Allyse Jackson remembers the day she started a business without meaning to.

She was a stay-at-home mom with a two-year-old and a nine-month-old. Suddenly, her regular rhythm was interrupted when her husband’s job began to slow, causing irregular paychecks.

She knew she needed to help in whatever way she could.

She wasn’t looking to become an entrepreneur. She was just looking for a way to pay the mortgage.

And one regular morning became the starting point for her company, Beehive Meals.

It has now grown into a freezer meal prep company that has earned nearly $30 million in revenue, is shipped nationwide, and has been recognized three times on the Utah 100 list of the state’s fastest-growing companies.

But none of this was in her plans. And it certainly didn’t come easy. It was a series of small decisions made one month, and one freezer, at a time.

To understand how Beehive Meals got to where it is now, we have to go back to the notes app on Allyse’s phone.

How the Idea Was Born

In July of 2019, Allyse was a stay-at-home mom in Farmington, Utah, with no business background and no college degree. Her husband, Adam, worked for a small business that was slowly falling apart.

It didn’t take long before payroll was not hitting their bank account.

One morning, after Adam left for work, Allyse opened the notes app on her phone and decided to make a list. She called it things that I’m good at that can make money. This included:

  • Baking
  • Crocheting
  • And freezer meals

The last one was something she’d always prepped for her own family.

After making the list, she decided to act on it.

So, within a 30-minute span, she pulled together a picture collage and posted it to her local Facebook group. She put up 10 freezer meals for sale for anyone who was interested.

She didn’t know what to expect. But the response was immediate. It felt like people were showing up saying, “Yes, please take my money.” 

And Allyse didn’t even have a way to collect payment yet. So she scrambled to set up a Venmo account and asked customers to pay half upfront.

That first day, she made $10,000 in sales. And her husband, who was still at work, had no idea any of it had happened.

Learning the Business

Soon enough, Allyse found herself on the road to making a business. The only problem? She didn’t know what she was doing. There was no roadmap. 

Allyse quickly learned she couldn’t legally prepare raw meat and vegetables out of her home, so she went out and found a commercial kitchen shared with a food truck operator.

He allowed her to use his space in the gaps between his morning prep and the time his truck would be heading out.

With that problem solved, she then got certified and started making deliveries that following September. Come October, her husband left his job to help part-time with Allyse’s food preparations. 

And in a decision she still laughs about, they chose that same stretch of instability to get pregnant with their third child. Mostly because it meant qualifying for cheaper insurance.

Needless to say, 2019 was full of lots of changes for Allyse and her family.

Then came February 2020, when she hired her first employees. Everything was looking great! Her company seemed to be going off without a hitch.

Then March 2020 hit, and the world shut down.

For most businesses, this was catastrophic. But for Beehive Meals, it changed everything. Grocery shelves emptied. Families couldn’t leave their homes. 

So, Allyse’s company that could deliver home-cooked meals became an essential service almost overnight.

She started 2020 doing about $5,000 in sales in January. But by the end of the year, her company had made $1 million. And the next year, they made $8 million.

Scaling Through the Chaos

Allyse describes the growth of the early years of her company bluntly. She said, “[It felt like] we were on a train and we were not in the conductor seat. We were just holding on.”

The company scaled almost entirely on cash, never taking outside investment. When they outgrew one kitchen, they’d look around and take over a neighboring lease. 

When they needed another freezer, Allyse bought one. She eventually accumulated 35 industrial walk-in freezers across multiple locations. 

When a delivery route ran long, and a driver needed a bigger van the next morning, Allyse would show up at the dealership and drive off with a van she hadn’t even signed paperwork for yet.

She didn’t know another way, but she was making it work.

It wasn’t until a CFO joined the company that Allyse agreed to take on any debt at all. And even then, it was only through vehicle loans. 

That mindset has since evolved. The company’s new 60,000-square-foot facility was financed rather than paid for in cash. But Allyse’s instincts from those early years still shape how the business operates.

Finding Her Leader Voice 

However, growth that fast came with a cost. 

Around 2022, while the company was still growing but at a more sustainable pace, Allyse found herself wrestling with imposter syndrome. She had never run a business before, and it was starting to catch up to her.

