At Beehive Meals, quality isn’t just a buzzword. It’s the heart of everything we do. Behind every meal is a team that’s passionate about using real, simple ingredients and creating recipes that feel like home. We believe you deserve to know exactly what goes into the food you’re feeding your family. That’s why we put so much care into developing, testing, and perfecting every single meal.
Today, we’re pulling back the curtain to introduce you to our Research & Development team. These are the people who make sure every Beehive Meal is as delicious, wholesome, and trustworthy as it should be.
Hello! We’re Gatlyn and Stephanie, managers of the Research & Development team at Beehive Meals. Our department oversees everything from coming up with new meal ideas, perfecting recipes, creating homemade spice and sauce blends, and ensuring every meal that hits your table meets our high standards. We’ve spent a lot of time making sure our meals are something we are proud to serve our family, and yours!
Alright, how does a Beehive Meals recipe even start? Is it a sudden inspiration, a team brainstorm, or a “what’s missing from our menu” moment?
Gatlyn: It’s a little bit of everything. We take inspiration from everywhere! Sometimes it’s a great meal we’ve had at a restaurant that we want to turn into a slow cooker version. Other times it starts with a team brainstorm, customer feedback, or noticing a gap in our menu. We think a lot about variety. We want to make sure that we have a good mix of flavors, ingredients, and cuisines so there’s always something new and exciting for our customers.
Stephanie: Sometimes we spring off an existing recipe, whether it's something trending on social media or an old family favorite. By adding ingredients to enhance flavors, bumping up the nutrition profile or even swapping ingredients out altogether for cleaner options, the recipe then becomes our own better version and hopefully a new favorite.
You test every recipe multiple times. What are you actually looking for during those tests? What makes a recipe go from “almost there” to “oh yeah, that’s the one”?
Gatlyn: Flavor is the first thing we’re paying attention to, but we also watch for texture, consistency, and how the meals hold up after being slow cooked for hours. Since our meals are designed to feed families, we aim for a balance that works for everyone; not too spicy for kids, but still enough flavor to keep parents coming back for more. A recipe moves from “almost there” to “this is the one” when the flavors are balanced, the texture is spot on, and it’s something the whole family will enjoy!
Stephanie: Amplifying flavor is definitely the goal. We aim to exceed the traditional flavor profile of any recipe. By testing recipes side by side for enhanced flavor, it's rewarding to see the new improved recipe go into production and know our customers will enjoy it.
You’ve created your own sauces and spice blends—which ones have you created in house? Why was that important? And what’s the benefit to customers?
Gatlyn: We’ve developed many of our sauces and spice blends in house - like our ranch seasoning, taco spice, and our in house salsa. We also make our own cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, and cream of potato bases, which allows us to keep them gluten-free without sacrificing flavor. Creating these ourselves means we control exactly what’s inside: no unnecessary additives, no artificial flavors, and clean, intentional ingredients. It also helps give Beehive Meals a unique consistent flavor you won’t find anywhere else. Our spice blends and sauces are made specifically for slow cooking so every meal tastes homemade, fresh, and full of flavor.
Stephanie: Creating in-house sauces such as our worcestershire, hoisin, spinach pesto, bbq and ketchup have all been challenging yet fun to tackle. At times, it seemed impossible to get it just right, but the near misses eventually turned into successes! Starting from scratch and ending up with a clean, more flavorful product to include in our meals is very satisfying!
Ingredient quality is a big deal for Beehive Meals. How do you choose what goes into each recipe, and how do you keep meals clean and free of unnecessary additives?
Gatlyn: We focus on sourcing fresh and simple ingredients from suppliers we trust, because what goes into our meals is what goes onto your family’s table. Every ingredient we choose, from meats to spices, needs to fit our commitment to clean, high quality meals. We avoid artificial preservatives and fillers whenever possible because real food just tastes better!
