauce that we

sold over the counter and I put,

I like to smoke meat, obviously

doing a barbecue, but I put those

together and I went, you know what?

I bet if I smoke, smoke the peppers.

and then infuse them into the

honey, then I'm going to come

up with a better product.

And we tested it and we went, Oh my God.

Oh, okay.

This is good.

And that's pretty much the Eureka is that

we've, we've been working, making sauce

like barbecue sauce for years, but we

never thought when we had the restaurant

to really use natural ingredients instead

of using, you know, um, the fake honeys

and stuff that you get in high fructose

corn syrup to make barbecue sauce.

At the restaurant, we would, we went,

Oh, wow, now we have a natural product.

Let's infuse it.

And then now when we give it to somebody,

and we say, okay, we're selling you this.

Not only is it good forever, but

everything in it you can pronounce.

You don't need YouTube or Google

search to figure out what's in it.

And it lasts forever.

It's one of those miracle things.

And we said that, you know, we get

a lot of people, you see, um, some

of the other companies out there,

and they make it all pure where it

looks absolutely purty in there.

Well, we leave the peppers

and everything in there.

We want you to get all the good stuff.

Because that's obviously where

all the vitamin C, that's where

all the other good parts of the

pepper is actually in the flesh.

So we leave the pepper seeds

and the flesh all in there.

So you're getting, you're getting

actually everything with it.

And, uh, we've taken that, that

kind of, uh, leave everything in the

bottle and leave it all natural from

the garlic and the smoke all the way

to now what we're producing is tea.

And we didn't even think that

was going to be that popular.

And that was more of an

accident than, uh, anything.

Yeah.

But, but that was, that

was a nice accident.

john-and-connie_1_03-29-2024_091031: You

went to the World Tea Expo and came in,

uh, like second in the world or something?

Derrick and Bill: Yeah, we

took, uh, that was last March.

Um, all three of us flew out to Vegas.

We were invited, , as a, um, to come out

and, , show our wares and have a small

area and a brand new undiscovered section.

So we got invited to that, but part

of that every year they do a Def

Chante, which is one of the founders

tea that brought it to America.

Um, they do tea tycoons and

it's everybody in the world can

enter this contest every year.

And I put us in and I said,

okay, we'll, we'll put in for

what we do with the tea and.

We were coming up with a new invention.

This is our badger spoon that holds

the exact amount of tea for our honey

tea and makes it single serving.

And we're like, we'll put

it in and see what happens.

And I kept getting calls every

few months that like, okay,

you're in the last 10, 000.

I'm like, yeah, okay.

That's great.

I'm like, we're, we're coming

to display our stuff in Vegas.

We're going to come anyway.

I said, you know, you give me false

hope with winning the Tea Tycoons.

I said, it's fine.

And as we progressively got

closer, she called me up a

couple weeks before we flew out.

She says, you're in the finals.

And I went, what?

She says, yeah, it's you and, uh,

there's going to be six of you on stage.

And I go, Okay.

I said, that sounds great.

She says, well, you guys are going

to battle it on the stage and you're

going to talk about your business.

He says, do you have any problems talking?

I go, no, you'll probably have to tell

me to shut up or throw something at me.

I said, but I have no problems talking.

I said, I'll be more than happy to talk

about what we did and how we developed it.

So we ended up going up head to head

with Australia that made a tea based wine

without alcohol for like Zima for tea.

I don't, I don't know.

And, um, they took first and

we took second in the world.

So we were in a few of the bigger

publications, Tea Time magazine,

some of the ones with, uh, dad

and I don't really understand.

It's got the little doilies and,

uh, little crumpet cakes and

the old ladies with the hat.

It was like, we were in some of

those and they asked us, you know.

Hey, you're, we have all that.

Yeah, we're a farm.

I said, we're honey badgers.

We're not, I don't know what

the doily and little cakes are

for, but our tea is really good.

John and Connie: That's,

that's fascinating.

Yeah.

You talk, yeah, you talk about the doilies

and all that, like thinking about the

English high tea and there's such a kind

of a ritual around that and the English

are very particular about their tea.

I'd be very curious to see how your tea

honey mixture is received by the Brits.

That's fun.

Wow.

What a great story.

So tell us about working together.

What, what is it that,

that makes it so much fun?

Because obviously you guys

are successful with it.

Derrick and Bill: Partly

is I'm a retired chef.

So it, and Derek and Andy both

have culinary backgrounds, so

it's kind of like you throw out

an idea and it bounces around.

You've got three different

opinions and sometimes we all

settle on the same opinion.

Sometimes we don't, but.

Then we try something, we

just see where it goes.

And it depends on the taste buds.

