We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tique Chandler a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Tique thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Chandler is my last name, and we have roots to beekeeping since 1937. Having my last name on the jar also keeps me super accountable to the quality of my honey products – I wouldn’t want to be so closely personally associated with something I wasn’t 100% proud of.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I grew up on a bee farm in Southern Alberta, Canada, and my parents’ honey was always my favourite! I always thought it was such a shame they sold their honey in bulk and didn’t have a brand name, as it truly is some of the whitest, smoothest honey I’ve ever come across.

When I moved home briefly for Covid (fleeing Toronto for a small-town!), I was re-introduced to the magic of the bees and beekeeping. Bees work so hard to create honey, and I wanted to honour their work by creating a way for customers to look at honey in a new way. I started tinkering with recipes (creating ones like Crème Brûlée, Mocha, and Orange Grove) and I knew I had something special. Chandler Honey was launched in November of 2020!

Now, Chandler Honey is available at over 250+ stores across Canada, and growing quickly. We only use honey from my family farm, cream it for 48-hours, and hand infuse/jar/and label all of our products.

I’m most proud of the fact that I have 100% 5-star reviews on my website, as well as so many wonderful repeat customers! People have really connected with my family’s honey and story, and I love seeing how they enjoy the honey.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I try to be both very polished and very authentic on social media. For my grid posts, I invest a lot into stunning product photography that draw people in. With eCommerce, you can’t taste-test the product, so my product photography has become very important.

On my Reels and Instagram stories, I tend to be very candid and authentic about what is happening in the business. I show up, talk to the camera (often without makeup) and tell people amusing stories about what I have been up to. People love how real behind-the-scenes stories are! I share my successes, failures, and wonky things that happen in the life of an entrepreneur.

To those just starting out, I recommend not letting perfectionism stop you from posting! Just put yourself out there!

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

Just last summer! I had hired a co-op student from a local university under the guidance from the co-op office of “I’ve never heard of anyone non getting this grant to fund their student!”. Guess what?! The grant fell through and I had to pay for this student for 4-months out of pocket. I assumed someone working full-time for 4 months would be able to generate sales, but I underestimated how busy I was keeping operations alive during that time. I was (honestly) a very absent boss, very stressed about making payroll, and very angry at the whole situation.

The lesson? Money isn’t real until it hits your bank account. Don’t hire based on grants unless you’re sure you could afford the position regardless.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://chandlerhoney.ca/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chandler.honey/

Image Credits
@katnikcreative