Oshkosh, Wisconsin-based Bee Bella, LLC produces handmade lip balm in a unique laser engraved bamboo tube for retailers ranging from department stores to coffee shops and all-natural grocery stores to spas. Consumers love the supplier’s sustainability mission, cool tube, and best-in-class formula. Unlike their competitors, who haven’t invested in innovating their packaging, brand image, or formulas in decades—and who have saturated the budget focused mass market retailer segment—Bee Bella offers consumers an everyday product that has been transformed into an extraordinary one at an affordable luxury price and retailers with a unique product that generates average sales with a robust margin.
Founded in 2015, Bee Bella has been exporting for the past two years. In 2023 the Wisconsin supplier started participating in Food Export-Midwest’s Branded Program to gain brand awareness and increase export sales. During the company’s first year of participation they participated in the Market Access Program funded program to gain brand awareness for its lip care products in Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom. In 2024 the supplier shifted gears and used the program to promote its products in Canada, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Bee Bella used its allocated program funding to complete a digital marketing campaign, make label modifications, and develop an international website. Program participation and these promotions helped Bee Bella earn $10,000.00 in sales to Japan, gain 3 new foreign buyer contacts, and establish 3 new distributorships. The supplier also projects to complete $100,000.00 in sales over the next twelve months.
Jonathan Dudzinski, Co-Founder of Bee Bella shared, “The Food Export Branded Program has been instrumental in helping our U.S.-based manufacturing business take its first steps into exporting. Not only did they support us financially, but their expert consultants were critical in guiding a small business that didn’t know a DDP purchase order from a currency hedge!”
Bee Bella, LLC has participated in Food Export programs since 2023 taking part in the Branded Program, Buyers Missions, and the Online Product Catalog.
