Oregon is a state rich in innovation and culture with the spirit of pioneering at its core for local businesses. Often times, those core values can become overshadowed by the desire to grow too big, too fast. However, many small Oregon companies have taken the path of fostering their personal values. They are able to reach their full potential and brand success without losing their founding values as they grow. A perfect example is Glorybee.
Bonnie Larson, marketing director of Glorybee, prides herself on the company’s strong foundation of “doing the right thing.” She believes that Glorybee is a company that has found success through humble beginnings and a genuine desire to help others.
Dick and Pat Turanski founded the company in 1975 in Eugene, Oregon. Since then Glorybee has grown into a multi-million dollar corporation. The Turanski’s dream was to provide natural and healthy ingredients to their customers. Originally, the family farmed honey in their back yard as a hobby Dick had learned from a friend. This then turned into a small business based on Christian and humble values within the local community. Today they still practice the same business ethics with pride and spirit in quality ingredients.
With business ethics in mind you may question how a company produces so many products with an insect that could go extinct. In 2012, they launched a Save The Bee campaign to directly impact organizations dedicated to saving the bee and bee health issues. The company donates 1% of sales to Save the Bee initiatives so that research can be conducted at institutions such as Oregon State University.
Glorybee ties their work back to the basics of their humble beginnings. They have truly encompassed that their business is what you put into it. High quality, reliable, and locality are values that Glorybee was founded on and will continue to be as they move into the future to grow.
3 reasons why you should support Glorybee
1. Highest Quality Products
- They stem from Pacific Northwest organic food producers and branch out to 17 different countries around the world.
2. Community Involvement
- The company donates all unsold or partially damaged food products to local charities.
- Glorybee believes in “sharing their bounty with others.”
- They also donate 1% of their Aunt Patty’s sales towards causes that promote healthy living.
3. Energy Efficient and Greenhouse Gasses
- The company has set a goal to become 100% waste free by 2018.
- In 2013 they diverted 81% of their waste from the landfill.
- In order for Glorybee to fuel their vheicles, they use a 20% biofuel-diesel mix that comes from recycled cooking oil.
In Glorybee’s mission statement, they pride themselves on “[striving] to have the highest possible ethical and moral standards for ourselves and towards our customers.” This company not only emcompasses what it means to be an Oregonian brand, but also how to genuinely be a good person. Everything that this company does is for the better of the community, customers, and the planet. Their success hasn’t come from quantity over quality, it has come from ethical values and the desire to promote a healthy lifestyle.
