How much does a Commercial Beekeeping cost to buy?

A typical Commercial Beekeeping sells for 2x to 3.5x seller's discretionary earnings. With estimated SDE of $76K, expect to pay roughly $152K to $266K before adjustments for assets, debt, growth, and local market quality.

How much does it cost to start a Commercial Beekeeping?

Startup costs range from $8K to $40K depending on location, equipment, and scale.

Route

Commercial Beekeeping

Pollination contracts + honey sales — a $1.5B industry nobody talks about

Bottom line

Accessible entry point; validate local supply before buying.

Commercial beekeeping operations earn revenue from two streams most people never connect: pollination contracts with farms and orchards, and honey production sold wholesale or direct. California almond growers alone pay $200–$250 per hive per season for pollination — and a single operator with 500 hives can earn $100K+ from one crop cycle. Add honey production at $3–$8/lb wholesale and the model stacks. The US beekeeping industry is worth $1.5B+ annually, yet fewer than 3,000 operations account for the bulk of commercial-scale production. Entry barriers are lower than expected — hive equipment and a few acres for apiary placement are the core assets.

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Acquisition score

Margin · multiple · SBA data

71Strong

Avg revenue

$200K/yr

$80K–$700K range

Profit margin

38%

~$76K SDE

Multiple

2–3.5×

of SDE

Est. buy price

$152K–$266K

startup: $8K–$40K

How It Works

The operator maintains colonies of honeybees in Langstroth hive boxes on owned or leased apiary sites. During pollination season (almond bloom in Feb–Mar, apple and cherry in May, blueberry and cranberry through summer), hives are transported on flatbed trucks to farm customers under annual contracts. Off-season, honey supers are added and honey is extracted, filtered, and packaged for wholesale or retail sale. Healthy hive counts are maintained year-round through feeding, disease management, and queen replacement. Larger operators lease winter apiary sites in warm climates to keep colonies strong for early spring contracts.

BizBite verdict

Watch / verify

Commercial Beekeeping has enough high-level data for a first look, but BizBite has not assigned a category-specific operating model yet. Treat the score as preliminary.

71Strong

low data confidence · 40/100medium financing fit

Why it may work

+Attractive 38% estimated margin profile

Be careful

!Source link status has not been verified yet
!No last-checked date yet
!No SBA category enrichment yet
!No category operating model yet
!Low data confidence

Deal Calculator

Priced off $76K SDE — can this deal service its own debt?

2.74×

DSCR · Lender-comfortable

Purchase multiple — 2.5× SDE ($190K)

Category range: 2×–3.5× SDE

Down payment — 10% ($19K)

SBA minimum equity injection is 10% for change-of-ownership

Interest rate — 10.50%

Typical SBA 7(a) range: 9.5–12% (prime-based)

Loan term — 10 years

Standard SBA 7(a): 10 years for business acquisition

Purchase price

$190K

2.5× of $76K SDE

Cash to close

$25K

$19K down + ~3% closing

Debt service

$2K/mo

$28K/yr on $171K loan

Cash-on-cash

196%

cash back in ~7 mo

Debt service coverage · what the lender sees

2.74×+$4K/mo after debt

Most SBA lenders want ≥1.25× coverage; 1.5×+ is a strong file.

SDE = revenue × margin estimate for this niche; it includes owner compensation, so budget your salary out of cash flow. Excludes working-capital injection, capex reserves, and taxes. Actual SBA terms vary by lender and borrower.

Pros

+Two income streams — pollination contracts provide predictable seasonal cash, honey provides year-round recurring revenue
+California almond pollination alone pays $200–$250/hive — 500 hives generates $100K–$125K in a single 6-week season
+Physical assets (hives, equipment, trucks) have strong resale value and underpin the acquisition price
+Structural shortage of commercial hives relative to demand — growers compete for contracts, not operators

Cons

-Colony losses from disease (Varroa mite, AFB) and pesticide drift are a real operational risk that must be budgeted for
-Highly seasonal cash flow — most pollination revenue lands in Q1–Q2, requiring careful working capital management
-Physically demanding work: hive inspections, honey extraction, and transport require significant manual labor

Best For

Operators with agricultural land access or farm network connections who want a rural cash-flow business with strong asset backing

Operating Costs

At $200K revenue: feed and supplements run 8–12%, equipment maintenance and replacement adds 10–15%, vehicle and transport adds 10–12%, and labor adds 20–30% for operations with hired help. Owner-operators managing their own hives report net margins of 40–50%. Operations relying on hired labor compress to 25–35%.