Market

[Hywel]

Thanks wightbees - pretty much what I was thinking but its always valuable to have other people's opinions and thoughts. I'll probably be on here again when I'm doing my research for costs, advertising etc! I've been pondering how to find a niche and have come up with a few ideas but we'll have to see if I go through with them or not...

 

[Hywel]

Cheers Anduril - I'll probably do some surveys/data collection to find out what the various people are into

 

[Uncle Betty]

There is a market for bees, and a market for honey. Wether you can supply that market to make a profit is doubtful. After 35 years I am still using my income to buy equipment, some years I make a small profit but other years a loss. Keep careful financial records for a year or two and you will see what I mean!
E

That's a sobering post.

Do you account your time, or is that factored in to losses ?

I am starting to wonder about the benefit of making my own equipment, and the cost of my time.

 

[deemann1]

I'm a carpenter and am hoping by making my own equipment I would save some cash .going to make 10 hives soon and 10 nucs just pricing materials at the moment cedar is very expensive around €60 a cubic foot .I must say the guy's on here seem to poor mouth a lot they are worse than farmers .

 

[Millet]

.I must say the guy's on here seem to poor mouth a lot they are worse than farmers .

Most are grumpy old stick in the mud type folk who keep bees so it is too be expected..

 

[MartinL]

The market is vast but some of the imported stuff is good quality and offered at a price we couldn't produce our own for at a profit.

Beekeeping is my hobby, Not my livelihood! I don't expect there will be any change to that before I'm pushing up the daisies!

Thanks MBC! I was thinking we'd have the best bet if we worked out some sort of niche.

Quite possibly, especially if it has an "acquired taste", the idiots down the Gym & Yummie Mummies in their Chelsey Tractors will be falling over each other for it.
However, they're a long way from Wales and your "niche" will only last until the next great thing turns up on the banana boat!

 

[mbc]

My bees produce tons of honey each season and I find no difficulty selling it all locally at a good price. That's in a relatively sparsely populated area, I imagine it would be even easier in the valleys.

 

[pargyle]

Thank you Pargyle but I have the money to invest and I'm not looking to make a small fortune, just to replace part of my income. From a farming background I know full well that its very difficult to make a living from agricultural produce. My question was is there a market for honey.

I've never had any problem selling all the surplus honey my bees produce - but I'm not talking industrial quantities. My honey sells to people who have tasted it and come back for more, I don't sell via retail - just direct. All my customers know where the honey comes from .. I'm about £1 a pound more than the 'going rate' in my area - there are a lot of beekeepers within a few miles of where I live and the price competition is fierce. I have nice hexagonal jars, a nice label and I market the honey as raw honey from bees that are kept as naturally as I am able. The honey from my bees is a real multifloral honey - I live near the middle of town but the forage is very varied. Honey judges have described it as 'lovely floral honey' and I take every opportunity to talk to my customers about the bees and the honey.

So ... it's all about the marketing ... the packaging ... the quality and taste of the product. Get all three right and you can charge a premium and your customers will pay for it. I think I could charge more than I do now that I have an established customer base ... most of them come back for a jar every month or so ... but I'd rather have a customer come back for more as it's easier to keep an existing customer than find a new one. Word of mouth recommendation is your best friend in terms of advertising and if you can find opportunities to let people taste your 'real' honey compared to the £1.59 sh1t from Aldi they will recognise the difference ... and once converted ... you have them hooked. There's also mileage in pushing the 'honey from your local area' as there are perceived health benefits from eating 'local' honey - just avoid any direct claims. I just say, when asked, that I have customers who say that it helps enormously with their hay fever ... and leave it at that.

Good luck, I still wouldn't like to try and make a living from it ... I'm with Enrico ... all the profit does is pay for more kit !!

 

[Red Bee]

How do bee farmers manage to make a living? There is no hope for the young bee farmers coming in to the job. They may as well stop now!

 

[pargyle]

How do bee farmers manage to make a living? There is no hope for the young bee farmers coming in to the job. They may as well stop now!

It's either a long slow process supported by another means of earning a living or in a number of cases it's an inherited and established business that is being carried on ...it's not something you would invest your retirement lump sum on in the hope that it would make more than a more traditional investment - even with todays minimal interest rates at least you should not lose money ! I think once the equipment is paid for and there are productive apiaries in place there is every chance to make a profit .. but most UK commercial beekeepers (apart from the really major players) seem to have businesses outside of just honey production. Either queen rearing, Nuc selling, equipment sales or just a 'day job'.

 

[For want of a better word]

How do bee farmers manage to make a living? There is no hope for the young bee farmers coming in to the job. They may as well stop now!

Niche markets... selling the story... celeb chefs do it... and a couple are doing it with honey we produce!

There is a market... and a good one if you have capital behind you... and you do not need to rent or buy land!

Hard work... but so much more fun than pushing a pencil up and down in an office!!

