At the end of October, Peter and Sandi Dickey will be retiring – and so will their award-winning brand, Dickey Bee Honey.
It’s actually a second retirement for Peter Dickey, fourth generation bee-keeper.
He left the business the first time around at the age of 18, after working for his dad’s bee-keeping business from early childhood.
“I grew up with it,” he says. “At 10, I was extracting in my father’s garage.”
By the time he was a teenager and had his licence, he was helping to move the bees to pollination – bringing hives to the orchards and farm crops that rely on pollinators. According to the Ontario government, bees are needed to generate nearly $900 million in Ontario crops every year.
He then left the business to pursue another trade. It wasn’t until he was in his early 50s, and had met Sandi, that he returned to bee-keeping.
“I needed a career change,” Dickey says, “and I always had an interest in bee-keeping.”
His father, ailing, was no longer able to handle the hives he still had. In 2002, Peter brought his father’s bees to Innisfil, and started Dickey Bee Honey.
From those original 13 or 14 hives, the business took flight.
“Every year, we were gradually into more and more. More and more everything – bees, hives, products, demand.”
Eventually, Dickey Bee Honey was working out of three locations in Innisfil, including a milkhouse leased from a local farmer. That’s when the Dickeys took the next logical step, and built their Honey House in 2012 – a 4000 sq. ft. all-in-one production, packaging and storage facility, retail store, museum and educational centre.
They expanded their product lines, to include not only beekeeping supplies and 100 percent pure liquid and creamed honey, honey butter, comb honey, Royal Jelly and bee pollen, but also a line of salad dressings, sauces and jams, and health and beauty products like honey-based hand creams, honey soap, lip balm and hand sanitizer.
The number of hives grew to over 600. The company earned CFIA Certification, expanding into at least 100 retail outlets, from grocery stores to farmers’ markets.
And Dickey Bee Honey won awards, recognizing both the quality and hard work – from Grand Champion and Premier honey exhibitor at the 2013 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, to a South Simcoe Business Excellence Award for top Agricultural Business.
At the Honey House, the Dickeys provided tours for the public, and for schoolchildren; hosted fundraisers for the Rotary Club of Innisfil, public events like the annual Visit from Santa, and taught classes in bee-keeping and beeswax candle-making.
They helped to educate and inspire a new generation of beekeepers.
But the pace was non-stop. It was, says Sandi, “24/7.”
“We needed to slow down,” acknowledges Peter.
Retirement was “always in our plans,” they note, but it was COVID-19 that changed the timeframe.
They had purchased 44 acres of land north and west of Alliston, with plans to eventually build a cottage or retirement home. “COVID just kind of made you re-think,” says Sandi - especially when, in April 2020, Peter lost a close friend to COVID.
“We had to re-evaluate what is important,” says Sandi. “We have pretty awesome grandkids. We need to spend more time with them.”
They made the decision to retire this year, to sell their Innisfil home and the Honey House – but not the Dickey Bee Honey brand. That will be retiring with them.
“We’re very proud of what we accomplished,” says Sandi. “We’ll leave with our head held high.”
She has been especially proud of the Honey House and its educational role. “I always wanted to be a teacher,” she notes, and seeing visitors and children leave with a new understanding and appreciation of bees and honey production has been particularly satisfying.
The property at 4031 Line 3 Innisfil near Cookstown has now been sold to new owners, Mike and Melissa Derkinderen, owners of Derkwood Beekeeping Supplies.
As of Oct. 31, Dickey Bee Honey will cease operation. The retail store will close, along with all online sales. Remaining stock will go to retail outlets, to ensure supply for the coming holiday season – although some items are already sold out - and Derkwood Beekeeping has purchased the remaining beekeeping equipment.
And Peter and Sandi Dickey will retire to their new home.
At the new house, Peter has built a workshop for his retirement projects. He plans to keep the antiques that currently fill the Dickey Bee museum, and will maintain his hives in Innisfil over the winter, before deciding on a next step.
He also plans to continue bee-keeping, but “as a hobby only. I’ll always have hives – strictly for our own use.”
“Don’t worry about what Sandi’s going to do,” says Sandi. “Golfing, reading, gardening, travel… and lots of time with the grandkids.” She adds, “I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like, to wake up and not be running through a list.”
“I was pretty hesitant a year ago, two years ago,” Peter admits, when they seriously began considering retirement. “We built this, we nurtured this, it’s in our blood,” he says; it's hard to walk away.
The hardest part? Saying goodbye to staff and loyal customers.
Staff have been a team “since day one,” they say, working together on an “assembly line” to meet Christmas gift basket orders, prepping for the annual Open House at the Honey House, and celebrating birthday luncheons together.
Last month, the Dickeys held a “T-shirt Party,” handing each staffer a custom t-shirt printed with their favourite saying, from “It is what it is,” to “Do you need me to work Thursday?”
There was a lot of laughter, and now, with Dickey Bee Honey closing, a lot of tears.
“It’s been a wonderful ride. How lucky and how blessed we’ve been,” says Sandi. “We’ve been good to the community, but the community has been awesome to us. Our customers have just been phenomenal.”
“You build it and they’ll come,” says Peter, of the model that led Dickey Bee Honey to its success. “People love honey.”