Uh, my brother's taste buds are

kind of like, we call him the Helen

Keller of taste buds sometimes,

but he also provides that valuable

feedback, but we, we razz him up.

We go like, what does this taste like?

And he's like, uh, and we're like,

no, no, no, no, no, that's not it.

So, but we, uh, we, we have

this great relationship.

We're coming up with ideas and, uh,

we've just grand slandered them.

And some of them come from little

things that the whole idea with the

tea, I think is, uh, we, we both get

aggravated, uh, to a certain extent,

sometimes at the shows doing trade shows

that people ask us for a half hour, what

kind of tea or what kind of honey to

put in their tea and how much they love

this kind of tea and that kind of tea.

And we'll take it to the point

where we know what your palate is.

And we know what honey

will kind of work with it.

And then they just go, uh, I'm

just going to take this weird honey

here and throw it all in the tea.

And we're like, what?

I'm like, oh, okay.

And when I come back to you

one day, I said, you know what?

We were watching Karate Kid,

I think is how it started.

I was watching Karate Kid with

one of my, my daughters and

I'm watching the tea ceremony.

And if you're watching him do the,

uh, little hook and there, and I put

it in and I seen that and I went.

That's green tea, and it's a powder.

He's putting it in water.

I'm like That's an idea.

So I actually got green real

green tea and Matcha, and I said

well if you could do a water Why

couldn't you infuse it in the honey?

And then you could take it out of the

honey in a spoon and put it back in

the water and now it's sweetened And

ready to go And the rest is history.

That was our first one was matcha.

And we put it out there on

the market

Derrick and Bill: and people

went, Oh my God, this is awesome.

All in one product.

John and Connie: And you don't, uh,

I'm not as familiar with tea as I am

with coffee, but you know, once you

grind, they say once you grind coffee

beans, you know, oil, the flavors start

to degrade, and that's why the, you

know, the canned stuff doesn't

taste as good as fresh ground.

With tea, when you infuse the, the tea

into the honey, does the, you don't

get any kind of chemical reaction

that, that changes flavor of the tea?

Derrick and Bill: Nope.

And no, actually the, uh, flavor stays

right along with the, the, the honey in

the tea, because you're actually consuming

the tea leaf right along with the honey.

So you're getting all the free

radicals and all that, all

of that with, with the tea.

Yeah, we didn't, we don't just brew

the tea and put it in the honey.

We take the, just like a matcha,

we take it all and it all goes in.

So it's, you're drinking the leaf and

uh, our coffee variety, you're actually

drinking the coffee bean too, which

is actually wonderfully good for you.

And, uh, if you think about it, we throw

the good part when you're drinking tea

bath water, 90 percent of the time, and

you're taking all the leaves and you're

chucking them in the trash can, where

that's a beneficial part of the tea,

and a lot of the older teas and stuff,

depending on where you're getting it from,

God knows how old that little teabag is.

Part of the, uh, being there and winning

that contest was the connections we made.

So I actually got to meet with

the people that make the tea

in their origin countries.

So these guys were from Nepal, they

were from Southeast Asia, they were from

all around the world and they were the

actual farmers and family businesses.

So we got bougie kind of with our tea.

So the black tea comes from

Nepal, um, the butterfly pea

flower comes from Southeast Asia.

So I actually got to meet.

And connect with other, uh, businesses

that are farms that make these products.

And we got to make our

stuff just that much better.

Uh, and, and that is

really what pushes us on.

And we didn't think that tea

would be that big of a deal.

And we're like, well, tea's alright.

We make honey, our pepper stuff is cool.

And, you know, we're making

flavored honey, this is cool.

And it's like, okay,

well tea's a big thing.

Okay, this is a big deal.

And they really like it.

So, uh, we have that jar all

in one and then we just keep

stumbling upon crazy stuff.

We were, we're sitting and we're cleaning

our machine and we've had machines

specially built and designed, uh, for

us under my, my specs and designed to be

able to do this and we're cleaning the

machine, but to clean the machine out,

we've got to put water in the machine.

So we have to dump it in and then

it shoots it out and shoots back out

through the machine.

And at the end, we have a, you

know, a two and a half gallon bucket

and it's shooting out green tea.

And we're like, man,

this kind of looks good.

So we tasted it and it was

like, oh my God, this is great.

This still tastes delicious.

And this is just going out.

This is wastewater.

So we started bottling 16 ounce teas that

are all natural teas that don't, they

have to be refrigerated at all times,

of course, or anything else at all.

But we actually started putting those

and that was kind of something that

started just from us cleaning the machine.

We said, we got some bottles,

let's bottle this up.

We'll give it out.

See what people think kind of

gets that, that mentality from it.

And it's got to the point now I run

14 gallons per batch to make that tea.

And I don't do the cleaning anymore, but.

