Best size jar and labelling

[ericbeaumont]

Planning ahead for next year

Jar size
In days gone by honey was required to be packed in set imperial sizes but modern law allows you to fill and label in any size of jar you wish. Many contemporary beekeepers have abandoned the 1lb/454g in favour of 12oz/340g, 8oz/227g and 4oz/113g. The visual diference between a 454 and a 340 is minimal yet at the same price, the latter achieves a 25% increase in return and elevates the value of the product.

Be aware that jars are not specified for the density of honey and in order to get the honey to the bottom of the jar neck (a satisfying visual for the customer) more will have to be put in, leading to label weights of 340, 235 and 135 (I use Freeman & Harding jars). Confirm these figures yourself as manufacturer sizes may differ incrementally, a factor that has become common since COVID, the Ukraine war and the subsequent energy crisis.

For example, for 15 years or so a 227 from Freeman & Harding needed 235 to fill to the neck. In the last few years the weight of the jar has reduced slightly (though the volume remained constant) but recent 227s have increased in height by about 3mm and the honey needed to fill to the neck is now 245. F&H were unaware of this factory anomaly and are investigating, but the same change has been found in Bottle Company South jars. The other two jar sizes remain unchanged.

The beekeeper has three options to deal with such moveable goalposts: sell the jar looking under-filled, give away 10g, or add 10g and reprint those 3,000 labels.

Hex or round?
Hex jars outsell round as hex displays honey better. Match the container size to your market: at public events a souvenir 135 may sell well, while a 1kg plastic bucket will appeal to serious consumers.

Jar suppliers such as Bottle Company South or Freeman & Harding give a better price for pallet orders, but at your stage of the game check online for smaller amounts or whether your BKA buy stock at bulk prices (all prices have doubled in the last 18 months). Beekeeping suppliers may be more expensive; be wary of Amazon deals and bargain jars from tiddly outlets, which look good on a screen but may turn out not to be so (thin glass, curved hex panels, made in China).

Jars must be clean but not sterile (unachievable, anyway) and bear in mind the extra labour needed to wash jars that arrive in a dusty cardboard box. By comparison, F&H supply shrink-wrapped and for 10 years I have put the honey straight in their hex jars without issue.

Jar storage & travel
The aim is to prep the jar and have it arrive equally pristine with granny or the retail customer, yet without cat hair, dust, ant, fingerprint, snow or autumn leaf. Find a container to do the job; jar boxes are no good, only strong enough to carry empty jars. Open plastic trays? Sudden gust of rain while you're unloading and the labels will be ruined.

If jars - empty or full - are stored without certainty of cleanliness then a dishwasher will be needed and the labour will increase the cost per jar. RUB 9 litre boxes solve the problem: lockable lid, stackable up to 10 high, and will hold 14 x 340 hex, 18 x 227, 25 x 113 with minimal slop. Box costs the equivalent of one under-priced medium jar of honey.

Label
Your regulatory guides are the Honey Regs. (England) 2015 and the Weights and Measures (Packaged Goods) Regs. 2006.

Thorne have a simple guide based on the above. Note that imperial weights, granulation labels, tamper seals and flowery descriptives are not required and anyway, imperial is irrelevant to a contemporary market. A tamper seal is a sensible extra if selling through a third party.

Are you visully literate? If not, find someone who is and make the most of the label. Off-the-shelf labels can be dire (note that 'harvested in the UK' is not compliant with the regs. and has since been changed) and many appear to have been designed in 1947; aim instead for a contemporary design that speaks to the current market. Include the lid colour as part of the design; for example, a silver lid will complement a blue and white label better than a gold.

Use the hex jar flats to your advantage. For example, even this contemporary label has been designed with round in mind, so a row of hex on a shelf would have half the descriptive hidden. You may not imagine that retail interests you but it will when local word spreads, a bumper crop arrives and you realise that it can repay the significant investment in equipment that awaits you.

 

[ericbeaumont]

What size jar (in ml) takes 12oz honey?

280, but don't confuse ml, g and oz. Retail language is g, so stick with it.

 

[Robert Clark]

Jar size
In days gone by honey was required to be packed in set imperial sizes but modern law allows you to fill and label in any size of jar you wish. Many contemporary beekeepers have abandoned the 1lb/454g in favour of 12oz/340g, 8oz/227g and 4oz/113g. The visual diference between a 454 and a 340 is minimal yet at the same price, the latter achieves a 25% increase in return and elevates the value of the product.

Be aware that jars are not specified for the density of honey and in order to get the honey to the bottom of the jar neck (a satisfying visual for the customer) more will have to be put in, leading to label weights of 340, 235 and 135 (I use Freeman & Harding jars). Confirm these figures yourself as manufacturer sizes may differ incrementally, a factor that has become common since COVID, the Ukraine war and the subsequent energy crisis.

