Honey buyers scarce

[Ian123]

Had a sudden burst of enthusiasm from my buyers and now sold out of the first crop! You never can tell!

Hay fever season strikes again!

 

[ericbeaumont]

Had a sudden burst of enthusiasm from my buyers and now sold out of the first crop! You never can tell!

How odd!

Not really: bargain price leads to a stampede; now Enrico has a supply & demand problem.

Better option would have been to maintain supply by raising the price to moderate sales until the main crop is bottled.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

now Enrico has a supply & demand problem.

No he doesn't, he's cleared the harvest and can now concentrate on the main crop with plenty of storage space for it.

 

[ericbeaumont]

plenty of storage space for it.

Yes, plenty of space in supers and (regretfully) on shelves: customers must find joy elsewhere.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Yes, plenty of space in supers and (regretfully) on shelves: customers must find joy elsewhere.

unfortunately, once again, you're way out of touch with the reality of a backyard beekeeper selling from the doorstep. Whatever kind of 'business plan' you were following it was pretty obvious to most that the point of seasonal small scale hobby production is to get rid of it and wait for the next crop. This isn't borough market - it's the real world. Worked well for me for years and now when I have the luxury of having a reserve - I still have the same customers as when I set out all those years ago. I never lost any who sook 'joy' elsewhere, the beauty for them was a wholly natural product depending on weather and conditions which wasn't available on tap.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

unfortunately, once again, you're way out of touch with the reality of a backyard beekeeper selling from the doorstep. Whatever kind of 'business plan' you were following it was pretty obvious to most that the point of seasonal small scale hobby production is to get rid of it and wait for the next crop. This isn't borough market - it's the real world. Worked well for me for years and now when I have the luxury of having a reserve - I still have the same customers as when I set out all those years ago. I never lost any who sook 'joy' elsewhere, the beauty for them was a wholly natural product depending on weather and conditions which wasn't available on tap.

Interesting word "sook" it reminds me of hearing a Yorkshire farmer with a chainsaw who related a tale of how he "sew" down a tree with it.

 

[Erichalfbee]

unfortunately, once again, you're way out of touch with the reality of a backyard beekeeper selling from the doorstep. Whatever kind of 'business plan' you were following it was pretty obvious to most that the point of seasonal small scale hobby production is to get rid of it and wait for the next crop. This isn't borough market - it's the real world. Worked well for me for years and now when I have the luxury of having a reserve - I still have the same customers as when I set out all those years ago. I never lost any who sook 'joy' elsewhere, the beauty for them was a wholly natural product depending on weather and conditions which wasn't available on tap.

I have one particular customer who buys 15lbs at a time and he's already been on to me to see if I have a spring crop. I lied. It's for me, though I'm tempted to let him have little

 

[enrico]

I don't need a constant supply to customers. I just sell excess. It isn't a business as such.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I don't need a constant supply to customers. I just sell excess. It isn't a business as such.

so does just one person buy your whole stock because you sell it at a ridiculously low 'bargain' price (compared to unrealistic London prices that is) or do you just get the usual customer just buying one or two?

 

[ericbeaumont]

a backyard beekeeper selling from the doorstep

Yep, that's me: a backyard beekeeper with a farmers' market two minutes from my doorstep.

We're all in the retail game whether we like it or not (selling five jars over the garden gate or five thousand to Morrison's) and the principle of continuity of supply benefits both retailer and customer and the perception of product value.

the point of seasonal small scale hobby production is to get rid of it

Is it? We all empty supers ready for the main flow, but to conflate that job with getting shot of the spring crop quickly is misleading.

Unless you need rapid cashflow, honey is an asset which you can use to change the public perception of value and price. To do otherwise is to perpetuate the idea that British honey should be cheap and that honey is a nuisance to a beekeeper. Must bear in mind, of course, that British beekeepers are reluctant to embrace new ideas and would prefer that it was still 1974.

This isn't borough market - it's the real world

When did you last visit Borough Market? It's long held a reputation as an expensive foodie tourist trap and even though it's twenty minutes from me by bus I've avoided it for thirty years.

still have the same customers as when I set out all those years ago.

Same here; I know many customers by name and there's as much conversation as selling. The market is organic - the only one in London - and the not-for-profit Growing Communities organisation are part of the movement to change the way food is produced and supplied.

The GC mission statement will give you a flavour: trading for social purpose, not to maximise profit, committed to transparency, trust and cooperation throughout the food supply chain, source food sustainably, trade fairly, champion ecological food and farming, promote ways of eating and cooking that are good for people and planet, distribute food in a low-impact and low-carbon way, build a strong community in support of our work, strive to change the big picture.

What that lot shows is that this London market is as far from a tourist trap as it's possible to be: my customers are locals of varying affluence but many of them don't drive, let alone own the undulgence of a 4x4 or upmarket frivolity.

a wholly natural product depending on weather and conditions which wasn't available on tap.

This is as true for my customers as yours. The difference between town and country is not food ethics but price point inequality, and that has always been a work in progress.

Small rural retail sellers have the option to erode that imbalance in time by aiming to avoid boom-bust sales, the result of a peculiar and historic determination to dispose of a valuable retail asset at speed.

 

[enrico]

so does just one person buy your whole stock because you sell it at a ridiculously low 'bargain' price (compared to unrealistic London prices that is) or do you just get the usual customer just buying one or two?

I have a couple of customers who buy several jars at once for inclusion in their local b and b welcome baskets. I have several local customers who buy when it is there, I supply the local shop with half my stock and they sell it at a 30% mark up. And I have passing trade from people who want a momento of the Somerset levels. Normally have sold loads on the first few days but it took 10 days for the word to get around this year!
£6 for 12oz have been selling at £5 for a few years!

 

[SixFooter]

Had a sudden burst of enthusiasm from my buyers and now sold out of the first crop! You never can tell!

Or as Winnie the Pooh said"you never can tell with bees"

 

[madasafish]

I have prior orders## for over 50% of my soon to be extracted spring crop.

## from four buyers.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I have prior orders## for over 50% of my soon to be extracted spring crop.

## from four buyers.

refuse to sell it to them unless they double the payment.
You don't want to be running out