The cleaning is what started it, but it's

now I'm actually have to make batches of

tea and we're running about 800 ish teas

a week, um, in nine different flavors

that are available and about 80 different

retailers around our area right now.

So tea is super hot with us and, uh,

it's our, our, our honey based tea.

Everything's got honey, tea, purified

water, and then any kind of, um, if we put

a natural ingredients, it's one of those.

Natural flavor characters.

It's really concentrated.

It gives it a real good,

uh, a little flavor to it.

And that whole idea came from us

cleaning the machinery and going, man,

I don't want to throw all this out.

This stuff tastes delicious.

And we had a distributor come

in and he grabbed it and went,

man, this, this is great.

And we're in local mom and pops and people

are grabbing our quick grab-and-go teas

that has that higher quality of tea and

honey, and it's an all natural product.

Nothing, you know, there's no crazy

stabilizers And they're they're grabbing

it and it's like this is this is fantastic

and it's it's amazing We keep stumbling

upon some weird ideas that we're bouncing

off each other and he says let's let's

put it in the bottle See what works.

I'm like, okay, it works people like it

John and Connie: That's so, I

mean, is so core to, um, success

is testing things, you test, try

new stuff, test and see what works.

And, and you don't have to, you don't have

to put, go all in on something, right.

You try something, can,

you market it a little bit.

I mean that's, and, and that, I

Derrick and Bill: And that's all and he's

he's got a lot of people that we

can test market with at the jail.

So We send it, send it there first

of all, and then get feedback.

And then, uh, we've, we've put a

lot of samples out in different

places, sell food places, then some

of the gyms and stuff like that.

We got feedback on some of it.

Well, this might be, this

is a little bit too sweet.

So we back off on the sweetness of it.

Uh, the amount of honey that

we put into it and that.

And then that was our feedback.

And it's like, then we got down to

where, okay, these are all good.

Boom.

Oh yeah.

It's, and it was nothing but

buying some bottles that,

John and Connie: full-time Sheriff's

Deputy?

Derrick and Bill: Yep.

I'm a, I'm assigned right

now to a corrections.

I'm dual certified law

enforcement and corrections.

John and Connie: Okay, so that's

what Bill by, uh, I wanted to

make, I wanted to clarify that.

That's what Bill meant by, um,

you know, you've got a lot of

people that test at the jail.

Captive audience.

Derrick and Bill: Yeah, yeah, yeah,

not.

Yeah, not an inmate.

Those are other, uh, what we call

ourselves jail guards or the other deputy

sheriffs that work there at the facility.

And, uh, it's kind of

like that old commercial.

If Mikey, see if Mikey will eat

it, Mikey will try anything.

Well, I'd take it to work and, you know.

The boys basically try everything.

They humor me, but now they've got to

the point that they know whatever I bring

is probably going to be really good.

So they, they all run and

bug the crap out of me.

Like, Oh, let me try it.

I got to try it.

Oh, what'd you make now?

Or what is this?

And I tested out on them.

I said, give me your honest

opinion because I know you will.

Unlike, you know, normal people.

I said, you're not going

to hurt my feelings.

The honey badger don't care.

Just tell me if it tastes like

crap it tastes or what it needs.

And, uh, we, we take it out there and

we let everybody at, have a go at, at

it, especially when we're doing tests.

I want, uh, other pallets and other

people testing it just to see what,

uh, what the, the consensus is on it.

John and Connie: Yeah, yeah.

You get a, kind of like with your

brother, you get a broad, uh, spectrum

of palates because they

don't come necessarily from a

culinary background where you guys

have got a well trained palate.

Derrick and Bill: Right.

John and Connie: Very cool.

is there, , is there a challenge

that you've overcome together

as family you think would

other family businesses benefit

hearing about?

Or a lesson learned?

Derrick and Bill: I don't

know.

Derrick and Bill: I mean, we

have a unique, kind of dynamic.

Uh, we actually, we moved from, Pinellas,

uh, back in 2017, out here to the

woods, what we call it, on five acres.

We were going to, I was going to wait

until I retired to move out, but it

actually made a family dynamic that

my Mom and Dad are living with me.

We're living in one big giant house

here on the property and we're kind of

setting up a little farm and that, that

actually works and that, that dynamic

works, uh, you know, with my kids and my

wife and my, I have my Mom and Dad here.

That are just downstairs.

They live in live in

the downstairs portion.

We're in a huge three story

It's almost 5, 000 square foot.

But when we seen the house originally

I was looking for bee land So it

always goes right back to bees again.

I was looking with a realtor friend.

He says hey, you know I know

you're just looking for land,

but I got this really cool spot.