Yeghes da

 

[Hywel]

Do you account your time, or is that factored in to losses ?

I think my first job will be to work out if there's a market and then on to costs in time and money etc

 

[Hywel]

I must say the guy's on here seem to poor mouth a lot they are worse than farmers .

Us farmers grumble about money? Whatever gave you that idea!

 

[Hywel]

Beekeeping is my hobby, Not my livelihood! I don't expect there will be any change to that before I'm pushing up the daisies!




Quite possibly, especially if it has an "acquired taste", the idiots down the Gym & Yummie Mummies in their Chelsey Tractors will be falling over each other for it.
However, they're a long way from Wales and your "niche" will only last until the next great thing turns up on the banana boat!

I'm sure an idea will come along in my head - I'm usually a good lateral thinker. Hang on, why aren't I rich then...

 

[Hywel]

My bees produce tons of honey each season and I find no difficulty selling it all locally at a good price. That's in a relatively sparsely populated area, I imagine it would be even easier in the valleys.

There's a few areas down here I know we could target. Once, long ago, I sold free range pork and picked up loads of customers in a very short space of time. I think the semi-rural areas tend to like their free range/chemical free produce

 

[Hywel]

I've never had any problem selling all the surplus honey my bees produce - but I'm not talking industrial quantities. My honey sells to people who have tasted it and come back for more, I don't sell via retail - just direct. All my customers know where the honey comes from .. I'm about £1 a pound more than the 'going rate' in my area - there are a lot of beekeepers within a few miles of where I live and the price competition is fierce. I have nice hexagonal jars, a nice label and I market the honey as raw honey from bees that are kept as naturally as I am able. The honey from my bees is a real multifloral honey - I live near the middle of town but the forage is very varied. Honey judges have described it as 'lovely floral honey' and I take every opportunity to talk to my customers about the bees and the honey.

So ... it's all about the marketing ... the packaging ... the quality and taste of the product. Get all three right and you can charge a premium and your customers will pay for it. I think I could charge more than I do now that I have an established customer base ... most of them come back for a jar every month or so ... but I'd rather have a customer come back for more as it's easier to keep an existing customer than find a new one. Word of mouth recommendation is your best friend in terms of advertising and if you can find opportunities to let people taste your 'real' honey compared to the £1.59 sh1t from Aldi they will recognise the difference ... and once converted ... you have them hooked. There's also mileage in pushing the 'honey from your local area' as there are perceived health benefits from eating 'local' honey - just avoid any direct claims. I just say, when asked, that I have customers who say that it helps enormously with their hay fever ... and leave it at that.

Good luck, I still wouldn't like to try and make a living from it ... I'm with Enrico ... all the profit does is pay for more kit !!

Thanks Pargyle, really helpful. I saw the hexagonal jars the other day at a show and thought it made the honey look really eye catching. Definitely an avenue to go down (I think). They also won the show but I'm guessing that took more than the shape of a jar!

 

[Hywel]

It's either a long slow process supported by another means of earning a living or in a number of cases it's an inherited and established business that is being carried on ...it's not something you would invest your retirement lump sum on in the hope that it would make more than a more traditional investment - even with todays minimal interest rates at least you should not lose money ! I think once the equipment is paid for and there are productive apiaries in place there is every chance to make a profit .. but most UK commercial beekeepers (apart from the really major players) seem to have businesses outside of just honey production. Either queen rearing, Nuc selling, equipment sales or just a 'day job'.

Well currently I teach chess in private schools, tutor in the evenings, rent out a premises, help my uncle on his farm and deliver pizzas on the weekend so I'm hoping that's enough to support my son's endeavours! At the moment is saving up for our kids Christmas presents though...sigh...

 

[Hywel]

Hard work... but so much more fun than pushing a pencil up and down in an office!!

Yeghes da

Couldn't be truer. Farming has been my life since I was a kid and when I finally get this business plan done I'll finally be able to see the rainbow after the storm.

 

[enrico]

You can sell as much honey as you can produce. However the profit comes in all things bees. I have often thought of opening a store with 'all things bees' jewellery, health products, honey containers, etc etc, but the one thing I would run out of is honey. I don't want to buy other people's honey in so.......
E

 

[Beefriendly]

I think my first job will be to work out if there's a market and then on to costs in time and money etc

You might want to think whether you want to sell wholesale in bulk at say £3/lb or on a Farmers Market or to shops etc where your honey can realise say £7/lb jar. But this all has hidden costs such as market stall fee/diesel/trade reduction for shops plus your time spent melting, filtering, bottling jarring and time selling. You need to buy the equipment to do all of this.
I know from working out the figures the market route (which I do) is only marginally more profitable than bulk...assuming I paid myself a living wage. If time is an issue then wholesale is the answer, just extract/filter /bucket/sell.
But if you can consider your time as your own and free to be wasted it's a lot of fun.