After Burt's Bees, What?

Roxanne Quimby talks about gearing up for a three-part second act after selling her booming natural personal-care products business

by Stacy Perman

As far as success stories go, Roxanne Quimby, the entrepreneur behind the wildly successful Burt's Bees, is one for the books. Quimby was a divorced mother of twin girls, living without electricity on a farm in central Maine, when she met local beekeeper Burt Shavitz in 1984.

Shavitz was selling honey at a roadside stand. Soon the pair became both romantic and business partners. Quimby retooled Shavitz' wares, putting the honey in beehive-shaped designs with handmade labels and selling them at craft fairs.

Not long after, Quimby also began selling handcrafted beeswax candles that she made in her kitchen. Burt's Bees continued to grow, and Quimby eventually created a line of 150 natural skin and body products, driving the company's sales to $50 million.

In 2003, Quimby sold 80% of the company (by then Shavitz had retired, and she had bought him out) to AEA Investors, a private equity firm, for an estimated $175 million (see BusinessWeek.com, 8/7/06, "Burt's Bee's: Up From Craft Fairs").

Now, Quimby, who divides her time between Maine and Florida, is poised for a three-part second act. This year she debuted happygreenbee.com, an organic cotton clothing company for children and infants based in Raleigh, NC, and Seaside Partners, a real estate development firm that renovates and sells high-end properties in Portland, Me., and Palm Beach, Fla. Next year she plans to open a cooking vacation school and bed and breakfast in Winter Harbor, Me.

Recently, BusinessWeek.com staff writer Stacy Perman spoke with Quimby about getting started again. Edited excerpts of their conversation follow:

Do you feel pressure to succeed having already had such a successful first business?

I do. I think I've raised the bar for myself. I think that I am being watched more carefully. The first time I was in startup phase, I was a total unknown and invisible, so I had a bit of latitude, and the only expectations I had were for myself. In some ways that was a blessing. I could stumble and not disappoint anybody.

What are your aims with these particular businesses?

With the real estate business—besides making money—I believe that these are important properties that deserve to be improved. I am taking the environment into consideration where they are located, and I am being sensitive to the local vernacular.

A lot of these old homes are being torn down to make way for bigger, better properties, but a lot of [them] are really well-built and have another 100 years of use left in them. That is my operating agenda; I am trying to give older places a new life.

Happygreenbee.com is a consumer products company. We use only organically grown cotton, and I am hoping to educate consumers about the importance of using organic crops and how reducing the use of insecticides and pesticides benefits the environment.

The cooking school is a lifestyle business. I'm looking to create a business that will eventually be operated by an entrepreneur who loves food and Maine. I want to sell it in five years, but first I have to demonstrate a positive income statement and balance sheet and show that this business can pay for itself.

Are your goals this time around different than when you launched Burt's Bees?

In many ways they are the same. They all have to make sense to me from a value point of view. For instance, the cooking school will only use local, organic food, and we will take students out to the farms to see how food is created organically.

I think that Burt's Bees was driven by desperation. In the early years, I had two little kids and there were no jobs for me [where I lived.] I started Burt's Bees out of necessity to create a job for myself—that was my first goal. I don't have the same necessity in starting these businesses. I can be a bit more relaxed and strategize.