I want you to go look at I'm like listen

I don't retire for a while Uh, I think I'm

a little outside of retiring and driving

over an hour to be out in the woods.

I said, I just need

some spots to put bees.

Find me something, you

know, junky and cheap.

You know, where I can

drop bees in a good area.

He goes, just go look at this house.

You've got to, you have to see it.

So, I, of course, popped up here

and looked at it and went, Oh, Dad?

Dad?

I said, uh, get Mom and come up here.

And then I called my wife.

I said, you need to come

up here and look at this.

And we, we fell in love with this

house and the rest is history.

So we've been here since, uh, 2017

and we continue to expand upon what

we're doing here at the farm, but

it's always challenging with family.

We do go back and forth, do a

little bit of the OCC, uh, chopper

stuff every once in a while.

We, we get to, we get in,

uh, but that's family.

But at the end of the day, even

with my brother, um, you know,

you mess up or something happens.

And you yell at each other.

We're, we're family at the end of the day.

It's like, I love you, brother.

You know, I love you, dad.

We'll see you later.

And we continue to charge on, but it's

so great to be involved where you do

have family and you don't have, I have

trust issues, obviously, in my line of

work and what I do and specifically.

What I do is supervising the criminals

and, , I don't trust what people

saying what comes out of their mouth.

And that's, that's from years of

just being in that kind of setting.

So it's good to have the family

component there, or I know that

I can trust what they're doing or

what they're saying where I couldn't

put my trust into to an employee.

Uh, I would be too skeptical of

that person being around, um,

and have trust issues until I

really knew that person very well.

But having a family thing, it's great.

Having my dad, I can call him up

and say, Hey, we got online orders.

You better get them out.

And get them ready.

Or I say, hey, I need this labeled.

Or he tells me, hey, you need to

get out there and make some tea.

The distributor was just here.

Now you need nine cases

of this, this, and this.

And I'm like, oh god, okay.

So, alright, I'm gonna go

out and get started on that.

John and Connie: So you mentioned

a little bit, you alluded to the

different roles in the business.

If you guys, uh, is part of your

success having really clearly defined

who's doing what, who's in charge of

what, keeping roles straight separate?

Derrick and Bill: Yes, I think so.

I get pinned with the technology issues

and pretty much the computer end of it.

And then we kind of just bounce

off of everybody who takes a role.

Um, he predominantly does because he

doesn't like the way I put the labels on.

They're not straight.

He does all the labeling.

John and Connie: you

go with your strength.

Derrick and Bill: I, I,

My

patience level doesn't go up

and they're a little crooked.

I go, ah, they're fine.

And he's like, no, no, no, no, no, no.

So he does all the

John and Connie: We've got that

Derrick and Bill: we each take the

component of the business and it's like,

and the computer stuff comes

up, like, Hey, I need to do this

email and send this stuff or.

Set this up and it's like, get in here.

I'm like, oh, okay.

Yeah.

I'm the IT guy.

All right.

The geek, yeah.

Geek squad on call.

So I'm, I'm there for that.

And, uh, to, to get the technology end

of the stuff going and we, we all kind

of break a piece off and, and, and it

works out great for us, you know, just

having that and everybody kind of does

that, that little piece of the pie and

we, we put it together and make it happen.

You know, and then being able to talk

to each other, not as like an employee

boss relation dynamic is a lot easier

too., you know, where you have that.

And we all kind of know

what needs to get done.

And three of us being the owners, we

know what, what the end product is.

You know, our goal is to get the, get

the stuff made and done and pop through.

You know, it's, it's very trying at times.

And as, as we get going, um, We've

had our little hiccups here and

there and a lot of it's just you

know, how are we getting that?

You know each little pathway that

gets blocked like the uh Hobbit Honey.

It was like, oh my god How are

we going to recover from this?

We got to change their name.

We have to do all that

and they actually...

I appreciate, I should send those

guys a little thank you honey.

And the the amount of stuff that

they taught us without knowing

that they were teaching us.

They taught us about patents

They taught us about trademarks.

They taught us about all those

bad things that can happen to you.

And it made us better, so we

went out and patented Honey.

So, all that stuff that you see that we

have on our website, those tea emulsions.

We actually have a pending patent

that basically anything other than

raw honey will fall under our patent.

You can't patent raw honey.

But you can patent anything you add to it.

Anything you add to it,

you can put a patent on it.

So we went crazy and anything

and everything that we

could think of, we patented.

So we have THC, CBD emulsification

in honey, uh, with a single serving

delivery device, which is part

of our invention is that spoon.

That we developed for the U S and then all

the teas and like the five pepper honey

and the garlic honey, all that's patented.

And that'll be when that becomes

an enforceable part of our patent.

It's provisional right now.

