HILBERT’S HONEY CO.

The Owners: 4th Gen - Larry and Geana Hilbert, 5th Gen - Keith and Michelle Hilbert

The Story: In 1887, James Hilbert Sr. encouraged the pollination of honeybees on his fruit farm in the Leelanau peninsula in Elmwood Township, which later became Hilbert’s Honey Co. by handing down family secret practices and passion for the bees through the generations. In the 1950s, Hilbert’s Honey Co. moved to their current location on 5 Mile Rd in Grand Traverse County. Housed in a large farmhouse garage, they grew the honeybee colonies up to 10,000, spending summers in Traverse City and migrating the family and the bees to Florida in the winter.

Today: In 2020, the Hilbert family used the shutdown time wisely, building their dream-come-true 10,000-square-foot custom production facility. It houses huge equipment for honey extraction and production, even boasting heated floors, a dedicated heat room, a cooling room, and a storefront to sell their pure Michigan honey, making the business of selling honey on the family farm chic. They specialize in a unique method perfected and custombuilt over years to precisely package raw honeycomb in jars. Their products are distributed to over 70 stores. Hilbert’s honeybees pollinate fruit farms all along the peninsula at over 250 locations.

What’s Next?:“Educate people on how important bees are. We have lots of schools reaching out to us for tours. With the size of our new facility, our plan is to literally run out of honey every year and then increase by 10%. In the tank right now, we have $200,000 worth of honey. The bees are always busy. But all our products are raw; it’s a finicky to keep it a certain temperature, careful not to pasteurize.”

Fun Facts:

Honey doesn’t age because the bees encapsulate it. In Florida, the bees pollinate crops of watermelon, Brazilian pepper, and Tupelo blossoms.

Hilbert’s Honey Co. is really a “Bee Pollination Service” for farmers and landowners

The honey is a byproduct, but it’s pretty sweet!