So, she hired a COO, hoping to step back and let someone else run the day-to-day operations.

But nine months later, they parted ways. And that experience clarified something important to Allyse: she was the right person to run the business.

She just needed to keep growing into the role.

That realization led to what the company now calls “impact goals”; a quarterly system where every manager identifies one measurable improvement for their department, tracks it, and reports on it. 

After a year, teams can look back and see the tangible difference their work made thanks to those goals.

“It gives people a lot of pride in what they do,” Allyse said, “And it lets people see that what they do matters.”

Allyse learned that all she needed to do was lead in her own way. And by doing so, she found her own identity in running her company, and a successful business model came with it.

A Company Built by Moms, for Moms

Now, if you ask Allyse why Beehive Meals has such a loyal customer base, she starts with the product: no additives, in-house sauces, beef sourced from local ranchers. 

But, she’s quick to point to something a little more personal. She was her own first customer.

Allyse said, “It’s truly the only way I put dinner on the table for my family.” That sentiment is now one that her customers repeat to her constantly.

That same instinct shows up in how she’s built her team. She built her company through a small team of moms just trying to make it by.

Her director of operations started as a part-time employee printing shipping labels after her kids went to bed. 

Her director of business systems started as a delivery driver. 

Both were promoted as Allyse recognized their untapped potential and built roles around it.

The company now offers 12 weeks of paid maternity leave and four weeks of paid paternity leave. This is a crucial aspect of Allyse’s belief that family is the most important work that we have.

“When these life events happen, you should be home,” Allyse said. “You shouldn’t be worried about work.”

Utah’s culture has also shaped the business in other ways. 

The strong demographic overlap in LDS communities across Utah, Idaho, Arizona, and pockets of Texas and Florida, creates what Allyse describes as a natural community of “mommy bloggers”. 

These are the people who became early affiliates and advocates for Beehive Meals. And they continue to show up and share the company on social media, feeding into their growth and success to this day.

Lessons for Entrepreneurs

Allyse Jackson’s story offers plenty of insights for anyone looking to build something of their own. Here’s some advice to take with you:

  • Start with what you already know how to do: Beehive Meals began with a skill Allyse already had, not a brand-new idea she had to learn from scratch.
  • Simple ideas can scale: The company grew from $10,000 in first-day sales to tens of millions in revenue without ever taking outside investment.
  • Recognizing your own growth is part of the job: Allyse learned that she was the right person to run the company. She just had to keep developing as a leader.
  • Build systems that help people see their impact: Beehive Meals’ “impact goals” give every manager a tangible way to take pride in their contribution.
  • Promote when you spot potential: Some of the company’s most important leaders started in entry-level, part-time roles.
  • Let your product solve a problem you personally have: Allyse built her business around a need she experienced firsthand as a mom, and shared it with others.

Looking Ahead

Beehive Meals has grown from a single Facebook post in a local mom group to a nationwide shipping operation with 120 employees, its own manufacturing and distribution, and a facility built for a future far bigger than its past.

Now, Beehive Meals has recently moved into a 60,000-square-foot facility (purchased by Allyse and her husband personally). 

They have been able to replace their patchwork of 35 freezers and multiple flex spaces the business had outgrown one lease at a time. 

The company also purchased the adjacent land, with no immediate plans other than keeping the option open.

The move to a real facility, along with new semi-automatic equipment, has the company thinking beyond direct-to-consumer sales for the first time.

This includes early conversations about entering wholesale retail, a space Allyse is only beginning to explore. 

But one thing is for certain: she’s approaching the future with the same instinct that built the company from the start. Figure it out, stay close to the customer, and keep going.

“If we can get the orders, I can produce it,” she said. “So we’ll figure it out.”

Want the full story behind Allyse Jackson’s journey?

Listen to the complete MountainWest Capital Network Podcast episode, where Allyse shares her story of growing a company from her home kitchen.

[Listen to the full episode here →]

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/building-a-business-from-a-kitchen-all-about/id1818372923?i=1000786256238 


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5Bq8SZ1uGbRsClmgx1hbl0?si=cnhLtkhJSlKL4OmJDImfJw 

Connect with Allyse Jackson and Beehive Meals: