What’s the Buzz?

Throughout much our nearly 97 year history, Epstein has prided ourselves on our in-house full-service design, engineering & construction services. And now, to provide our clients with even more options, weve decided to add another division to our firm; one that has a decidedly sweet deliverable.

Last week, a group of Epsteiners, dressed in appropriate work gear, made their collective way up to the roof of our headquarters in Chicagos West Loop to begin their new role managing a busy team of approximately 60,000 staff members. Some would even be inclined to refer to them as worker bees in the production of a sugary, viscous food substance; a product that once completed will be shared with clients and our employees.

If you havent guessed by now, the worker bees that were referring to are, in fact, bees, and the Epsteiners in question are our new amateur beekeepers who will be producing Epsteins own line of honey this summer. Hows Ray Liottas Private Chicago Select sound? (Sorry, bad Bee Movie reference). And, yes, the name of our brand of honey is currently in development.

For those of you not up on your beekeeping, heres some of the basics in regards to our rooftop operations. We currently have two hives, with plans for two additional. Each hive contains around 25,000 to 40,000 bees, of which 95 percent of the population are female worker bees, the other 5 percent are male drones, and there is also just one Queen. Our hives, if healthy, should produce anywhere from 40 to 50 pounds of honey. Additionally, the bees in our colony will help pollinate plants and flowers for an approximately 5-mile radius. Our bees will also use our close proximity to the Chicago River to rehydrate.

Lastly, if you are curious how did Epstein decide to start our beekeeping division well, it comes from a hobby that our Executive Managing Director and CFO, Jim Jirsa, took up a few years ago and, hes enjoyed it so much that hes decided to get some of his fellow Epsteiners involved as well. The Epstein team working with Jim on this effort including Jeff Beran, Bill Cihon and Peter Hepp.

Stay tuned as we will throughout the summer give you all updates on the progress of our hives, honey production and, soon, our brand name and logo.