David Mullins

I started keeping bees in 2014 with my dad as a hobby to spend more time together. I signed us up for a beekeeping class with our local beekeeping association as a Christmas gift. In 2020 during Covid, the university where I was a professor cut my program, and my wife and I decided to turn our 20 hives into a full-time business. After 25 years as a college administrator and professor, we were taking quite a risk. After renting a commercial kitchen at the local 4H grounds, we bought an old orthodontist office and remodeled it into a commercial kitchen, bottling facility, and boutique. Bee Great was born, and we now sell online, in our brick and mortar store, wholesale to stores, at festivals and trade shows, and we have begun exploring exporting our products. We now have 150 hives, and four employees. We had two retail stores and ended up closing one to focus on beekeeping classes and offering beekeeping services in which customers pay us a monthly fee to keep bees at their homes or businesses, and they help as much or as little as they wish.