Why Small Businesses Matter
Shop small, do big things for your community
Why Small Businesses Matter puts a spotlight on the local merchants who donate their time, talent, goods, and services for the betterment of our community. The shop local movement spreads virally as l
You're IT, Savannah Bee!
Four questions with Savannah Bee store manager, Julie Cook.
Why did you start the business?
Savannah Bee opened its first Northern store in Westport's downtown Bedford Square in July of 2017, with a desire to share our company's mission of saving the bees and our planet with a community of like-minded folks. Westport, a town of proven influencers in promoting sustainability and environmental concerns, went so far as to proclaim 2019 as The Year of the Pollinator. Our company's mission, to encourage others to live symbiotically with nature and in a manner that contributes positively to the world around us, can be seen in everything we make and do.
Finish the sentence, in regards to your business "I wish I could..."
...contribute through our store's involvement in local environmental groups, to helping eradicate our town's dependence on harmful pesticides which will lead our state legislature to ban neonicotinoid use in CT and beyond the state level.
Best selling product or service?
It's our beloved award-winning pure raw Tupelo Honey. Our Tupelo Reserve Honey won the Bronze Medal at the world's largest international honey competition Apimonida, held in Montreal this past year. This spectacular monofloral honey comes from a Tupelo tree that blooms only about 5 days a year and has a flavor without equal. It grows in only two remote protected swamp areas in Southern Georgia and Northern Florida and is truly not to be missed.
We support and collaborate with many local businesses and services in Westport. Our store is small and new to the area so we enjoy collaborating with local restaurants like Jessup Hall, Amis and Spotted Horse to develop creative recipes with our honey, we provide our honeycomb cheese platters for gallery and store openings and events at Newtown Roux Galleries, Nick & Zoe and Barbour, and also offer local brokers like The Higgins Group and Coldwell Banker free honey tastings for their clients. A main focus of our business is education-based so we give pollinator talks and honey tastings to local Westport garden and women's clubs, elementary and nursery schools, the Scouts, synagogues, Earthplace, the Audubon Society and Aspetuck Land Trust to name a few. We even keep our bees at Wakeman Town Farm which has greatly enhanced their weekly farm stand yield and we hope to start a kids' farm bee club. These partnerships help us get our message out to a larger audience and we help enhance their businesses and clubs in turn, with something sweet and good for the planet.
Savannah Bee is located at 43 Church Lane in Westport. Visit them online here.
Savannah Bee nominates EarthAnimal!
HamletHub thanks Fairfield County Bank for making our Why Small Businesses Matter series possible!
*Image credit Nancy Moon