It's hard for us to wrap our heads around, but this month marks 13 years since we started Björn's Colorado Honey! It has been a wonderful ride with plenty of ups and downs and lots of hard work, but we're so thankful to be here and busier than ever - thanks to you! Whether you've been around since our very first market (shoutout Louisville!) in 2013, or you're brand new to Björn's, we thought we'd share a bit of our history, along with a lot of our gratitude. 

Many of you know that our story begins decades ago in Sweden, where our beekeeper Pontus grew up learning the art and science of beekeeping and honey production with his father and grandfather Björn, our company's namesake. Fast forward to 2012 when, after a fated meeting in Bali, Pontus decides to move to the US and marry Lara. A year later, Björn's Colorado Honey was born! Not long after, Lara left her job in branding and marketing to help run Björn's full time out of their Boulder home. 

Our first foray into farmers markets was in Louisville in 2013, and Lara's parents were our first "employees," helping man the tent at our early markets (thanks Dave and Jacky!). Eventually we added our first actual employee, Noah, who couldn't have come along soon enough as we also added to our family - Ester was born in March 2017, and has become our most enthusiastic and discerning product tester in her nine years. 

As we expanded to include more farmers and specialty/holiday markets across the Front Range, we started to think about the future of Björn's and how we could find a way to share our honey in spaces less bound to the seasons. Our first retail space was a kiosk at the Denver airport that opened in February 2020 - not the best timing, but it was a great start for us to figure out how having our own space worked - and at the end of 2020 we opened our first store in Breckenridge! It was wonderful to have our own space to not only talk about our own products, but to bring visibility to some of the small, local companies we're proud to work with.

Between our markets and the new retail spaces, and with our team and hives growing, we knew our office and production spaces needed an upgrade too. In early 2021 we found an old farm property near Brighton that, with extensive renovations, we converted into our office, production facility and storage. With the space to expand, we've since been able to open retail stores in more of our favorite Colorado towns - Steamboat, Littleton, Golden, Vail, Boulder and Fort Collins. We also recently opened our first cafe in the Denver airport, and we're excited to bring honey-sweetened beverages and ice cream to our Boulder store soon!

We've come so far and learned so much in the past 13 years, but the reasons we started Björn's Colorado Honey out of our garage all those years ago haven't changed. We care deeply about pollinators and believe that a passion for local honey can change your life and theirs - and we're as endlessly thankful for your support today as we were after the sale of our first jar of honey at our very first market. From the Björn's family to yours, thank you for being part of our journey, and here's to many more.