It usually takes a, I think my lawyer

set up to eight years sometimes to

get a patent all the way through it.

But those valuable lessons that we

learned, it was like, I should send

these guys a gift basket because that

set us in a trajectory instead of going,

you know what?

I give up, you know, this isn't for me, or

I'm gonna not, you know, and throw a fit.

We went, we're even badder.

And , it rolls right back into the name.

It's Honey Badger.

We don't care.

We don't care.

We don't care.

John and Connie: Yep.

Derrick and Bill: we don't care.

John and Connie: I'm thinking

there's the honey badger right

Derrick and Bill: And when we, even

John and Connie: So much better name.

Derrick and Bill: when we do, yeah,

when we do events and stuff like that,

we have, uh, some, once in a while we

have the, uh, event coordinator come

up to us and say, well, I'm sorry, but

I've got two other honey vendors here.

And it's like, we don't care.

Oh, well, sorry for that.

I mean, we've been, we've been in a

lot of different trade shows that, uh,

we're selling 3:1 of what everybody

else is selling in the same building.

So it's, we've just, and that was

one of our things with, uh, going

from raw honey to the flavored honey.

Because if you're only selling raw

honey, I see you once every two months,

maybe to come back and get another jar.

But with the flavored honey,

that, that little jar for a five

pepper will do a set of ribs.

It'll do wings or whatever.

And the next weekend you're

going to go, Hmm, I did ribs last

week and I want to do chicken.

Let me go buy another one of those.

So I see you maybe three times a year.

No, I would say think

of the five pepper too.

Uh, we, we just got, um, invited

to Walmart's Open Call this year.

And we have a deal with Wal Mart

for the five peppers specifically.

So that will be launching in our

geographic area, 25 stores in October.

So we're onboarding with them now, but

they're still, they're still talking

with us about, they want to do four more.

They want to do a group, so a collection.

And I said, I like the sound of that.

And then I looked at that and went,

Yeah, well, for more of our line,

like some of our teas, , they're

looking at the blue razz, the garlic

smoked, uh, the blackberry mango.

And we just invented something,

yet again, we can't help ourselves.

We invented badger dust, which is,

uh, an all purpose seasoning dry

rub that's got honey powder in it.

And, uh, we're just getting the

labeling now, but we've actually sold

through about 30, uh, we'll show,

I don't know if it'll show on the

camera that well, 30 pounds of it.

John and Connie: Whoa.

Derrick and Bill: So we're

going to do hot and regular.

John and Connie: Mixing flavors and,

that both acknowledge it, but also

the, experimentation that comes from

cooking, I think, you know, that's

kind of your secret sauce there.

It's, it's, it's amazing.

So, I

Derrick and Bill: Well, we

didn't get these beautiful

physiques that we have dieting.

John and Connie: So, you mentioned

the, uh, the trust issue and, you

know, working just with families.

So I, now I'm getting curious

about, well, the uniqueness of your

products, they're going to spread.

There's going to be more demand

and you're going to need to grow.

Have you got a plan for growing and,

taking in , you can't keep growing your

family, so how do you grow your business?

Derrick and Bill: Well, the first

thing to start out with is we've got

a 40 by 70 building that's going up

with a 20 by 40 kitchen in it and

the rest is going to be warehouse.

That'll be starting here shortly.

All right.

We're about to, yeah, we're

about to break ground on that.

So we actually are trying

to, , plan ahead, , for that.

And, uh, a lot of the stuff with the,

to be able to keep up the volume from

our, our perspective, , we're going to

keep up to a certain extent, and then

we're going to look at co packing.

And of course, I'm going to be

probably the crazy guy that when I do

take it to a co packing setting that

makes sure that the standard that

I'm setting for it is maintained.

, but right now we're going from a smaller

, 10 by 20 kitchen that we have here

on the farm to a full size warehouse.

So we've actually all put that in

place, , secured with, , Department of

Ag to be able to do a, uh, a farm loan.

And we, that was part of the success

with getting that deal with Walmart.

Now we haven't got any revenue,

but we're revenueing up right

now with the farm to get ready

for that and, uh, the increase in

sales and the tea.

Because

we don't have enough

storage room for the tea.

As we make the tea, I don't

have enough room to store it.

Because I have to store it refrigerated.

And we're starting to come up to that

level where we just don't have the room.

And it's like, how do we scale?

Um, and I do have kids.

I have a 21 year old and an 18 year old.

And, uh, their prospective

boyfriend wants to be a son in law.

Uh, I have them guys, they actually

pitch in and they help me manufacture.

And produce here at the farm so I

have a little bit more help to do it.

Otherwise, it's on my days off and

I work a 12 hour rotating shift.

So, uh, this weekend I'm off

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Then I'm back to work Monday, Tuesday.