Stephanie: Keeping meals clean and free of additives takes a good amount of research and then trial and error to find a perfect substitution for a lower quality ingredient. Those unnecessary additives can add flavor but at a cost. We have been successful in keeping our flavor profiles on point with much cleaner, more flavorful ingredients.
When you're creating meals for the slow cooker, how do you make sure the texture and flavor still shine after hours of cooking?
Gatlyn: Slow cooking can do amazing things for flavor. It gives the ingredients time to really develop and come together, but we also acknowledge that it can flatten textures or mute the flavors of a meal if the recipe isn’t designed for slow cooking. We build our meals with that in mind. Every recipe is tested in the slow cooker to make sure it holds up after cooking for hours. We want our meals to be full of flavor from the time they are produced to the moment your family eats them.
Let’s talk about beef. How does sourcing beef locally impact the taste and quality of the meals?
Gatlyn: Sourcing beef locally means we’re getting fresher and better cuts of meat, which really shows after slow cooking. It also shortens the supply chain, so the time from when the beef is processed to when it’s in your slow cooker is faster. That freshness makes a big difference in flavor. Plus, sourcing close to home means we can be more confident in how the cattle are raised and handled, and it lets us support local farmers in our community.
Beehive Meals offers gluten-free and macro-balanced options. How do you develop recipes that meet those goals without sacrificing flavor or variety?
Gatlyn: It’s a fun challenge! For gluten-free meals, we source naturally gluten-free ingredients and double check that even our seasonings and sauces meet strict standards. For macro-balanced meals, we test with the ratios of protein, carbs, and fats without losing the flavors our customers love. It’s all about creative ingredient swaps and smart recipe design so no one feels like they’re missing out.
Each meal comes with variation suggestions at beehivemeals.com to give you ideas on how to serve each meal to make it your own. How do you come up with those options, and why is that flexibility important to our customers?
Gatlyn: While we’re testing meals, we naturally start thinking about different ways that they could be served - in a wrap, in a salad, over a baked potato, etc. Offering variation ideas helps customers get creative with how they serve their meals, stretch leftovers if needed, and make each meal feel different based on what they’re craving. Many of the variations are designed to use ingredients that many families already have in their pantry.
Stephanie: Flexibility is key to keeping mealtime easy at home. Variations are a great way to combat repetitive meals. Using the original meal and then making it into something entirely different is a time saver and it’s hard to tell its leftovers, even if the original recipe was served the night before! Freezer meals are a dream on their own, but meal variations allow for creativity, more variety and a more hands-on experience when time allows. Our meal variations are thoughtfully developed to need only 3-5 additional ingredients, most of which you may already have on hand or can easily be added to your grocery list. It is exciting to see how much a meal can change just by tweaking it slightly.
Last one: What’s your favorite part of the recipe development process? Is it the tasting, the creativity, the testing chaos, or seeing it finally hit the menu?
Gatlyn: Honestly? All of it! Every stage of the process has something we love. Whether it’s the spark of creativity when a new meal idea starts to become a recipe, the energy (and sometimes chaos) of testing and tweaking recipes, or the satisfaction of finally nailing the perfect flavor, we love it all. But if I had to pick a favorite, it would be seeing a meal finally hit the menu. It’s still crazy to see a meal go from our test kitchen to your kitchen.
Stephanie: My favorite part of recipe development is bringing the samples to our team each week and getting their collective feedback. It’s rewarding to see people go back for seconds and then envision something similar happening around the tables of our customers. There is something special in knowing that a recipe you have been working on is now in circulation.
From the very first brainstorm to the final taste test, our Research & Development team is committed to bringing you meals made with fresh ingredients, thoughtful recipes, and a whole lot of heart. We’re proud of the care and transparency that goes into every step of our process, and we’re always excited to share a little more about what happens behind the scenes. If you’re ready to taste the difference for yourself, check out our menu and discover your new favorite slow cooker meal with Beehive Meals!
