By TIM UNRUH

Salina Journal

HILLSBORO -- In pioneering a new portable frontier for honey, Golden Heritage Foods is aimed at a jump in sales while it helps DreamWorks promote the animated "Bee Movie."

The second largest honey packager in the United States, Hills-boro-based Golden Heritage has rented two movie theaters in Newton for the Friday opening of the movie created by comedian Jerry Seinfeld. He provides the voice and personality for the main character "Barry B. Benson."

Grocery stores across the country are selling Golden Heritage's 2-ounce bottles of honey in the shape and likeness of the lead bee.

"It's something we're quite excited about around here," said Krista Heinrichs, Hillsboro, Golden Heritage Foods' national director of retail grocery sales.

The packaging appears in Wal-Mart, Safeway and other stores nationwide, she said, and FTD is including the small bottles in some floral arrangements.

"It's a cute little thing. I'm selling it pretty well," Salina Wal-Mart Supercenter manager Ken Noonan said.

Golden Heritage Foods' suggested retail price is 99 cents. It sells for 96 cents in Wal-Mart.

Heinrichs expects Dillons stores to carry the packaging when "Bee Movie" is released on DVD in March.

The company, which employs 90 in Hillsboro and 90 in Latty, Ohio, has the exclusive packaging rights with DreamWorks for "Bee Movie" characters in the United States and most of Eastern Europe. Heinrichs said the company is also negotiating with other countries.

"This has prompted us to go international with this promotion. We don't ever want to shy away from an opportunity," Heinrichs said.

The company will introduce a larger size of the Barry bottle in 2008. She said there are no plans to include other characters from "Bee Movie" on honey bottles.

Think small

The promotion puts Golden Heritage Foods in company with other firms -- such as General Mills, McDonald's restaurants and Brach's Candy -- that are paying DreamWorks to use "Bee Movie" characters in their packaging.

The movie promotion melds with Golden Heritage's push for a smaller, portable package.

Other than condiment packs of honey for restaurants, there are no smaller bottles of honey out there, Heinrichs said.

"This will be the first real portable honey that you can put the cap back on, refill or throw away. We see people putting them in lunch boxes, in campers, taking them on bike rides, lots of different things," she said.

"Bee Movie" is expected to introduce honey to younger viewers.

"I think it will glean some more interest in honey, get it out of the pantry and put it on the table," she said.

The movie also carries a message about what bees do for the environment, Heinrichs said.

"One in every three bites of what we eat are because of the honey bee," she said.

From bears to bees

The company's partnership with DreamWorks was a matter of timing. Golden Heritage and other large honey packers were invited to DreamWorks in Burbank, Calif., in January to explore ways to promote the movie through honey.

Brent Barkman, Hillsboro, executive chairman of the Golden Heritage Foods board, chief executive officer Dwight Stoller, Latty, Ohio, and senior vice president of marketing David Mathis, Hillsboro, took with them the prototype of a 2-ounce honey bottle in the shape of a bear. It had been in product development about 18 months, and had shown promise in consumer testing.

It sparked a deal between Golden Heritage Foods the movie maker and put the Hillsboro company to work developing a way to quickly mass produce the bottles, known as "Barrys."

"The whole concept through fruition has taken place in seven or eight months. It's been very much on the fast track," Heinrichs said.

The company moved forward "to present something new and different," while satisfying the demands of DreamWorks.

"We had to play by their rules, definitely," Heinrichs said. "We had to order high-speed machines. We'd never packaged a bottle this small. It's really taken every department in our entire company to make this work. It's been pretty exciting."

Opening in Salina Friday

"Bee Movie" opens in two theaters Friday at Dickinson Central Mall 10. Times will be announced.

"We're getting two prints of that movie. They're expecting it to be pretty good," Dickinson theater manager Tammy Kromer said.

But she was unaware of any promotions involving the little bottles of honey.

That's understandable, Heinrichs said, referring to National Theater Owners meetings she attended several months ago in Philadelphia.

"Theater people aren't interested in honey in their theaters," she said.

n Reporter Tim Unruh can be reached at 822-1419 or by e-mail at tunruh@salina.com.

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