After producing 2,000 pounds of honey in one season, Matt and Kelly Brantley realized their beekeeping operation had outgrown their home and their small hand-crank honey extractor, Kelly said.

“It was just a hobby,” she said.

To keep up with demand, the couple opened BZ Honey in April 2017 in Tomball. With a storefront and an automatic honey extractor, Matt said he estimates the business produced almost 5,000 pounds of honey last year.

“There’s such a huge demand from people who want honey from their town or their neighborhood, and that’s the whole reason why our business has been able to grow,” Matt said.

BZ Honey sells honey, creamed honey, beekeeping equipment and beeswax products, all of which are chemical-free. The honey is extracted from local hives.

“We’re local to Tomball,” Kelly said. “That’s important to us.”

For curious customers, the shop has a cutout area to watch the Brantley family extract honey.

“I want[ed] to have a store where you feel like you’re walking into the doughnut store when you’re a kid, and you can see everything happen,” Kelly said.

Matt’s relatives have been beekeepers for decades, Kelly said. In 2012, Matt and Kelly began attending farmers markets throughout the region, including the Tomball Farmers Market. The Brantley’s children help out with honey extraction and farmers market sales.

“Our store, it started because we were working farmers markets and selling our honey,” Kelly said. “We had more demand than we knew what to do with, so we knew we had to expand.”

The couple also leads classes and sells starter hives to aspiring backyard beekeepers, Matt said.

“We’ve got 44 people in our community—my hometown—that are wanting to do the same thing we’re doing, and they want to learn from us,” Kelly said. “We’re doing this as a family, and we’re doing it for our community.”

BZ Honey
405 E. Main St., Tomball
832-292-3086
www.bzhoney.com
www.facebook.com/txbzhoney
Store hours vary by season.