Bringing Regenerative Honey to Grocery Shelves

Collin McKenna never had to imagine what entrepreneurship looked like. He grew up inside it.

Businesses were part of daily life in his family. His parents were always building something. New ideas, new ventures, new energy filled the house. On his mother’s side, it went even further. His grandparents were founders. Uncles ran businesses in the party industry. As a kid, Collin watched things get built, change, and grow. Because of that, entrepreneurship never felt like a risky alternative. “It never really felt like there was another option,” he says.

That exposure shaped how he thought about work early. Building felt exciting. Watching something come to life felt normal. When he eventually stepped out on his own, it was not rebellion or escape. It was continuation.

His first real attempt came right out of college with a regenerative organic cold pressed juice company. It was his entry point into the beverage world and his first experience trying to turn values into a product people would actually buy. Regenerative agriculture mattered deeply to him. Business mattered too. That first company tied the two together. It taught him how hard it is to move from concept to shelf, especially in retail. It also taught him that beverages are as much about distribution and execution as they are about taste.

As he learned more about retail and consumer behavior, his curiosity started shifting. Alcoholic beverages sat at the intersection of ritual, culture, and scale. He also cared deeply about honey, mead, and regenerative systems. Being able to bring something rooted in agriculture to a mass market felt meaningful. That curiosity became the seed for his second company.

He describes the company as a natural progression rather than a sudden pivot. He had learned the beverage world the hard way. He understood what it took to launch. He also understood where most early stage brands struggle. Research and development alone took over a year and a half. Alcohol licensing took even longer. “I was not ready for how long all of that took,” he admits. Before the product ever reached shelves, nearly three years had already gone into building the foundation.

When the product finally launched, momentum followed. Within a year and a half of being in market, it expanded into over two hundred retail doors. Partnerships with Sprouts and Whole Foods validated both the product and the positioning. That growth was supported by a pre seed round of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, raised more than a year earlier to get the product off the ground. Now the company is opening a two million dollar seed round, with roughly a quarter already committed, focused on expansion into new markets and deeper relationships with existing retailers.

Behind that progress sits a constantly evolving team. Sales associates, distribution partners, advisors, and a growing internal group all play a role. Some contributors are full time. Many are part time or consulting. “Everyone’s kind of slowly coming on board more and more,” Collin explains. Growth has been deliberate, shaped by capital constraints and the realities of scaling responsibly.

Funding has been one of the hardest parts. At the idea stage, belief carries more weight than proof. “You just have to have a lot of faith and hope,” he says. Once the business reached market, a different challenge surfaced. Distribution. Especially in California, where chaos in the market and shifting distributor relationships made progress unpredictable. Even with product, inventory, and retail interest, nothing moves without distribution. “It’s a big catch twenty two,” he says. For a stretch, it made every retail pitch harder than it should have been. Eventually, they found the right partner and cleared the bottleneck, but not without frustration.

Scrappiness has defined the entire journey. On the fundraising side, Collin built an investor list of nearly a thousand people. Cold emails went out relentlessly. Conversations followed wherever they would lead. That effort brought in not just capital, but advisors who genuinely believed in the product. Two names still stand out to him. Jackson Claire from Sprouts and James Watt from BrewDog both came through that cold outreach. “Ended up getting some of our current advisors and lead investors just from that,” he says. The product itself did the rest.

Those conversations reinforced his belief that execution matters more than speed. One piece of advice changed the trajectory of the company. An early advisor, Jeff Church, told him something simple. If you’re going to do it, do it right. Do it big. At the time, the team was close to launching a smaller version of the product. Instead, they paused. They raised more capital. They invested in branding. They went deeper into the model. “You really only get one shot with a lot of these markets,” Collin explains. That patience resulted in a product he believes is far better than what would have launched otherwise.

The long term vision stretches beyond a single category. While the current focus is on honey based alcohol, the goal is broader. Collin wants people choosing honey as an ingredient. He wants attention on regenerative organic practices. He wants to support bee farms that play a critical role in pollination and ecosystem health. “Bringing light to these bee farms,” he says, matters as much as growing revenue. Expansion into other honey based products feels inevitable. Alcohol is the starting point, not the finish line.

The customer they serve reflects a generational shift. Younger consumers who grew up with hard seltzers are now looking for something more intentional. They care about ingredients. They have more disposable income. They want a natural step up without abandoning accessibility. Products made from regenerative organic honey offer that bridge. “We’re made from the best ingredients on the planet,” Collin says. That distinction matters.

When asked what advice he would give to someone considering entrepreneurship, his answer is immediate. Start. Do not wait. Comfort makes inertia powerful. “If you get comfortable, it’s hard to switch gears,” he says. Starting early forces momentum. It creates learning. Even imperfect progress beats endless planning.

The advice that stayed with him most came at a critical moment. Slow down. Do it right. Take the time. That mindset continues to guide decisions as the company scales. Build something worth repeating. Build something that earns shelf space and trust. Build something that reflects the values it claims to hold.

Collin continues building with that same energy he grew up around. Excitement. Curiosity. Patience. Watching something take shape never lost its appeal. It simply became more real, one can at a time.

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