Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Erin Kraus. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Erin, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
As a once avid coffee drinker…yes I said coffee, I never could have imagined my life without a 4+ cup a day indulgence. Coffee was my jumper cables in the busy grind of food service work.
Then BAM! My husband and I were delighted to find out we would be welcoming our little Honey Bear in 9 short months. Clearly my coffee habits had to go! As painful as it was to say goodbye to my old friend Joe I discovered the wonderful world of tea and haven’t looked back since. I find such joy in creating different blends and flavors and learning more about tea every day. Transitioning from working full time to being a stay at home mom was a journey and something I’m grateful I get to experience. Although I love being home with my little guy, I missed that culinary creativity. I took my new found love of tea and started creating different blends and building off of that. After about 3 years of experimenting, creating and getting feedback from family and friends I decided to start Honey Bear Tea. I knew there wasn’t many loose leaf tea business in the area and I wanted to introduce how the quality of loose leaf tea is better than any bagged tea you buy at the grocery store. I love going to events and craft/vendor fairs and bringing samples of my tea for people to try and talking tea. I have meet the most amazing people in these past 7 months of business and i can’t wait to see what’s yet to come.
Erin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Erin Kraus and I’m from the lovely town of Hampden MA. I started my first job at 13 at my relatives farm/ice cream shop and that ignited my love for culinary. I received my bachelor’s degree from UMass Amherst in social and behavioral science (communications) but the culinary world kept calling my name. In 2008 I was co-owner of the Norcross House Restaurant and Catering Co. From there I worked at large scale cafeterias and schools before becoming a stay at home mom. I believe my experience working in the food industry has helped me tremendously creating different tea blends and balancing flavors. I took my love for baking as well and offer homemade biscotti with flavors changing seasonally. I love making special request orders and chatting with customers. Over the holiday season I created special order gift baskets in small light up wagons as well as creating special blends for people with certain dietary restrictions. I put love and pride in every product I make and I know my customers appreciate that.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
In 2008 I had the opportunity to co-own the Norcross House Restaurant and Catering Co. It was a great learning experience but as many of you know the economy took a turn for the worse that year. I was 22 at the time and learning on the fly. I can honestly say I learned so much in such a short period of time. After many, many months of long hours and ultimately no pay I decided to hang up my apron. I felt lost and defeated but continue to do what I loved. I worked at other restaurants and found a job working at a large business cafeteria. At this job I was lucky enough to have a boss that let me be creative and trusted in my abilities. I felt my passion to create come alive again and with access to so many diverse ingredients I got back to doing what I enjoyed. I honestly never thought I’d have my own business again but am a true believer that everything happens for a reason. I love being a stay at home mom and I love that I’m getting to incorporate my old life with my new. I feel like I’m working hard, enjoying what I do, building a business and hopefully showing my son to follow his passion and work hard for what you want in life.
We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.
I created my own website through tailor brand. I liked being able to set up my own site and have complete control over everything. The down side of creating my own site is I had to start from scratch in terms of web traffic. Platform like Etsy and Amazon are big names with very high traffic but come with certain rules and % of sales. I’ve found that participating in events/ markets and using social media I’ve been able to build an audience and continue to grow.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thehoneybearshop.com
- Instagram: @thehoneybearshop
- Facebook: @thehoneybearshop321
Image Credits
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