Do you ever think about bees? Small little insects with a huge impact on our world today. With the bee population dwindling every year, beekeepers like Leigh-Kathryn Bonner founded Bee Downtown to save the bees while simultaneously giving companies a new way to think about sustainability.

Companies, like honeybees, are both hives. They both have workers and a queen to serve. With this in mind and the similarities between the two, Leigh-Kathryn Bonner, a fourth-generation beekeeper in her family, wanted to find a way to unite modern day companies with her passion for saving honeybees. Her idea was Bee Downtown, a business that installs beehives on corporate land while at the same time teaching companies about creating high-quality teams for businesses. It was a unique opportunity for Kathryn. Her family had already been beekeepers for a few generations and that same love for the environment and saving honeybees was already instilled into Kathryn.

Their main service is installing and maintaining beehives on corporate campuses. This gives a place for honeybees to live in the spring and summer and drives curiosity and engagement from the employees. With the bees living alongside these companies, Bonner hopes to educate the corporate world about sustainability and caring for the environment. However, Bee Downton also offers year-round programs to satisfy employee curiosity. From Beekeeping Classes, Hive Tours, and even Honey Tastings and an Annual Honey Extraction Festival, they offer a wide variety of education and entertainment for anyone wanting to save the bees. They also partner with some of the biggest companies in America like Burt’s Bees, Delta, and Chick-fil-A. The director of sustainable business at Burt’s Bees even said, “We love what Bee Downtown is doing. We appreciate the partnership and are impressed with the professionalism and customer service of all BDT team members! Every spring, we are so glad to have busy bees again. There’s an entirely different energy in the office when they’re here!”

Overall, Leigh-Kathryn Bonner is one of the true examples of an innovative entrepreneur. She combined a passion for beekeeping and a need for corporate sustainability and combined them to create a company with a wonderful idea at its core. Not only is it educational, but it’s also just plain fun! Maybe we should look into Bee Downtown and get a few beehives on campus as well!