Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicholas Klein
Hi Nicholas, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Our story begins in 1951 with my grandfather, Raymond Klein. During his studies at the University of Minnesota, he took one apiary (honeybee) class and fell in love. After graduating, he went to work for a honey farm located in Marshall. After a couple of years he purchased the business from its previous owner. For the next 40 years, he and my father, Stephen Klein were beekeepers of nearly 2,000 hives across 4 counties in southwestern Minnesota. They would truck their bees down to Florida, Texas, and California in the winters for many years. My father joined the National Honey Board and invested immense amount of time and energy into making Kleins Honey, a successful business.
In the early 1990s, as beekeeping began to hit hard times, they added on an additional part to the business, Klein Foods, Inc. This was the gourmet food manufacturing portion of the business. Honey cremes, specialty honeys, and more became a larger portion of the business as the decade went on until we were forced to sell off our remaining bees after many tough crop years and build a new building with a retail store on the edge of town in 2001, called, Walnut Grove Mercantile.
With the addition of the new store, we added a new line of products, handmade soaps, preserves, syrups, bbq sauces, caramels, and of course fudge. Walnut Grove Mercantile quickly took off as customers loved the old-timey and nostalgic feel of the store as well as the delicious products. After several years, we were approached by a priest who wanted to fundraise with our fudge. After some deliberation, we decided to give it a try. Now, after 15 years, we have helped groups all across the country raise nearly $3 million dollars. Schools, hospital auxiliaries, civic groups, band trips, scout troops, and more have all benefited from our generous 50% profit margin and delicious products.
During that time, Nicholas, the third generation of the family business, came home to work with his parents and plan to take over when his parents retire. With over 70 years of history already, Nicholas looks forward to bringing us to our 100th anniversary and beyond. If you’re ever in the area, stop by to say hello and enjoy our delicious handmade goodies, our friendly atmosphere and discover why we are making a delicious difference!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not always been a smooth road for us. As stated in the prior section, our business has had to reimagine itself several times over 70 years to stay relevant. From beekeeping to gourmet honeys. Building a new retail store and learning how to craft the most delicious homemade fudge, the Klein Family has always done whatever it takes to make great products and to make our customers happy.
The early 1990s were devastating years for beekeepers. Pesticides, new diseases, less bee friendly crops killed the industry in southwest Minnesota. Making the decision to end that portion of the business after 40 years of success was extremely difficult.
Another struggle occurred several years after the store opened, the recession of 2008. For several years, there was an enormous impact on our retail sales. Turning to fundraising helped to reinvent ourselves once again. Now, 15 years later, fudge fundraising is the biggest portion of our business.
Transitioning from Raymond to Stephen, and now Stephen to Nicholas has infused new life and ideas into the business. Through it all is a dedication to hard work and pride in what 3 generations of family has been able to accomplish.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I shared quite a bit of this info in an earlier section, but we specialize in gourmet food manufacturing. Fudge, caramels, honey, bbq sauce, preserves, and soap are all handmade at our facility in Marshall, MN. We are most well known for our fudge, caramels, and honey.
We fundraise with our fudge and caramels all across the country and have helped various groups raise approximately $3 million dollars to help in their local communities. We offer a 50% profit margin on fundraising, which is rarely if ever found in the fundraising sector. We craft high quality, delicious products, and we make our process as smooth and seamless as possible.
To anyone reading this article, we want you to know that we pride ourselves on making a delicious difference in your community, our community, and to everyone who is able to enjoy a Walnut Grove Mercantile hand-crafted goodie. We take immense pride in knowing that we support children and families who would otherwise be unable to participate in band trips, church trips, traveling sports teams, and more without the additional money raised through our fundraising program. We do it for you, go change the world!
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
We learned how important it is to have a digital presence in this day and age. Thankfully, we had just redesigned and prepared our website for online fundraising right before Covid-19 hit so many groups were happy to see that option. We were incredibly fortunate to have had good timing with online services.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://walnutgrovemerc.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/walnutgrovemerc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wgmercantile
