Today we’d like to introduce you to Meredith Simmerman
Hi Meredith, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
One Sunday afternoon in April 2017, after picking blackberries for hours and ending up with way more than I knew what to do with, I came up with a delicious flavor combination that is now called Blackberry Honey Butter. From one social media post about the butter, sales exploded and the adventure of Reney’s Honey Butter began! Now, over seven years later, Reney’s has over 60 flavors of both sweet and savory butters to enjoy. For the first 2 years of business, we operated mainly through wholesale accounts and farmers markets or shows. As we continued to grow, we decided to have a storefront of our own and created a space affectionally called The Cottage in west Mobile, Alabama where we serve breakfast and lunch as well as offer an assortment of locally and nationally curated food products from other small businesses. In 2021, we also purchased a food trailer for Reney’s Honey Butter to continue to grow our business and our reach in the community. In 2023 we began to ship our butters and our infamous homemade biscuits nationwide! Every day is an adventure and we are excited to continue to grow and expand!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Owning a business is not for the faint of heart! If it was a smooth road, I would probably be doing something wrong! We definitely have faced challenges and struggles in our efforts to continue to grow. Challenges to continue to get customers to walk in the doors daily have led us to lean into our creative side and have, in essence, forced us to get out of the box.
As a business, even with a niche product you are known for, we have to consistently be dreaming about what is next, what to create, how to reach our “people” and how to be the best we can be each day!
A prevalent challenge, this year for me, has been to keep believing in growth and big things, even when I haven’t experienced it. Having faith that God has called me to this business and position keeps me in a place of hope and perseverance.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Reney’s Honey Butter is a Southern Company that specializes in producing sweet and savory butters! We are a business centered around community, connection and celebration through food! We make over 60 flavors of butter in addition to serving breakfast and lunch items that revolve around our butters. We serve our community in store, through local delivery and with a food truck we take on the road once a week! We also can now bring the butter to you! Anywhere nationwide! We like to say that we are more than just butter! We want everyone who shops with us to leave our building more encouraged that when they came in. We spend time throughout the week handwriting encouraging notes on each of our shopping bags! When you walk in our doors, you see a wall sign saying “do life butter” and a long table we call a “community table” where you are encouraged to sit and share a meal with friends or even strangers who can become friends! We are in the business of building connection through food!
One of the sides of this business I am most proud of is our new non-profit venture called Butter Babes! Butter Babes are women who are phenomenal ladies who also love butter!
This is a community-minded organization that exists to create connection opportunities among women, while empowering, encouraging and education them in the areas of identity, purpose and belonging!
Through the 7 years of operating Reney’s Honey Butter, relationships have been what has prevailed! Our goal continues to be to serve excellent food, create one-of-a-kind butters, but now we also exist to empower women!
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
People are looking for more than just good food. They are looking for experiences. I see food playing a huge part in that.
I want Reney’s Honey Butter to be a business that steps into that space as well, whether it is through coming in our store or ordering online.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.reneyshoneybutter.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reneyshoneybutter
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reneyshoneybutter
- Other: https://www.butterbabe.org
