In 1946 Ralph and Luella Gamber started a
family business on quality, integrity and trust.

The emergence of Dutch Gold Honey as one of the largest honey packing companies is an amazing story of perseverance, determination, sacrifice, and family loyalty. Even though "retired", founder Ralph Gamber came into the plant daily up until his last few days. His wife, Luella, who managed the office since the company's early days, just retired in 1991. All three of Ralph and Luella's children, Bill, Marianne and Nancy, work for the company. As you can imagine, the history of the company is rich with moments of success, frustration and humor. Here are a few glimpses of the road to success for Dutch Gold Honey.

It is hard to believe it was over 50 years ago that Ralph Gamber began a new, if somewhat unusual hobby, beekeeping. He had always been fascinated by honeybees, so in the spring of 1946, he bought three hives of bees at a farm sale for $27.00. Ralph's return from the farm sale with three hives of bees in the backseat of his car, definitely did not impress his wife Luella, who was allergic to bee stings and very busy raising a family.

In the fall of that year, Ralph and Luella extracted and bottled the first honey crop in their kitchen. As most beekeepers quickly realize, their hives produce more honey than family and friends can eat. So what do you do with the excess but - sell it!

From three hives of bees, Ralph worked his way up to over 200 colonies. Luella was busy with bottling and selling honey. Honey customers started calling at the Gambers' kitchen door. Ralph wanted to make certain he never missed a sale, considering he was also a salesman at the time. Working full-time, plus the beekeeping, honey processing, packing and delivery was beginning to become overwhelming for Ralph and his family. It quickly became impossible to take care of both the bees and the honey customers.

THE FIRST HONEY HOUSE

By the early 1950's, the honey business was outgrowing the Gambers' home and garage. They decided to build a honey house on the open lot across the street from their home. Sure enough, in 1954, the honey house was up and running. Ralph was still employed as a salesman, but now for a local food distributor. He spent his evenings and weekends packing honey, delivering orders or driving to pick-up raw honey.

RALPH & LUELLA'S HONEYBEAR

In 1957, Ralph invented what has become a well-known household fixture, the Honeybear. At first, Ralph did not know how huge this would become. He was originally afraid that people would only buy one and then refill it with other honey. But little did he know that they would become a member of households everywhere. Although the bear looks different today than he did back then, his heart and spirit have not changed. We fill millions of honeybears a year.

By 1958, Luella presented Ralph an ultimatum. The honey business had grown to the point that it required his full attention. It was more than she could handle with the other responsibilities of raising a family and taking care of a home. He needed to commit all of his energies to the honey business or else. Leaving a job that guarantees you a paycheck every two weeks for the unknown is a difficult decision, especially when you have family obligations. Ralph decided to cast his lot with Dutch Gold and the future of the honey industry. He was committed to packing a quality product, and he would make certain the company succeeded.

THE SACRIFICES

When Ralph's attention focused on the honey packing industry, the business quickly expanded. All of the Gamber children had to make sacrifices and turn their energy towards the family business. Bill gave up baseball for several seasons, Nancy never got to spend time at the pool, and Marianne just wanted to roller-skate in the basement that was full of honey jars. As the business became more stable, the Gamber children were able to join their parents full-time.

GROWING

By the early 1970's, Dutch Gold had outgrown the original honey house. They decided to buy a 20-acre farm on the west side of Lancaster that had easy access to two major highways. In 1974, the new, 40,000 square foot plant was completed and the Gambers' and their 11 employees began processing and packing at the new address of 2220 Dutch Gold Drive. Since that time, two additions have been built, increasing the plant to 100,000 square feet.

The Second Generation of Gambers that own and operate the facility today: Marianne, Nancy and Bill Gamber

Today Dutch Gold Honey packages over 50 million pounds of honey annually. They have since then expanded into smaller divisions such as Gamber Container, McLure's Honey and Maple Products, and The Bacon Jug Company.

Stop by our Walk-in Store (Mon thru Fri, 7:30 A.M. - 4:30 P.M.)