Off Wednesday, Thursday.

And then I work Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

It's a flip flopper.

But, uh, that being with my job

absolutely allows me to have more time

with family and time to get into that.

And I'm trying to keep

ahead where we can do that.

And now the, uh, the equipment.

That we've actually invented and I have

China designing for me allows me to

make this stuff and even bigger batches.

So, basically, I have the

infrastructure built now.

I make a phone call.

I can say, look, instead of a 40

liter, I need an 80 liter machine

and I need it heat jacketed.

I need it to be able to pump

and all the machinery we're

using now runs off air pressure.

So, it actually emulsifies, stirs

it up and then shoots it right

into my jars, which is great.

And I, and I'm, I'm actually

manufacturing, uh, we, we, we

always say, what did we say?

We're like, we're, we're in the big boy

world, but we're not really big boys.

And it's the same thing when we

stepped into the Walmart arena.

It's like, Oh, we really stepped into deep

into the pool and not know how to swim.

and they're like, where

do you guys come from?

What are you, what are you doing here?

Uh, you're, you're not

supposed to be here.

And I was like, well, yeah,

we know what we're doing.

Hey, we're, we're good.

We're good.

We got this here, try this.

Oh my God, that's excellent.

Yeah, we can scale that.

Well, how are you gonna scale it?

I said, no, no, no.

Don't worry about that.

I'll, I'll scale it.

And, uh, you know, some of the prohibitive

things in the US and what we find

in the food industry and, you know,

having a restaurant years ago too.

is cost prohibitive.

Um, and I see it even in the honey

industry with beekeeping and bee

supplies is you'll go to, uh, get

a specific equipment or specialized

equipment and it's astronomical,

the pricing on it in the U.

S.

I can get on the phone and they're

a 12 hour difference than us.

I can get on the phone tonight at 8, 8

o'clock at night, it's 8 in their morning.

And I can get on the computer and I

can message my girl number one, and she

goes, Hey, Derek, you're number one.

Me love you long time.

And I got another machine coming, not

a problem, more than happy to help me.

, And the same machine that I

can get that would be built in

the U S would be 10, 15, 000.

And it would be something that

would be modified and it would

probably come from them originally.

And somebody in the U S would stick

a sticker on it and say they did it.

You know, and that's a huge thing.

And we found in our industry, um, like

ball glass, they're not made in the U

S anymore, and it's very sad that the

companies and stuff that were part of

the U S and they're not made, um, there

is a, there's a headquarters, they don't

make the components, they don't make

the glass and they don't make the lids.

So everything is sourced from China

and we had to adapt like, uh, we

were using container companies.

here in the U.

S.

And the plastic, the same

plastic bottle that I can get

here is almost over a dollar.

And a lot of people don't realize that

when you're buying commodities and

buying products that the cost associated

for me to put that honey into a jar is

over a dollar, you know, just to put

everything in there to put my label

on there to put the seal on there just

to get to that point is costing me.

And then they don't understand

why would you be sourcing

overseas or something like that?

Because that same bottle I

can go to 30 cents a unit.

And I can bring in 4, 000 of

those and they're more than

happy to do anything I need.

Now I have to wait 45 days because of

the shipping, you know, coming overseas,

but I can land that same product.

And then I, you know, it's upsetting

in the U S because you go to a company

that's called all American containers

or something like that, or U.S.

Plastic.

But at the end result, I'm talking

to the person that's making that this

shipping it over here in cargo containers.

To them they're they're they're putting

you know, putting the price up, you

know capitalism at its finest They're

they're popping the price up to make

money off of that and it's like it's

I said, it's not manufactured here.

They go,

oh, no, no.

No It's over there.

I'm like, so why don't I

just go to who's making it?

And then you know, that's a challenge

with uh with the business and we've

we've found that in that space you know

with the bees is to overcome a lot of

that cost and Then I can give you a

better product at the end without You

Really pushing our, our cost up there.

And that hurts.

Yeah, because we haven't changed

our prices since we got involved

in the commercial end of it,

which is 1920 or 2020, excuse me.

2020.

1920.

2020.

When we first started out,

John and Connie: going to say,

you're looking pretty good.

Derrick and Bill: just before the covid.

I mean, we actually,

and we were one of the.

Few places that actually

done well during the COVID.

COVID actually accelerated us.

Yeah.

So that

actually gave us, uh, you

know, people, we, people really

John and Connie: yeah, the health

Derrick and Bill: about farm to table.

They started thinking,

John and Connie: Okay.

Derrick and Bill: yeah.

And all the benefits that you get,

the health benefits you get from

using natural products, you know, and

we've continued that, you know, we,

we still have our hiccups here and

there and it's always growing pains.

