BigHoney starts construction on new extraction facility

Chris Rugowski

Contributor

October 5, 2026

LUXEMBURG – Expansion for any small business is an exciting thing, but when your workers are bees, BigHoney LLC Owner Codi McIntyre said it creates an even bigger buzz.

The bee farm and honey manufacturing business – located at N9047 County Road AB on the border of Door and Kewaunee counties – recently began work on a new commercial production facility to meet current honey production demands, McIntyre said, and to prepare for future online retail opportunities.

Expected to be open later this year, he said the new commercial facility will help consolidate all production into one facility instead of three places around his property – his house, his trailer when he sells at the markets and the barn where he extracts and consolidates his honey.

“What it’s really going to do is save me time, no more hauling things from one place to another, and especially the weight on my back,” he said. “I’ll be able to do more because I won’t be exhausted.”

Though it has been an exciting adventure for himself and his family, he said the community is just as thrilled to see BigHoney grow – evident by the reaction to a recent Facebook post announcing the start of construction.

“It’s not clean and perfect yet – [the post only shows] a section of ground [as] they’re pouring concrete – and it’s got thousands of views, likes and supportive comments,” he said. “It feels good to see this reaction. I look forward to what will come of this.”

An unexpected injury, allergy

McIntyre said his life before and during the beginning of his beekeeping business was spent at a factory job, but as the bee farm grew, the concept of working for himself full-time became a reality.

After getting hurt at his day job, finding he was allergic to the industry-standard epoxy and getting fired, he said he chose to view his circumstances as a blessing.

Regardless of his uncertainty, McIntyre said he set some goals for beekeeping.

“I knew if I was really going to do this business full-time, I needed to make a certain amount in a week,” he said. “Early on, during the weeks when I’d need to make some more money, so many times it would be Sunday night and out of nowhere I’d get an order, and it was exactly [the amount I needed]. Call it divine intervention, call it whatever – it was nonstop like that for a few months.”

Combined with “the happiness” it brought him, McIntyre said it was clear he had an opportunity to work for himself.

Now, he said he looks at the time spent with his family and the dedication his kids have given to the craft, too, and knows it was the right path to take.

“Now, my kids help me beekeep,” he said. “They’re learning a real skill in life to really make money for themselves, and I can see it click with my 11-year-old daughter. It’s hard to be around the bees, to take the honey off, to bottle it, but… she comes out to the honey stand and sees the money, and it clicks. It’s good for her self-esteem.”

McIntyre said he grew up wanting to be a farmer – however, what kind of farmer, he wasn’t sure.

Regardless, he said relatives on his mom’s side had been an agricultural family, so all he knew was the bug was within him.

In 2010, McIntyre said a friend asked him if he was interested in learning how to beekeep, later purchasing the business from that same friend.

“I [realized I] could make a business out of a hobby,” he said.

Little did he know, McIntyre said, this would give him what he described as “entrepreneuritis” – where he’s bursting at the seams with ideas and products that require a more intentional space.

“I look at the historical process of it all: first, we have the old family barn where I extract, then I am bottling in the basement of the house, but I’m losing space because of all the things I bottle,” he said. “So now, I’m building a new commercial shed where I can consolidate everything about the process.”

Candidly, McIntyre said a career in beekeeping is not what he thought it would be. 

To him, he said honey was something their family ate around Christmas when they’d get some from the Christmas-tree farmer.

Now that he’s in the industry full-time, he said, fortunately, the rewards outweigh the hard days.

“It calms me down, it’s fun and, when I show people, it’s inspirational,” he said. “My product is a gold standard already, so I don’t want to taint it.”

McIntyre said a mixture of things stand out about his honey, one major contributor being the many farms near his beehives.

With fences lining the river and surrounding flora – such as apple trees and raspberry bushes – McIntyre said all their pollen is local.

“That variation of flora and fauna adds to the variety of the honey,” he said. “Our area also has a lot of basswood trees which produce a highly prized honey. It flowers twice a year, and it’s a highly valuable tree for beekeepers.”

McIntyre said it’s a mix people won’t find anywhere else nearby – making BigHoney a popular Door County tourist destination.

He said in the early days, tourists helped propel the brand forward, especially as BigHoney began selling at various farmers’ markets, festivals and other events.

“This year, we did larger events such as Carlsville Days and Breakfast on the Farm, and those were all more educational; we didn’t directly sell anything,” he said. “It was great getting our name out there.”

Back on the farm, McIntyre said the spoils of this exposure are enjoyed in the cashbox attached to BigHoney’s roadside stand – joking that the stand is his best employee because “he never complains, and all we have to do is keep him stocked.” 

Going all in on a healthy alternative

McIntyre said many people consider honey to be a healthy alternative, but he posits that its use case can expand beyond coffee or tea sweetener, for example.

“I could substitute honey as sugar in all my meals because everything you buy has sugar in it,” he said. “So, any way you can control that at home when you’re cooking is a plus. Cookies, for example, are more moist, and my wife and I joke that we’ve not found a single thing that tastes worse with honey.”

McIntyre said he considers it more than just an ingredient, and with that, has made flavored honey – including cherry, raspberry and mango habanero for a little heat – plus whipped honey which he said spreads like butter.

Another new item in production, he said, is honey dust: a dried honey powder one can use without adding liquid to a recipe.

McIntyre said this product is great for grilling, as it caramelizes food on the outside.

However, he said his favorite discovery is honey and pizza.

“One of my favorite uses of honey is for veggie pizza,” he said. “I’ll use honey on there like people would use ranch, and it’s very good. The sweet brings the [flavor of the] veggies out.”

Because honey farming is considered a professional agricultural process after more than 40 hives, McIntyre said he grew to need a commercial space.

Processing honey, he said, is also not protected under the cottage food law or the Pickle Bill – legislation in which certain types of food products and production fall within the limits to be sold without a license.

However, McIntyre said building a commercial facility on his land meant jumping through a lot of hoops, but it was something he knew was the right move for his process and product line.

The commercial space, he said, will be 32 feet by 48 feet split down the middle, giving him two 24-foot sections – one for commercial processing equipment and the other for product and shipping materials.

McIntyre said he sees great possibility with this new space, and plans to keep producing for the local markets as he’s done in the past while working to go nationwide.

“I would love to sell my flavors on Amazon,” he said. “I feel like if I could get to a point where I can sell my stuff there, it would become totally self-sustaining, and my job would be hiring more people to help or process orders because I wouldn’t be able to keep up, which is the dream. You can’t complain about the work you ask for.”

A support system unlike any other

Looking back, McIntyre said he knows it all started with his roadside stand – open 24 hours a day – which he calls the “honesty store.”

Looking forward to both this commercial expansion and the general future of the business, he said he wants to leave a legacy for his family.

“You don’t have to be dependent on other people to do big things in your life; it may be scary, but sacrificing for a better life isn’t a bad thing,” he said. “My farming family has dealt with animals we can’t even talk to, and we’ve made it work.”

To learn more, visit BigHoney’s website, bighoneyllc.com, or its aforementioned Facebook page.