Dec. 11, 2023

This paid piece is sponsored by Sioux Metro Growth Alliance.

Taylor Ernster can relate to your struggle to find the sought-after gift.

In his case, it was vanilla beans.

But frustration led to innovation for Ernster, who went on to start Vanilla Bean Kings, now one of the nation’s fastest-growing companies for three consecutive years.

“A lot of people from Hartford order from us and don’t even realize we’re in Hartford,” said Ernster, who expanded the business there two years ago.

“It’s crazy. We’re kind of this hidden gem over here.”

For Ernster, life always has revolved around the communities of the Sioux Falls metro area.

A native of Tea, he left to attend SDSU, then came back to work with another fast-growing metro-area business, Weisser Distributing.

“I was in charge of shipping and the private-label line, and we had good success, and I eventually wanted to try something myself,” he said. “I stumbled on vanilla beans.”

As a consumer himself, finding vanilla beans, which resemble a dark version of a string bean, was more complicated than Ernster expected. The in-store options he found were limited, expensive and not great quality.

The real market was online, where Ernster found thousands of dedicated fans and where Vanilla Bean Kings now enjoys support with a following of more than 100,000 people. The company sources vanilla beans internationally, primarily in Madagascar but also in several other African nations, as well as Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Mexico and Ecuador.

“It’s a really unique niche, but it’s hard to fathom how many people actually use vanilla beans,” Ernster said.

“We got really good word-of-mouth marketing, and they keep coming back because we give a great product and excellent prices and customer service. Each bean from each country has a different flavor profile, which is partly why we get so much repeat business. Customers want to try different things.”

The business began operating in a small Hartford storefront in 2016 “just to have a location that wasn’t in the house and because we wanted to be on the outskirts of Sioux Falls so we didn’t waste time going from one side of town to another.” It quickly outgrew the space.

“It just started to explode, and we were quickly looking for a new place to call home,” Ernster said.

“Initially, it was between Tea and Hartford because I love both and they’re both great communities. But the economic development team in Hartford really wanted us to stick around and helped us find a piece of land and work through the process. It’s been great. We have a couple part-time employees on staff who are teachers, and we help with school fundraisers, and it’s been a good fit.”

The company now is located in an 11,000-square-foot office, production facility and warehouse in Hartford’s Western Meadows Industrial Park.

“Vanilla Bean Kings is an incredible success story,” said Tyler Tordsen, president and CEO of Sioux Metro Growth Alliance. “A community like Hartford is the perfect place for a business like this to flourish, with a combination of favorable land and development costs, easy access to the Sioux Falls region for an employee base and terrific support from the community.”

The company has grown to seven full-time employees and recently made the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies for the third year in a row.

“We’re still very fast-paced,” Ernster said. “We’ve always been primarily focused on vanilla beans and products, but we’re producing our own extract and might expand to a vanilla bean paste in 2024. We’re trying to figure out how to incorporate it alongside what we’re doing, and we’ll have to hire more people to help with production.”

Sales still are online and primarily direct to consumer. Amazon, Etsy and the company’s own website, vanillabeankings.com, are large drivers of business.

“We don’t have any real plans for a storefront,” Ernster said. “We could do it, but it would be an aspect of business where I don’t have experience. We’re so busy with what’s going on, that’s the focus for now.”

The need still is coming for more space, though. There are options in the building he currently owns and is leasing out.

“We considered Sioux Falls, but land was tough to find, and when we looked at other communities nearby, it was considerably cheaper,” he said. “None of us mind having a little drive to go to work, so it just makes sense.”

This time of year is especially busy with holiday baking season beginning in October and going for the next few weeks. While 95 percent of the business is consumer-driven, the company also sells to businesses such as breweries, bake shops and ice cream stores that use vanilla in their products.

“We’re very busy managing growth, especially during the holidays, but we all love what we do,” Ernster said. “It’s not a job. We’re having fun here.”