And, uh, we're, we're always worried

about when do we take that next

step or should we take that step?

You know, as we bounce in, you know,

you have the multimillion dollar

companies that can throw money out,

you know, like they're in a strip club.

We don't have that luxury.

You know, we really have to worry about,

you know, where our next and plan and

for, and focus on what we're doing.

And so far we we've,

we've made great choices.

You know, we've made a few

bad ones here and there.

We've, we've had our fingers

crossed a lot of times.

John and Connie: Sure.

Derrick and Bill: we got payments

coming up and is this going to work out?

We just spent what we shouldn't

have spent and, and it's

like, we've been lucky so far.

It, it worked out.

And we, we, we've been real

busy here lately just trying

to keep up with the product.

And then, , this is swarm

season for us beekeepers.

So, our phone is, , literally ringing off

the hook with, I got bee swarm in my tree.

I got them in my garbage can.

I got them in my water box.

I got them all over.

And, uh, it's like, oh,

okay,

let me see if I can get out there.

And we're, we're going out and still

continuing that, that mission of rescuing

the hives and, and pulling them in.

And then we get some commercial

contracts where it's in a playhouse.

And we had a massive one that

we just did here recently.

There was three hives and one

little playhouse shed that was

out, uh, the realtor was selling

the house and they needed it

removed and it was, it was crazy.

That took us, what, about four

or five hours to get it up?

That was a lot of bees.

Probably about, uh, 500,

about that on

between what we had seen.

Yeah.

Yeah, we've been, that would have been

the one with the big round piece of comb.

Yeah, the comb was like, it

was like almost three foot.

It was huge.

And that was just one piece.

There was five of them on each

side that they had built out.

It was absolutely massive.

One of the biggest ones we've seen.

Seen in a while, especially

three codependent hives like

that because it's not one There's

each individual had a queen.

John and Connie: Okay, so I wanted

to, this has been fascinating.

We need to unfortunately wrap up.

How can people find you, I'm guessing that

you ship nationwide, is that accurate?

Derrick and Bill: Yes, we're on we

have our own website honey badgers bee

farm dot com which is just our name

super simple We're actually on Amazon,

eBay, Etsy, Walmart dot com Mammoth

Nation Uh, a few others that are, that

are on there in between, and uh, not

only does that give you an online link

in there, or you can come directly to

our farm link at honeybadgersbeefarm.

com.

And uh, we ship nationwide, and

we actually ship out of the U.

S.

I do have customers overseas

that also buy from us, not

pricey, but it does, we do ship.

And, uh, that's available on our website.

And then if you're in our local

area, we pretty much, uh, have, um,

probably a hundred mile range around

us where we're in stores right now.

And then we're, we're hoping to expand.

We're always looking for more

partners and more people that believe

in the mission and what we do.

, Not only, you know, rescuing

bees and making cool honey.

And then we like to bring the kids

out to the farm too, homeschoolers.

And, uh, allow them to go

barehanded and touch the bees.

We want to have that, that connection

where, where your food comes from.

And we're actually talking

to local farmers here in the

area too as we go around.

I get to talk to the local guys that

are making blueberries, blackberries,

strawberries, you know, and, and

are making the peppers and stuff.

They're growing them.

Those are the guys.

You know, we don't charge, uh, our

farmers for the pollination service.

We usually do a bartering system.

We say, hook us up with some peppers.

I need some garlic.

I need some, uh, blueberries.

You know, and we make sure

we take care of each other.

You know, the, the industry now

is hard enough in agriculture.

So, we try to help everybody

out as we go around.

It helps our bees out, too,

because they're out there getting,

uh,

delicious nectar and

pollen right off the farm.

John and Connie: Excellent.

Wonderful.

Okay.

So you're in Brooksville, Florida.

So if people are in the Tampa, greater

Tampa Bay area or central Florida

area, they find you Brooksville.

And like said, um, people homeschooling,

uh, or, or you've got tours,

you've got tours of the apiary.

You've got, you do some basic

beekeeping classes, I think one on one.

beekeeping one on one.

Derrick and Bill: Yep,

you want to learn how to bee

keep you can come out we'll

John and Connie: website is,

Derrick and Bill: Plethora

It's a plethora of things.

That was the geek.

That's the geek squad.

That's that's the geek squad I built

that built the website So to make it to

make it enter, uh, you know where you

can interact with it And we actually

have a store here on the farm too.

So During the week you can come out and

actually we have a little shop and you can

come in and see everything that we make

And then where it's made and if you want

to see where your honey's actually made

You We have hives here on the property.

Our, uh, breeders are here.

You can actually see bees when

you come to buy your honey.

John and Connie: think

we need a road trip.

think we do.

