The famous Burt’s Bees’ lip balm company began with a hitchhiker.

The famous Burt’s Bees’ lip balm company began with a hitchhiker.

Everyone uses Burt’s Bees lip balm when they have chapped lips. But who is Burt and where do his bees come from? The infamous lip balm started with a yellow Datsun and a hitchhiker. Burt Shavitz, a bearded beekeeper and the co-founder of Burt’s Bees’ picked up a traveler who later became his business partner, according […]

Everyone uses Burt’s Bees lip balm when they have chapped lips. But who is Burt and where do his bees come from?

The infamous lip balm started with a yellow Datsun and a hitchhiker. Burt Shavitz, a bearded beekeeper and the co-founder of Burt’s Bees’ picked up a traveler who later became his business partner, according to ABC News.

Roxanne Quimby, the hitchhiker who was actually an artist, made candles with unused wax from Shavitz’s beehives.

“They made $200 at their first craft fair; within a year, they’d make $20,000,” the Burt’s Bees company website states.

By the early 90’s the company started shipping hundreds of Burt’s Bees’ candles and by 1994, the company relocated to North Carolina from Maine.

Eventually, they opened offices around the world including the U.K. Ireland, Canada, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. His company focused on the relationship between bees, humans, and food with causes like the Burt Bees’ Greater Good Foundation, according to ABC News.

In 2007, Clorox bought Burt’s Bees’ for $925 million.

Burt’s Bees’ is sold everywhere. The little yellow packaging (Burt’s favorite color) can never be forgotten as well as Burt, who passed away yesterday at the age of 80.

“Burt was a complex man who sought a simple life in pace with the seasons of nature on his land. If there is one thing we will remember from Burt’s life, in our fast-paced, hi-tech culture, it’s to never lose sight of our relationship with nature,” the company said in a statement, according to ABC News.

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