Our Lemonade Stand on Steroids

In April 2013, Jon and Kathy Weed started this family adventure called B. Happy Peanut Butter as a way to teach their kids what it was like to run a small business. The goal was to make a small batch peanut butter so good, so unique, and so addictive that you would want to just eat it with a spoon. Since then, they have been written up in newspapers and magazines, appeared on television multiple times, and grown from a farmers market table to over 1,500 stores across the country. They now jokingly call it their lemonade stand on steroids.

How It Started

Jon and Kathy Weed had been making peanut butter for family and friends as a hobby when a friend offered her commercial kitchen in Zionsville, Indiana for them to use. Jon, who was always drawn to entrepreneurship and deeply believed in the American Dream of the small business owner, saw it as the perfect opportunity to teach his kids about real work. The family signed up for a spot at the Zionsville Farmers Market that summer, and the response was immediate and overwhelming.

Jon spent eight months testing honey roasted peanuts before finding the variety that was exactly right. Finding the perfect peanut, he says, was probably the hardest part. From there, the family developed flavors by trial and error, gathering around the kitchen together and working until each combination was genuinely addictive. The name came from a Weed Family Rules sign hanging in the family's basement that Jon had always loved. He saw B. Happy as a unique stylization of be happy that also carried no trademark risk, and the optimistic flavor names followed naturally from the same spirit.

The Weed Family

B. Happy Peanut Butter is a true family operation. Jon Weed, who works full time as a financial advisor, is the creative force: he develops the flavor combinations and names, runs the business strategy, and holds quarterly family business meetings where even the youngest Weed goes through the numbers. Kathy Weed spent her days jarring, delivering, and shipping the peanut butter, becoming known in the community as the peanut butter lady and describing feeling like a rock star walking into stores for deliveries. Their three children, Jackson, Julia, and Sawyer, each have roles in the business: wiping down jars, labeling, helping make the product, and even serving as spokespeople at school. Sawyer once talked to second and third grade classes at Eagle Elementary about what it means to run a family business.

The flavor names are a direct reflection of Jon and Kathy's life philosophy. Share Kindness. Dream Big. Don't Worry. Count Your Blessings. Joy to the World. These are not just product names. They are the Weed family values, written on every jar.

From Farmers Market to 1,500 Stores

B. Happy started at the Zionsville Farmers Market, grew rapidly through word of mouth and local press, and took off even faster after a Fox 59 Morning Show appearance left them unable to keep up with demand. They sold out entirely by December 20th that first holiday season and had to post a sign saying they were done for the year. Since then, the growth has been steady and substantial. B. Happy now sells in over 1,500 stores including around 800 Walmart locations, 220 Meijers, Kroger's Indiana Grown section, Target, Market District, and boutiques across the country, including a particular point of pride: a boutique in Sitka, Alaska. The business is sold online as well, shipping all over the country, and the Weeds give generously to their community through silent auction donations and Boys and Girls Club of Zionsville sponsorships.