This is the entrance to the Mann Lake Bee & Ag Supply store in Hackensack, shown on Aug. 16, 2023, where people can buy beekeeping equipment. Nancy Vogt / Echo Journal

Beekeeping supply business continues growth across U.S.

By Nancy Vogt | Echo Journal

HACKENSACK — With a population of around 300 people, Hackensack is home to a giant industry that at times employs that many people or more.

Mann Lake Bee & Ag Supply is the world’s largest manufacturer and supplier of beekeeping equipment. The company that regularly employs more than 200 people is tucked behind the trees just off Highway 371 at the city’s southern end, on Cass County Road 40.

From the highway, part of one building is visible with the red letters “Mann Lake Ltd.” Additions of buildings through the years takes the company several blocks down First Street Northwest.

Mann Lake manufactures beehive boxes and frames that beekeepers use for their bees, as well as feed supplements for bees. The company also buys items from various vendors across the world to resell.

“So basically, if there’s anything that you need to be a beekeeper, we supply it,” said Jenna Prososki, Mann Lake customer service manager.

The company also offers poultry and bird supplies.

Workforce

Before buying its Kentucky branch with a manufacturing facility, Mann Lake in Hackensack employed 400-500 people.

“So we were double the town population, which was just crazy,” CFO Shana Rowlette said.

Mann Lake currently employs about 225 people in Hackensack who come from nearby communities like Pine River, Park Rapids, Walker and some from as far as Brainerd-Baxter and Bemidji.

“You’re definitely limited because there’s only so many people living in this area,” Prososki said.

The COVID-19 pandemic actually helped with the company’s workforce because people moved from the Twin Cities to their cabins up north.

“It was a really good thing for us because it just opened up the talent pool a little bit more,” Prososki said. “But it’s definitely still a challenge for anybody looking to relocate to the area to find housing, and that’s something that our CFO, Shana, works with the city and the county on — providing data and trying to improve that.”

The company is entering its slower time of the year, but likely will be hiring in January and February to gear up for the busy season that runs through September.

“As soon as it starts to warm up in the southern half of the United States, we get busy,” Prososki said.

History

Jack and Betty Thomas started Mann Lake Bee Supply in 1983 in the garage of their home on Mann Lake, which is how the company got its name.

“They were beekeepers. They had a hard time finding supplies of their own so they decided to start a supply business. And then it grew to where they moved it into town here, purchased this building, and we’ve since added on multiple times to accommodate all the manufacturing that we do here,” Prososki said.

“They lived here, they loved the area and chose to start their business and keep their business here,” she said.

Besides realizing the need for quality supplies for hobby beekeepers, the Thomases recognized no one was serving the commercial beekeeping industry. That included beekeepers who run 5,000, 10,000 and more hives, and who were part of the migratory beekeepers servicing crops that needed pollination.

“So they made it a goal to be the one-stop shop for those beekeepers, and that is what really launched the company and allowed it to grow,” Prososki said.

Jack Thomas died in September 2018, and the then employee-owned company was sold that year to Grey Mountain, a private equity firm.

The company’s name was changed from Mann Lake Ltd to Mann Lake Bee & Ag Supply in 2021.

Mann Lake today

The company now has other locations that serve a good concentration of commercial beekeepers. The first was Woodland, California, where bees are used to pollinate almond crops. Prososki said using bees to pollinate crops like almonds, watermelons, blueberries — any large scale commercial crop that needs pollination — is as big or bigger than the honey business.

Both the California and a Texas location have a full distribution center and store, just like in Hackensack.

A Mann Lake facility in Kentucky houses a distribution center and manufacturing. It was Kelley Beekeeping, which Mann Lake purchased in 2019.

Mann Lake also has store locations in Pennsylvania and Florida.

The company employs about 400 nationwide.

Though the majority of its business is in the United States, Mann Lake has dealers across the world, including in Europe, South America, Australia and Japan.

There’s no plan to move Mann Lake’s headquarters from Hackensack.

“I think it’s a common rumor that goes around. … Every year we hear it, especially around this time of year when we’re coming up into our slower time,” Prososki said. “But no, there’s no intention of moving outside of Hackensack. Just the movement of all the manufacturing alone would be quite the undertaking.”

Minnesota and North and South Dakota are the nation’s top honey producing states, so being based in Minnesota makes sense for commercial beekeepers, she said.

While the company has seen growth in the past 10 years of acquiring other companies and adding employees, the Hackensack facility has undergone its own growth with building additions that include warehouse, wood plant and feed manufacturing facilities.

In 2019, Mann Lake acquired the Pine River company Stromberg’s Chicks and Game Birds. And that year it opened a company store where people can buy beekeeping and other products.

Today, company goals include growing the business-tobusiness side, continuing to ensure the company offers all products a beekeeper would need, and staying innovative and offering new products.

To that end, this year, Mann Lake launched a new feed for honeybees.

The next closest beekeeping supply store is Nature’s Nectar in Stillwater, which resells Mann Lake Bee & Ag products. A network of dealers throughout the United States is listed on a map on the Mann Lake website at mannlakeltd.com.

“A lot of hardware stores and your Fleet Farms have started carrying very small sections of beekeeping supplies, but it’s not your comprehensive store like you would get from coming to our store here in Hackensack or visiting Nature’s Nectar in Stillwater,” Prososki said. “It’s a really niche industry.”

Mann Lake is looking to grow into that business-tobusiness segment, supplying its products to smaller local stores.

“That is an adventure that we are just getting started in,” she said.

Another targeted growth area is through Amazon.

Currently, the majority of Mann Lake’s business is through its website and shipping, or customers who call and get their products shipped to them. That’s especially true for the hobby beekeeping side of the business.

Prososki became a hobby beekeeper herself because of her job. Her hives are in her home garden in Pine River.

“If I know these products, it’s going to help me sell these products or answer questions about these products,” she said of her decision to try beekeeping when she started 11 years ago in sales at Mann Lake.