Gaithersburg, M.d., Oct. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SodexoMagic, the joint venture between Magic Johnson Enterprises and Sodexo, Inc., has announced a new partnership with Me & The Bees Lemonade, a woman and minority-owned beverage company featured on Shark Tank, that produces premium all-natural lemonade while simultaneously supporting the bee populations. Me & The Bees Lemonade, including Classic and Black Cherry flavors, will be offered at SodexoMagic accounts starting immediately.
“SodexoMagic is constantly looking to partner with diverse suppliers that offer exceptional products backed by a greater initiative to do good – that’s why we’ve chosen to work with Me & The Bees. We’re thrilled to help champion Mikaila Ulmer’s vision of supporting the honeybees and our ecosystem as a whole,” said Robbi Stiell, vice President of business development, SodexoMagic, “We anticipate a mutually beneficial partnership and one that can grow in the years to come.”
SodexoMagic is a leader in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). As of 2022, SodexoMagic has worked with approximately 3,200 diverse and small businesses and spent 43% of its annual revenue with small, local, and diverse suppliers. Partnering with Me & the Bees is an example of the company’s ongoing commitment to DEI. Now a teen social entrepreneur, Ulmer founded the business when she was just four years old in 2009, starting with a lemonade stand at her hometown of Austin, TX. She has always kept her mission of saving the bees at the forefront and donates a portion of sales from every bottle of lemonade sold to her Healthy Hive Foundation. The foundation helps educate consumers about the role bees play in the ecosystem and the alarming decline in their population.
“We are honored to expand into food service by working with SodexoMagic, a leader in food service and facilities management across the U.S. as we continue our goal to become America’s favorite lemonade,” said Mikaila Ulmer, CEO, Me & The Bees. “SodexoMagic’s greater mission – to be a force for change – is one that Me & The Bees is proud to support and aligns well with our own as a purpose-based brand on an unwavering quest to help save the bees.”
About SodexoMagic
SodexoMagic was formed in 2006 through a joint venture between Magic Food Provisions (MFP), which is owned by NBA all-star Earvin “Magic” Johnson, and Sodexo Inc. to provide food and facilities management services to businesses, hospitals, schools, and universities. SodexoMagic was founded with the purpose of empowering the communities it serves, creating opportunity by hiring locally and purchasing goods and services from minority and women-owned businesses. With a 51 percent ownership interest by MFP, SodexoMagic has been certified as a minority-owned and managed company by the Minority Supplier Development Council and the Southern California Minority Business Development Council, Inc. The joint venture employs over 6,500 people at approximately 1,500 locations across the U.S.
About Me & the Bees Lemonade
In 2009, when Mikaila Ulmer found her Great Granny Helen’s flaxseed lemonade recipe in a 1940s family cookbook, she was excited to give it a try and tied the sales that started at her lemonade stand to help save the bees from the very beginning. In 13 years, what started as a lemonade stand in a front yard in Austin, Texas, has quickly grown to a national brand with distribution to all 50 U.S. states. In addition to Costco, Me & the Bees Lemonade can be found at Cost Plus World Market, H-E-B, Natural Grocers, Publix, Target, The Fresh Market and Whole Foods Market, as well as at various local retailers and restaurants, and online at GoPuff.com and at www.meandthebees.com. The shelf-stable lemonades contain no high-fructose corn syrup, no preservatives, or additives, and are made with premium ingredients including U.S. Grade-A honey, real lemon juice, and flaxseed, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants. The company donates a portion of the proceeds from every bottle of lemonade it sells to the Healthy Hive Foundation to help educate consumers about the bees’ role in the ecosystem and the alarming decline in the bee population. More information can be found at www.meandthebees.com or by reading Mikaila’s book, Bee Fearless, Dream Like a Kid, published by Penguin Random House in 2020.
