About this episode

Ritchie Schaefer discusses his journey into beekeeping and the business of honey production.

Ritchie Schaefer: Hive Minds, Bee Drama, and the Rise of B2B Honey In this episode of the Get Deep Podcast , we sit down with Ritchie Schaefer—beekeeper, entrepreneur, and founder of B2B Honey. A Mankato native with a love for agriculture, Ritchie takes us deep into the world of bees, hives, and honey with a mix of science, passion, and raw honesty. Ritchie’s path to business ownership was anything but conventional. After studying ag at North Dakota State and spending years in agricultural sales, he was moved to start beekeeping following the sudden passing of a young beekeeper whose hives were kept on his family’s farm. That moment sparked a personal transformation—and a new calling. Now the founder of B2B Honey, Ritchie shares how he built his operation from the ground up, starting at the Mankato Farmers Market and Schell’s Brewery before scaling into a migratory beekeeping business, with hives moving between river valleys in Minnesota and heading south for the winter. Along the way, he’s faced steep learning curves and major setbacks—including losing bees in California and a particularly angry hive incident that required help from the fire department’s water truck (no flames…

People in this episode

Hosts: Wesley Otto, Aaron Jones

Guest: Ritchie Schaefer

Topics covered

• beekeeping
• entrepreneurship
• agriculture
• honey production
• social structure of bees

Keywords

• bees
• hives
• B2B Honey
• agriculture
• entrepreneur
• honey tasting
• Mankato

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: B2B Honey, Schell’s Brewery

Places: Mankato, North Dakota State, California, Minnesota

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