Connie's allergic to bees, so

we've got a little bit of, uh,

Derrick and Bill: We put you in a suit.

John and Connie: gets stung, she needs

an

Derrick and Bill: EpiPen.

You're covered up.

You got a hat.

You got a jacket and everything.

We put you in a full suit.

John and Connie: I'm also thinking you

guys have got a market for corporate

gifs because of the of your stuff.

You know, people that are, that are, um,

you know, in a, in an environment where

they've got, you know, like, I don't know,

financial advisors, you know, people that

are dealing with, you know, high, high

ticket clients and they're spending a

lot of money with them or, or they're,

you know, managing a lot of money.

They send, yeah, realtors, they

send gifts, you know, uh, and Connie

looked at your site yesterday and

I hadn't shown it to her before

and she was going crazy last night.

Oh my God, we're ordering this.

Oh my God.

So I think, uh, you know,

Derrick and Bill: Well, what we,

John and Connie: are probably

already on top of that.

Derrick and Bill: Yeah, what we

had actually hoped about was the

fact that the, uh, the Airbnb,

we could attach to them guys

for the, uh, our spoons, simply because

that is a cup of coffee, it is a cup of

tea, and all it is, is a little, it sits

on the countertop or hangs on a hook.

And it's in the room.

We're trying to make that portable,

John and Connie: is so

Derrick and Bill: know,

there's everything in business.

It's hard to get your,

your foot in the door.

Unless you know somebody.

Our, our, our foot hurts because,

you know, and so, so do your fingers

when you're trying to grab the door

to keep them from slamming it on you,

you know, but the, you know, it's

keeps trugging along and, and we keep

having doors open for us finally.

Uh, you know, it's, it's difficult

being that small family business,

you know, go to a retailer and said,

Hey, I got a real awesome product.

Yeah.

Yeah, get out of here.

I want to hear about that.

And then you'll have another one that

finds us at a trade show that got a chance

to try it and went, That is awesome.

I would like that in my store.

No brainer.

Super easy.

And we, we get in.

But, you know, that's the best thing you

can tell for being a family business.

And being a business is you're, you're

going to get the door slammed on you.

You're going to catch your fingers in it.

You're going to catch your foot in it.

Um, you may, you may get your

feelings hurt, but that's

why Hardy Badgers don't care.

But there's always going to be out

of those a hundred doors that shut.

There's going to be that one

that pops open and it may

not be the one that we were

John and Connie: and all you need is one.

Derrick and Bill: Walmart to say yes,

we went through four meetings and

the last meeting, the guy went and

he's, he's digging around in the jar.

He goes, I want this, we're

not going any further.

I'm like, Oh God, did we

just lose all the deals?

And I went, no, no, no.

I want this in the store.

And he said, can you handle 25 stores?

I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And we're trying not to dance.

We were, we were on a zoom.

Talking and it was like, we're

trying not to dance and I'm, I'm

hitting him and going, we're just,

we're talking about the deal.

And, uh, you know, afterwards we're

dancing around in the kitchen.

I don't know if those people know that.

I mean, that, that feeling, then

when you're doing business with a

small business and you have that

success, it's like, we're dancing,

we're like, Whoa, we're valid.

We're real beekeepers.

We're real honeymakers.

You know, it pretty much justifies

everything you're trying to do.

John and Connie: Exactly.

Exactly.

Derrick and Bill: stuff.

John and Connie: Yes, and it is

so important to celebrate that.

Well, and that's a perfect wrap for

celebrating small family businesses.

We are so happy that we contacted

you and that we got to do this.

We look forward to celebrating you

and helping promote your business.

And, um, look forward

to future conversations.

I, I see you.

There's so much we didn't talk about.

Right.

But thank you so much again

Derrick and Bill: That's why I

said people usually throw things

at me and tell me to stop.

Then we haven't gotten to the

bee, the bee aspect of it.

But, uh, yeah, we

appreciate you having us on.

We, we love that.

And yeah, really cool.

We, we love doing it and we go out and

we try to talk to people and mentor

and help people as much, you know,

as much as you can, you got to give

back what you put out, you know, if

you're having success, talk to people.

John and Connie: Wonderful.

Derrick and Bill: peoples.

Definitely.

John and Connie: Well, I hope that all

of our present and future listeners

will at least visit your website.

Absolutely.

Fonts of information about

bees and beekeeping and honey.

Oh my never thought nothing flavors

So if you like food and flavors,

gotta check it That's right.

That's honeybadgerbeefarm.

com

Derrick and Bill: Yep.

real short and simple,

like a honey badger.

John and Connie: There you go.

Well, thank

Derrick and Bill: might see us out

there da something, something weird

John and Connie: Fabulous.

You're to dance on TikTok

chicksTikTok not afraid.