Selling honey through shops

[Hagfish]

Hi,

Sorry of this is formatted incorrectly, I'm new to message boards and this is my first ever post. I did really well last year and had a massive glut of honey which I managed to sell to colleagues and through family/friends. This year as I've expanded with more hives I was thinking of putting my honey in shops. What I would like to know is how much I should be charging to shops baring in mind they need a mark up too. Local honey sells for £4.50 per ½ pound if you buy it from a keeper. Is this how much I should sell to shops for or should I sell it cheaper as they'll be buying in bulk?

Just to clarify, all honey is labelled accordingly and shops have already approached me to stock my honey, I just have no idea on a guide price I should be working with.

 

[Beefriendly]

Just make sure you are registered with your local authority as a food producer. Simple phone call...
Welcome to the forum.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

I don't have many hives so don't produce a lot of honey but I do sell it locally via two shops. I also sell at table top sales in the village hall. The retail prices for direct sales is £5.50 for 240g (over half a pound but the extra honey places the surface above the bottom of the lid - it looks better, in my view). I try to control the sale price in the shops by offering an A5-sized 'point of sale' poster that gives some information about the honey and the price (£5.50). The wholesale price to these shops is £4.25, so their markup is £1.25.

I have found that putting effort into having a well-designed and printed label helps in selling honey. A poor label gives the impression of a poor product. You have to think who your target market is and design your label accordingly but the label only sells the first jar - after that it's what's in the jar that accounts for repeat purchases.

Good luck with your sales - don't undersell the honey.

CVB

 

[enrico]

Just a quick reminder that your labels must comply with regulations. I sell to shops at the price I sell to everybody else and they can sell it at whatever price they like!
E

 

[iann41]

Last year I approached an 'artisan' cafe/gift store for the wealthy trendy bearded mob. The owner was really enthusiastic about selling local produce and supporting local producers/beekeepers. I offered my jarred/labelled honey at £3.25 per 1/2lb but the owner wouldn't go beyond £2.50. She started banging on about overheads and mark-up and tax and all sorts of crap to drive the price down. So much for supporting local producers.

Needless to say, I don't stock her.

All i can say is don't undersell yourself. We all have a quality product that at the moment is being undercut by cheap imports, but this will one day stop as people realise that it's just sugary crap.

Rant over.

 

[For want of a better word]

THINK

Cost of producing the honey.... your time may be free, however...
Depreciation on equipment
Cost of bottles & Jars/ lids /labels
Time in conforming to regulations (Local authorities may and do set different standards for selling)
Insurance for your premises. product liability. do you employ anyone... even part time?
Some hobby insurances give minimal cover, may even restrict to "over the gate sales "

Selling any food products can be an absolute minefield with all kinds of conflicting advice
proffered but some with little or even no experience...... wait until you venture into the manufacturing and selling of hive cosmetic products!

And then the wholesaler, shop seller or even market owner wants a cut.

I can see why the majority of Beefarmers prefer to sell in bulk!!

But after all the hoop jumping there is a sense of pride to see your honey on the shop shelf to be appreciated by those who can afford to buy it.

Chons da

 

[Poly Hive]

A good label is critical and I can thoroughly recommend our fellow member
nantmoel to produce one for you.

The tactic I use, whether it is accepted or not is to offer sale or return. It takes the risk out of the shops hands which is a bonus for them and it greatly increases your chances of being taken on. More it costs you nothing.

What the shop charges is really nothing to do with you. They will have a markup they apply to various goods and it may well vary depending on the type of stock. Decide what YOU want for YOUR product and if it's too much for them they will say no. That's fine you can't please everyone nor should you try to.

PH

 

[nantmoel]

I alway do the same as Poly Hive, I offer sale or return! I have never had any returned, in fact its hard to keep up with sales sometimes. Another selling point is label, as someone said to me a well designed and attractive label sells your honey, its the content on the jars that make them return to buy more. I sell a 12oz jars to outlets for £4.50 - they then sell this on for between £5.60 - £6. I sell direct for £5. Hope this helps and welcome to the forum.

 

[E&MBees]

Just make sure you are registered with your local authority as a food producer. Simple phone call...

Do you need to do this if you sell honey from the end of your drive, or to friends?

