Cultivate Michigan

Company/Location: Honee Bear Canning, Lawton, Michigan

Job Title: Sales Manager

Number of Years on the Job: 5 years

Products: Canned, pickled, and dry goods ranging from pickled asparagus to skin-on yellow potatoes

Michigan-Made Products: Canned asparagus, pickled asparagus, canned cherries, some canned beans, some canned potatoes and various pie fillings

Number of Employees: Usually 100, up to 250 in peak season

Most Challenging Aspect of Their Business: Being a private label food processor because they have limited backing of brands and canning is considered a “low margin” item

Favorite Piece of Equipment: Cherry pitters- she says they are really beautiful to watch and “it’s amazing what they’re capable of!”

What’s Unique about your business? Honee Bear Canning is a fourth-generation, family owned business with a private label. Their tie to both family and community is strong, and they do everything in their power to source directly from Michigan

Specific Label: “Michigan Made” – used for export and pickled asparagus

 

When it comes to Honee Bear Canning, Stephanie Ksionzyk can proudly state that she is a fourth generation Sales Manager of the company, located in Lawton, Michigan. “It originally started as a fruit stand,” Stephanie told us, “operated by my great-grandfather, whose father was a fur trapper. He hated trapping and fell in love with the produce from Michigan during his honeymoon.” 

 

Her business-minded great-grandfather then decided to start a canning business with a friend. In the end, however, he ended up buying out the partner so that the business could officially be “family-owned”. Since then, the company has been passed down from generation to generation. Stephanie just recently (five years ago) moved back to Michigan to start a family and join the family business.

 

From this humble beginning, the company has thrived over the years, and they continue to partner with other local industries. “People forget that there are local producers trying to make products available year-round,” Stephanie mentioned. With different, new and innovative methods of food preservation becoming more widely available, sourcing local Michigan food year-round is now possible. Stephanie, as the sales manager, often asks, “What can we do to get more Michigan products into industries that don’t know how to source them?” With this ambitious attitude at the foundation of their company and the drive to source as much as they can from local Michigan producers, Stephanie at Honee Bear Canning is a perfect match to provide guidance and expertise to the new Michigan Farm to Institution Network.