HoneyFlower Foods
Q&A with HoneyFlower Foods founder, Nic Bash.
HoneyFlower Foods offers great tasting, super healthy, sustainable grab and go meals.
THE RESILIENCE SERIES | 2 FEB 2021
By: Daniella Decker
Illustration by Angelica Reisch
Many small businesses made adjustments to the way they conduct their businesses — or have shifted their approaches entirely. In the face of a truly catastrophic financial environment, small businesses have used their creativity to spur them forward as entrepreneurs and adapt to a business environment no one could have predicted.
Entrepreneurs and small business owners have done these things under the stress of laying off employees, shutting down brick and mortar shops, or giving up on their dream entirely.
We chatted with Nic Bash of HoneyFlower Foods to give insight into how his small business has navigated such unprecedented times.
Tell us a little about HoneyFlower Foods and your mission.
We are a food startup working to make and provide great tasting scalable sustainable meals and products. We are a little over 3 years old and have grown to operate in Washington D.C. and New York. We serve thousands of meals a week. It’s been an incredible ride so far.
Do something you love and then you will never work a day. What do you love about your small business?
Our mission. With an amazing team, we dedicate all our time and energy to creating great products that we can grow and consume for the next 100+ years. We try to incorporate ingredients that require less land, water, etc... We believe what we consume today should help create a better tomorrow. That’s why we designed our lifecycle to consider our impact on the health of our customers, our communities, our planet, and our future.
What's the most significant challenge your business faced in March 2020 (the start of COVID-19) and throughout the pandemic? How are you dealing with it?
Almost within a week, we lost 70% of our business. We provided airports, colleges and hospitals with meals — all gone. I was like, 'What are we going to do?' We essentially became a start-up while still being a start-up. And within days, we were dishing out 22,000 meals weekly. In the early days of the pandemic, there was an incredible need for the products we were making, so there were some scale adjustments we needed to make. But, we were quickly able to adapt what we were doing to answer the call and feed cities like New York and D.C. Longer term, we are working out new strategies and products as our core market has very much shifted.
How have you pivoted your business as a result of the pandemic?
We have had to adjust some of the product offerings and are working with our customers and partners to find new ways to produce products and solutions, while still sustaining our business model.
What inspires you and your company? What should other small businesses use for inspiration during this time?
It’s all about the why. We love what we do and the why behind our business. This has helped us weather much of the rapidly changing environment we are in and I would encourage any and all businesses to take a careful look at the why behind the work they do.
How can our community support your small business?
Helping connect. This is one of those moments where there can be a lot of separation and fragmentation between customers and providers, and the needs and producers. It’s all shifted. Sometimes just getting the right people in the room is the best thing and can give hope for small businesses and owner/operators.
What do you wish everyone knew about the struggles small businesses face?
That it (small business growth) is a complicated journey involving a lot of moving pieces. If communities want to support and grow small businesses, they need to focus and create the support systems to foster that growth. Financing, tax, education, labor, infrastructure etc...they all are a part of what makes this ecosystem work. There is so much that goes into running a businesses that could be assisted through creative community initiatives. Just like the sunflower that inspired our name, we have strong roots. Our roots support who we are and how we fulfill our purpose in the communities that we serve.
ABOUT HONEYFLOWER FOODS
HoneyFlower Foods is a different kind of food company that helps you Eat for the Future. Just like the sunflower that inspired our name, WE have strong roots. Our roots support who WE are and how WE fulfill our purpose.
ABOUT NIC BASH
“We started HoneyFlower Foods in an effort to take on some really hard, really important challenges. Can healthy, truly sustainable food, be tasty and easily available? Changes in the food system is the single best way to a healthier more sustainable planet. We believe that slight shifts in the way we think about food and what we eat, in the context of conscientiousness, can make a world of difference and we are having so much fun working for it!”
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