Queen Bee Gardens is buzzing Powell with a new location at 146 N. Bent St. The store officially opened on Saturday.

The Lovell-based company has made a name for itself with a variety of products made from pure Wyoming honey — including caramels, caramel sauce, truffles, whipped honey, English toffee, honeymoons and, of course, pure honey. 

The company makes so many candies that Ben Zeller, who is part of the family that founded and runs the businesses, can’t always say off the top of his head how many there are. 

“I lose track,” Zeller said.

Jason Zeller, a partner in the business, said among the most popular kinds are the pecan pearls, which are made with honey, caramel and pecans. 

The operation consists of two businesses. Zeller & Sons Honey Company oversees beehives and honey production, which involves about 4,000 colonies of bees, and Queen Bee Gardens makes and distributes honey products. 

They also have some wholesale partnerships — such as providing their surplus honey to Colorado-based Honeyville, which makes jams, syrups and sauces. Those products are available in the Powell location. 

Besides candies and other food products, Queen Bee also makes lip balm, pure beeswax and beeswax candles.

“Every single candle is hand-poured, hand-trimmed and hand-buffed,” Ben Zeller said. 

All this is produced at the original store, located at 262 E. Main St. in Lovell, and then shipped to locations in Greybull, Cody and now Powell. Queen Bee also has locations in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Granby, Colorado. 

“Everything we sell is made in Lovell,” Zeller said.  

Jason Zeller said honey-based candy is better for you than candies made from processed sugar. The honey they produce is different from the brown processed honey mass produced for grocery stores. It’s a lighter flavor. 

Ben Zeller said the taste and color changes according to what the bees forage on. Most of the Zellers’ bees forage on alfalfa and clover. Some of the forage is sage.

“That’s what produces that really nice white honey,” Ben Zeller said. 

The candy is wrapped in cellophane, as honey is too sticky for waxed paper. 

Clarence and Bessie Zeller began producing honey on the family farm near Lovell in the 1940s. Bessie Zeller began making honey candy with old family recipes from Scotland, and so many people liked it that Clarence Zeller set up a business to sell it. Many of these recipes are still used today, though the business has added many, many more since officially incorporating in 1976. 

“We’re always experimenting,” said Jason Zeller.

Beyond the retail outlets and wholesale partnerships, the company also ships to all 50 states and a few international countries.

The new Powell location is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.