Company Name: Beehive Meals
Location: Layton, Utah
Year Founded: 2019
Website: beehivemeals.com
Beehive Meals, a meal prep and delivery service based in Layton, Utah, has been named the CO—100 Top Honoree in the Champions of Adaptability category for 2024.
Founded in late 2019 by married couple Allyse and Adam Jackson, Beehive Meals quickly rose to prominence by offering convenient, nutritious freezer meals designed to simplify family dinners. As a business that has demonstrated remarkable resilience and innovation, particularly in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and other external challenges, Beehive Meals exemplifies the grit and determination that this award category celebrates.
From humble beginnings to rapid growth
When Beehive Meals first launched, the Jacksons operated out of a modest 1,200-square-foot kitchen. Despite these limited resources, the company’s commitment to efficiency and innovation allowed it to rapidly expand its operations.
"We had to be remarkably efficient with our raw ingredients, prep area, and freezer space," explained Adam Jackson, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Beehive Meals.
By creatively maximizing labor hours, controlling production through pre-sales, and eliminating waste, the company achieved a dramatic revenue increase, growing from $1.11 million to $8.36 million in just one year.
“The efficiencies honed through early-stage innovation have positioned Beehive Meals to adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing environment,” said Jackson.
Beehive Meals’ employees also played a huge role in sustaining the company’s fast-paced growth.
“We were lucky enough to identify enough people that were willing to be flexible and expand themselves at the same rate that the company was growing,” Jackson added. “Most of our best employees today went through the refiner's fire early on as we saw them grow from the prep line to managers and director roles.”
Today, Beehive Meals operates from a state-of-the-art 3,600-square-foot commercial kitchen and warehouse, capable of producing up to two million meals annually. Since its launch, Beehive Meals has prepped and delivered the equivalent of over 10 million servings to customers across Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, and Arizona.
“Our rapid growth and commitment to quality have earned us recognition as one of Utah’s fastest-growing companies and the state’s premier meal delivery service,” Jackson said.
Our rapid growth and commitment to quality have earned us recognition as one of Utah’s fastest-growing companies and the state’s premier meal delivery service.
Adam Jackson, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer, Beehive Meals
Adapting to market challenges with agility
The ability to adapt quickly to changing market conditions has been a hallmark of Beehive Meals' success. The company faced unprecedented challenges within its first year as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, including skyrocketing demand and supply chain disruptions.
Beehive Meals turned these obstacles into opportunities by streamlining its processes to maintain high production capabilities with minimal waste. Jackson noted that these streamlined systems have become a significant competitive edge for Beehive Meals, and the company’s adaptability has helped it thrive in the face of obstacles like inflation, high interest rates, and hiring difficulties.
"Our… systems enable us to reinvest savings from production back into the company, fueling our expansion efforts,” he added. “This approach has been crucial in bootstrapping the company from its inception and sustaining growth despite external challenges.”
According to Jackson, Beehive Meals has been able to heavily invest in better equipment and additional staffing, which has allowed the company to continue to meet pace of demand.
“As we've grown, it's felt that our previous production process has broken at certain levels, leading us to rethink things to allow us to get to the next level,” he said. “[For example], serving 100,000 meals a month requires a much different process than 1,000 meals a month.”
Pivoting to subscription-based growth
In early 2023, Beehive Meals launched a strategic initiative to expand its subscription-based customer base, a move that underscores the company's adaptability in responding to evolving market conditions.
"Recognizing the potential for stable, predictable revenue through subscriptions, the executive team decided to make a concerted effort to shift customers from one-off orders to subscriptions," explained Jackson.
This initiative involved a complete overhaul of their marketing strategies and customer experience. The team revamped pricing strategies, redesigned the website flow, and optimized the checkout process to make the subscription option more appealing.
The impressive result of this initiative was an increase in subscription revenue, from 20% to 60% of total sales. This shift not only provided Beehive Meals with a more reliable revenue stream but also deepened customer loyalty and engagement.
Looking ahead to the future, Jackson says Beehive Meals has its sights set on nationwide expansion over the next several years.
“Recently we transitioned away from our internal delivery system which has fueled our growth since 2019 in exchange for the ability to ship via third party carriers [like] UPS and FedEx,” he explained. “This shift will allow us to serve 12 total states and reach more than 55 million potential customers.”
Beehive Meals' journey from a small startup to a leading meal prep and delivery service is a testament to the power of adaptability, innovation, and community engagement. As the 2024 CO—100 Top Honoree in the Champions of Adaptability category, Beehive Meals continues to inspire with its commitment to overcoming challenges and making a positive impact on the community it serves.
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