 

[Swarm]

No, you don't.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Another way of working it: Would it be fair to say that shops want to make between 35 and 50%? You can back-calculate from there depending on where you are in the country as the selling price varies enormously.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Last year I approached an 'artisan' cafe/gift store for the wealthy trendy bearded mob. The owner was really enthusiastic about selling local produce and supporting local producers/beekeepers. I offered my jarred/labelled honey at £3.25 per 1/2lb but the owner wouldn't go beyond £2.50.

But if she could only sell it for £3.50 per jar, £7/lb, it wouldn't be worth it for her. Buying it for £2.50 would be about right at that sale price.

 

[Ian123]

That’s probably when the sale or return argument or agreement could have taken place though!

 

[Hagfish]

A good label is critical and I can thoroughly recommend our fellow member
nantmoel to produce one for you.

The tactic I use, whether it is accepted or not is to offer sale or return. It takes the risk out of the shops hands which is a bonus for them and it greatly increases your chances of being taken on. More it costs you nothing.

What the shop charges is really nothing to do with you. They will have a markup they apply to various goods and it may well vary depending on the type of stock. Decide what YOU want for YOUR product and if it's too much for them they will say no. That's fine you can't please everyone nor should you try to.

PH

I just tried to message nantmoel but I'm not allowed to as I haven't posted enough

 

[Millet]

I just tried to message nantmoel but I'm not allowed to as I haven't posted enough

Start a thread on pollen sub's..your posts might crawl up slowly..

 

[Poly Hive]

I have sent you a pm with his email.

PH

 

[iann41]

But if she could only sell it for £3.50 per jar, £7/lb, it wouldn't be worth it for her. Buying it for £2.50 would be about right at that sale price.

Lets not forget that 50p goes to the cost of the jar and label. so I would be getting £4 lb for honey. I'd be happy with that if I didn't have to go to all the trouble of jarring the stuff.

Also, looking at the other 'artisan' pickles and preserves that were for sale, I doubt she was going to sell premium honey for £3.50.

What really miffed me off was the quote 'we support local producers'. yeh, at a price!

 

[Stiffy]

Just a thought

Hi,

Sorry of this is formatted incorrectly, I'm new to message boards and this is my first ever post. I did really well last year and had a massive glut of honey which I managed to sell to colleagues and through family/friends. This year as I've expanded with more hives I was thinking of putting my honey in shops. What I would like to know is how much I should be charging to shops baring in mind they need a mark up too. Local honey sells for £4.50 per ½ pound if you buy it from a keeper. Is this how much I should sell to shops for or should I sell it cheaper as they'll be buying in bulk?

Just to clarify, all honey is labelled accordingly and shops have already approached me to stock my honey, I just have no idea on a guide price I should be working with.

Although last year was for many the best for many , many years but you should also think about the number of years which will be average or times with little excess. Taking the time to build up a good sales base only to disappoint shops and customers when you don't have stock is not good.
We run 50 hives and produce enough to sell at our local markets and don't have to think about wholesale prices. Thankfully we have bought in when short but this does reduce profits but 2019 was the first year we have been able to produce a large enough surplus to confidently carry over a sufficiently large surplus and provide a 'buffer' for the future.
Hopefully this year will be as good as last, bees are looking good at present , so here's hoping.
S

 

[Swarm]

Lets not forget that 50p goes to the cost of the jar and label. so I would be getting £4 lb for honey. I'd be happy with that if I didn't have to go to all the trouble of jarring the stuff.

Also, looking at the other 'artisan' pickles and preserves that were for sale, I doubt she was going to sell premium honey for £3.50.

What really miffed me off was the quote 'we support local producers'. yeh, at a price!

I've had similar.
Used to supply our 'Pattisierre' who we supported, buying our bread, croissants and stuff.
Wasn't it nice, after a few years to be told they were OK for honey when we were delivering a box of jars. They pointed to the shelves and there were a dozen jars from another source.
Their loss.

 

[For want of a better word]

I've had similar.
Used to supply our 'Pattisierre' who we supported, buying our bread, croissants and stuff.
Wasn't it nice, after a few years to be told they were OK for honey when we were delivering a box of jars. They pointed to the shelves and there were a dozen jars from another source.
Their loss.

Hope they learned their lesson!!

It hurts when the "local" 2 hive owner dumps their honey at some ridiculous cheap price into one of "your" outlets...
but very satisfying when it granulates and trading standards find pussy fur in the badly labelled jars!!

Yes that really happened!!!!

Yeghes da