For example, for 15 years or so a 227 from Freeman & Harding needed 235 to fill to the neck. In the last few years the weight of the jar has reduced slightly (though the volume has remained constant) but recent 227s have increased in height by about 3mm and the honey needed to fill to the neck is now 245. F&H were unaware of this factory anomaly and are investigating, but the same change has been found in Bottle Company South jars. The other two jar sizes remain unchanged.

The beekeeper has three options to deal with such moveable goalposts: sell the jar looking under-filled, give away 10g, or add 10g and reprint those 3,000 labels.

Hex or round?
Hex jars outsell round as hex displays honey better. Match the container size to your market: at public events a souvenir 135 may sell well, while a 1kg plastic bucket will appeal to serious consumers.

Jar suppliers such as Bottle Company South or Freeman & Harding give a better price for pallet orders, but at your stage of the game check online for smaller amounts or whether your BKA buy stock at bulk prices (all prices have doubled in the last 18 months). Beekeeping suppliers may be more expensive; be wary of Amazon deals and bargain jars from tiddly outlets, which look good on a screen but may turn out not to be so (thin glass, curved hex panels, made in China).

Jars must be clean but not sterile (unachievable, anyway) and bear in mind the extra labour needed to wash jars that arrive in a dusty cardboard box. By comparison, F&H supply shrink-wrapped and for 10 years I have put the honey straight in their hex jars without issue.

Jar storage & travel
The aim is to prep the jar and have it arrive pristine with granny or the retail customer, yet without cat hair, dust, ant, fingerprint, snow or autumn leaf. Find a container to do the job; jar boxes are no good, only strong enough to carry empty jars. Open plastic trays? Sudden gust of rain while you're unloading and the labels will be ruined.

If jars - empty or full - are stored without certainty of cleanliness then a dishwasher will be needed and the labour will increase the cost per jar. RUB 9 litre boxes solve the problem: lockable lid, stackable up to 10 high, and will hold 14 x 340 hex, 18 x 227, 25 x 113 with minimal slop. Box costs the equivalent of one under-priced medium jar of honey.

Label
Your regulatory guides are the Honey Regs. (England) 2015 and the Weights and Measures (Packaged Goods) Regs. 2006.

Thorne have a simple guide based on the above. Note that imperial weights, granulation labels, tamper seals and flowery descriptives are not required and anyway, imperial is irrelevant to a contemporary market. A tamper seal is a sensible extra if selling through a third party.

Are you visully literate? If not, find someone who is and make the most of the label. Off-the-shelf labels can be dire (note that 'harvested in the UK' is not compliant with the regs. and has since been changed) and many appear to have been designed in 1947; aim instead for a contemporary design that speaks to the current market. Include the lid colour as part of the design; for example, a silver lid will complement a blue and white label better than a gold.

Use the hex jar flats to your advantage. For example, even this contemporary label has been designed with round in mind, so a row of hex on a shelf would have half the descriptive hidden. You may not imagine that retail interests you until local word gets out, a bumper crop arrives and you realise that it can repay the significant investment in equipment that awaits you.

Thanks for so much valuable information

 

[Robert Clark]

Jar size
In days gone by honey was required to be packed in set imperial sizes but modern law allows you to fill and label in any size of jar you wish. Many contemporary beekeepers have abandoned the 1lb/454g in favour of 12oz/340g, 8oz/227g and 4oz/113g. The visual diference between a 454 and a 340 is minimal yet at the same price, the latter achieves a 25% increase in return and elevates the value of the product.

Be aware that jars are not specified for the density of honey and in order to get the honey to the bottom of the jar neck (a satisfying visual for the customer) more will have to be put in, leading to label weights of 340, 235 and 135 (I use Freeman & Harding jars). Confirm these figures yourself as manufacturer sizes may differ incrementally, a factor that has become common since COVID, the Ukraine war and the subsequent energy crisis.

For example, for 15 years or so a 227 from Freeman & Harding needed 235 to fill to the neck. In the last few years the weight of the jar has reduced slightly (though the volume has remained constant) but recent 227s have increased in height by about 3mm and the honey needed to fill to the neck is now 245. F&H were unaware of this factory anomaly and are investigating, but the same change has been found in Bottle Company South jars. The other two jar sizes remain unchanged.

The beekeeper has three options to deal with such moveable goalposts: sell the jar looking under-filled, give away 10g, or add 10g and reprint those 3,000 labels.

Hex or round?
Hex jars outsell round as hex displays honey better. Match the container size to your market: at public events a souvenir 135 may sell well, while a 1kg plastic bucket will appeal to serious consumers.

Jar suppliers such as Bottle Company South or Freeman & Harding give a better price for pallet orders, but at your stage of the game check online for smaller amounts or whether your BKA buy stock at bulk prices (all prices have doubled in the last 18 months). Beekeeping suppliers may be more expensive; be wary of Amazon deals and bargain jars from tiddly outlets, which look good on a screen but may turn out not to be so (thin glass, curved hex panels, made in China).

