This honey brand broke all the rules, and still built a cult following.

Hey, it’s Arik.

There’s a brand I’ve personally spent thousands of dollars on.

They don't run paid ads, they're not on Amazon, and they're not paying influencers, but somehow… they’re still doing millions a year.

The brand is called Bjorn’s Honey.

They started at local farmers' markets in Colorado, offering small-batch, raw, and unfiltered honey. The kind of honey that actually tastes like where it came from.

And everything about it feels intentional because they took it back to the basics: raw honey, at its core, is a net positive for humanity. It supports our immune system, and it’s packed with naturally occurring bee pollen, antioxidants, and enzymes that processed honey loses. And it’s one of the few sweeteners that’s both functional and healing.

Everything from the label to the taste to the intention behind it feels like it was made to be part of something slower, more grounded, and more real.

They basically built their entire brand around trust.

And that’s the part I want to break down.

Let’s get into it:

1. What They Got Right
When you buy Bjorn’s, you’re not just buying honey. You’re buying the morning you put it in your tea, and you’re buying the moment you gift it to someone you care about.

They make you feel like their honey was made for you.

And that comes through in every part of the product:
- Raw, healing honey that supports your immune system
- Labels that feel handcrafted, not manufactured
- A position that elevates it from a pantry item to a daily ritual

It's truly one of the most grounded brands I’ve seen in a while.

2. Where the Growth Lives
Despite all that momentum, there’s still no retention engine in place. For a product this rooted in habit, that’s a massive opportunity to deepen the relationship.

Think about it:
A simple retention system, built around stories, seasonal rituals, wellness tips, and beekeeper notes would crush.

Same goes for the product strategy:
They could easily build out bundles like Immune Season kits or Morning Ritual drops that increase AOV and make the brand even more lifestyle-driven.

And then there’s the story.

Everything about Bjorn’s is story-rich. The bees. The land. The people.
But right now, that story lives in the jar.

That needs to exist online — on social media, in content, and on the site where it can be seen.

3. How I’d Scale It
Honestly, they’ve already figured out the hardest part: a product that works, a community that believes in it, and a story rooted in purpose.

So the opportunity now isn’t to add more, but to double down on what’s already working.

Here’s how I’d do it:

First, I’d build a retention flywheel around rhythm and ritual. I'd use email/SMS to tell stories, share rituals, and remind people why they bought in the first place.

Next, I’d reposition the offer into experiences. I’m talking curated bundles tied to intention: immune kits, sleep support, and mini jars for gifting.

Finally, I’d build a content ecosystem that brings the sourcing story to life—behind the bees, the land, and the people. I'd partner with creators who live this life: foragers, herbalists, nutritionists, conscious chefs, and let those people carry the energy forward.

This is the kind of brand that doesn’t need to go wide to grow, it just needs to go deeper.

Bite-Size Takeaways:

• If your product can be tied to a habit, moment, or emotion, lean into that. People don’t come back for features, they come back for how it made them feel. Build rituals around your offer that anchor it into your customer’s day-to-day.

• Build your moat with retention first: Start with a simple email/SMS sequence that adds real value: tell your origin story, share how-to use cases, offer seasonal education or tips.

• Use bundling to shape behavior, not just boost AOV. What’s the customer trying to solve? Sleep, energy, immunity, gifting? Name your bundles based on that. It helps them understand how to use the product and makes it easier to repurchase with intention.

• Document the real stuff: sourcing, process, people behind the scenes. Your product already has a story. Use short-form video, photo, and written content to pull that story out and build brand memory with it.

• Focus creates scale. You don’t need to be everywhere at once. Pick the few channels where your message resonates most, and build systems around them. The goal is consistency, not explosion. Most long-term growth comes from repeating what works, with more precision each time.

See you next Thursday,
Arik

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