Me & the Bees Lemonade, which secured a deal from Shark Tank’s Daymond John, has signed with Brand Liaison for licensing representation.
Me & The Bees was created by teen social entrepreneur Mikaila Ulmer when she was just four years old, after learning about how bees were in decline, and also about the natural healthy benefits of honey.
The certified minority-owned company continues to experience high growth from its humble beginnings, ranking as an Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company in the U.S. and the number one ready-to-drink lemonade growth brand in its category.
“I’ve always dreamed of diversifying my brand and this category expansion is a super fun way to do just that,” said Mikaila. “This is a perfect example of how I’ve continued to ‘Bee Fearless and Dream Like a Kid’ to help my brand buzz to new heights of recognition with innovative and creative new product launches.”
Me & the Bees is now the leading woman and Black-owned lemonade company, after receiving national attention when the company presented on Shark Tank. That presentation led to an investment from John, and the company is now expanding across several new food and beverage categories, including snacks, frozen treats and expanded beverage offerings.
That’s where Brand Liaison comes in, John said.
“Mikaila and her family have developed great-tasting healthy products and established Me & The Bees as a top national lemonade brand with retailers,” said John. “This next step of brand building and channel diversification is licensing and there is no better agency than The Brand Liaison to expand the brand into complementary food, beverage and confectionary categories and help us take the brand to even more areas of top-quality exposure to key consumers.”
Brand Liaison president Steven Heller says he can already see a wide variety of potential partnerships for the young company.
“This is such an authentic brand with a story and very focused point of differentiation,” Heller explained. “We see significant opportunities to expand the Me & The Bees brand into several related food and beverage categories that are consistent with the brand and its mission for clean, natural and delicious ingredients both kids and adults will love.”
Expanding on the core pillars of all-natural, environmentally conscious and kid-friendly products, Me & The Bees’ licensing will expand the popular lemonade brand to several new food and beverage categories including fruit and lemon flavored ice cream, ices and ice-pops, honey flavored candies, snacks, cereals and a secret recipe for “honey buns,” as well as expanded beverage offerings such as powdered mixes, vitamin and sports drinks.
Currently offering five flavors in nearly 6,000 distribution points across the country, Me & the Bees Lemonade is made with premium all-natural ingredients, including honey as well as flaxseed, a key ingredient to Mikaila’s great grandmother’s South Carolina recipe upon which the business was founded.
Since its launch in 2009, Me & The Bees has grown to become the third most popular nationally distributed lemonade brand with distribution in all 50 dates including Costco, Target, Whole Foods Market, The Fresh Market, and most major grocers including the recently announced largest single distribution deal in its history with the addition of 1,200-plus Publix stores across seven states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, as well as the addition of Costco stores in Texas and Louisiana.
As a purpose-driven brand, Me & the Bees always keeps its mission of saving the bees at the forefront, by helping educate consumers about the bees’ role in the ecosystem and the alarming decline in the bee population.
With its “Buy a Bottle. Save a Bee” philosophy, the company helps fund initiatives via its non-profit organization, the Healthy Hive Foundation, which is dedicated to increasing bee awareness and safe environments through research, education, and preservation.
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