Jars must be clean but not sterile (unachievable, anyway) and bear in mind the extra labour needed to wash jars that arrive in a dusty cardboard box. By comparison, F&H supply shrink-wrapped and for 10 years I have put the honey straight in their hex jars without issue.

Jar storage & travel
The aim is to prep the jar and have it arrive pristine with granny or the retail customer, yet without cat hair, dust, ant, fingerprint, snow or autumn leaf. Find a container to do the job; jar boxes are no good, only strong enough to carry empty jars. Open plastic trays? Sudden gust of rain while you're unloading and the labels will be ruined.

If jars - empty or full - are stored without certainty of cleanliness then a dishwasher will be needed and the labour will increase the cost per jar. RUB 9 litre boxes solve the problem: lockable lid, stackable up to 10 high, and will hold 14 x 340 hex, 18 x 227, 25 x 113 with minimal slop. Box costs the equivalent of one under-priced medium jar of honey.

Label
Your regulatory guides are the Honey Regs. (England) 2015 and the Weights and Measures (Packaged Goods) Regs. 2006.

Thorne have a simple guide based on the above. Note that imperial weights, granulation labels, tamper seals and flowery descriptives are not required and anyway, imperial is irrelevant to a contemporary market. A tamper seal is a sensible extra if selling through a third party.

Are you visully literate? If not, find someone who is and make the most of the label. Off-the-shelf labels can be dire (note that 'harvested in the UK' is not compliant with the regs. and has since been changed) and many appear to have been designed in 1947; aim instead for a contemporary design that speaks to the current market. Include the lid colour as part of the design; for example, a silver lid will complement a blue and white label better than a gold.

Use the hex jar flats to your advantage. For example, even this contemporary label has been designed with round in mind, so a row of hex on a shelf would have half the descriptive hidden. You may not imagine that retail interests you until local word gets out, a bumper crop arrives and you realise that it can repay the significant investment in equipment that awaits you.

With regards to labels
Is there an off the shelf or customisable label suitable for hex jars ?

I was looking at Thornes, but now appreciate that these may not work on Hex

 

[Swarm]

I don't have a problem with hexagonal jars and the labels I get from Thorne, they are perfectly presentable and easy to read, it just depends what size label you choose.

 

[Sutty]

With regards to labels
Is there an off the shelf or customisable label suitable for hex jars ?

I was looking at Thornes, but now appreciate that these may not work on Hex

I use Maismores G1 label in gold, you can customise it online, but if you want eg fields omitted you can call them, they are very helpful and save your label design for future orders.
They work fine on 12oz hex jars.

 

[ericbeaumont]

off the shelf or customisable label suitable for hex jars

Historic regs. ordained that the honey jar must be round; using a hex for honey is a relatively recent novelty. Look at this current supplier list of honey jars: all are round. Bear in mind that beekeeping is an immobile entity that responds to change with indignant resistance, and that the speed of any reluctant incremental shift will be glacial.

I doubt that label sellers appreciate the value of the hex flat when setting out type, nor do they bother to set up a row of labelled hex jars to see what remains visible to the customer. Good example here (click on the 454 jar and then the 227) to see that the hex jar type has been set out by someone with no skill or thought for the visual consequences.

 

[Robert Clark]

Historic regs. ordained that the honey jar must be round; using a hex for honey is a relatively recent novelty. Look at this current supplier list of honey jars: all are round. Bear in mind that beekeeping is an immobile entity that responds to change with indignant resistance, and that the speed of any reluctant incremental shift will be glacial.

I doubt that label sellers appreciate the value of the hex flat when setting out type, nor do they bother to set up a row of labelled hex jars to see what remains visible to the customer. Good example here (click on the 454 jar and then the 227) to see that the hex jar type has been set out by someone with no skill or thought for the visual consequences.

Quite scary when you see the two jars adjacent to each other.

 

[Moobee]

I have a long ‘brand’ name so my label on a hex jar would look terrible. I started with 8oz and everyone seems to like them & I get a lot of repeat orders. A local printer does my labels and I have a best before & lot number sticker on the base.
This is a gift wrapped version for one of my customers.

 

[Jules59]

It's a laudable goal, certainly. Unfortunately as has been pointed out here in the past, you need to be absolutely certain that the returns have not been used to contain anything that might not be safe for humans even after, say, a pass through the dishbasher.

I've been trying to come up with an alternative system for recycling jars -- perhaps where a customer is guaranteed to get only a jar they previously used or a clean one. The logistics don't seem straightforward however.

James

If my customers offer to return the jars I ask them not to wash them out and leave the residual honey inside - I explain its so I be certain they've not been used to hold other substances.