Do British people eat honey?

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sahtlinurk

House Bee
Joined
Apr 16, 2009
Messages
334
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Location
uk, Abingdon
Hive Type
14x12
Number of Hives
12
as our farmer has loads of hens he is selling eggs off from the farm gate, got a permission to put my honey there as well. so far ( four days from now) have sold only one jar of honey. got nice labels and you can see beehives from the shed, etc... in local farm shop one guy is selling for £4.50 per jar. i am asking £ 4. too expensive or more patience?

Lauri
 
Patience I think.
Cottage producers such as we are recommended by word of mouth usually (advertising revenues being out of reach).
Once your honey gets around the area ,your biggest problem will be pacifying people who you can't supply. You will find the crafty ones will appear early in the year and try to order their requirements in advance :) Your job is to try and keep a customer base happy , believe me !:cheers2:

John Wilkinson
 
When you're selling anything, location is the key issue. You can have the best product in the world at a good price, but if nobody knows, you aint gonna sell it.
VM is right, once you have a customer base, your biggest problem will be to satisfy it. Perhaps you should try other ways of developing that base.
 
You also need a good simple sign advising of the sale to passers by in cars.

The average British punter will not equate the sight of a bee hive to the fact that honey may be for sale - you need to spell it out in simple terms.

I'm never sure if putting the price helps or not. No price means people who aren't sure won't stop to ask. Putting it on may discourage as it could be seen as expensive (I'm not saying it is..........:) I've got mine for more than that)

So basically the sign needs to say:-

LOCAL HONEY for sale - and a price if you want it

NOW - is a good word to use as it implies that maybe in x weeks it won't be for sale or that x weeks ago it wasn't available (which is all true)

A basic A frame board is pretty easy to make and highly moveable. Paint the background with blackboard paint and buy Chalk Markers which look like chalk but are more permanent and available in various bright colours.
make sure your writing is nice and even - pencil mark the board if you have doubts. The chalk markers are wipeable while still wet. If you have someone avaiable who is a bit artistic you can draw one or two bees on it, but passers by moving at speed need to be able to read it so keep it simple.

Frisbee
 
noseiesshot052.jpg


This works for me.

John Wilkinson
 
Thats what i was thinking, very nice.
 
Down to the XYL I'm afraid:laughing-smiley-014

John Wilkinson
 
Note the daisy plants etc. No weed killer allowed on my patch.

John Wilkinson
 
John,am I right in thinking you have a piece of wood in the entrance to stop any swarms taking up residence ?
 
Dinna be silly Admin, he's a beekeeper, of course he doesn't.

PH
 
John,am I right in thinking you have a piece of wood in the entrance to stop any swarms taking up residence ?

No, those are the slide entrances supplied. I have never had any bees honey/bumbles ever show an interest in the hive .As it has never had bees in there there's nothing to attract them :).
Yep I know the volume should be ideal but bees don't recognise it as a hive !

John Wilkinson
 
Marketing....

Perhaps the BBKA should consider a TV advert for honey a bit like the old MMB (Milk Marketing Board) did for Milk in the 70's (Drinka Pinta Milka Day) and shout out about how good honey is for you and the best stuff is the local stuff - forget this £10 manuka magical stuff !!

Can anyone think of some straplines or the script ? (and don't suggest Pete for the starring role, please (sorry pete !!))

how about 'Put the honey where your mouth is!

or...a valentines one, 'Bee Mine tonight' cut to an elderly couple eating honey suggestively

ok. so it's late but there must be something we could come up with ?
 
most of my honey sales was though word of mouth, my father has taken 6 jars in to work in may and ive have since sold over 100 jars once all the guys in work find out that it were local honey, honey sales will come in time.
 
The most effective way I found when I did direct to the public was to offer a taste.

Face it folks your honey is an unknown product. when peeps buy beans they know precisely what the deal is for say 50p.

Your pot of your precious honey of which you are rightly proud and value at £4-75 is what? Unknown.

I found when they taste it and enjoy it then the money and value relate to each other and they are then willing to spend.

PH
 
Blimey John, didn't realise you pampered the girls to the extent that you bought them a weekend cottage as well as the main hives, no wonder you've had some success!
 

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