Zero waste honey refills

[jenkinsbrynmair]

These shops are springing up in every town recently

very twee amongst the fashionista, and in my experience somewhat expensive.

 

[Erichalfbee]

This is where I got my figure from
https://www.theapiarist.org/tag/hmf/

 

[North End Bees]

very twee amongst the fashionista, and in my experience somewhat expensive.

If the fashionista want to buy my honey who am I to say no?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

If the fashionista want to buy my honey who am I to say no?

I was discussing the retail price of my honey at the castle the other day - they were asking how much Mine usually retails locally and how much they should charge for honey harvested by the bees at the castle. 'They're tourists' I said 'That's true, and those that come for their morning coffees are just the trendy Wendies from Llandeilo - we'll add a bit more on then!'

 

[bignikki]

I was asked by a shop if I could supply hem honey to sell ike this.
I had a stainless honey tank that I loaned them and sold them a 60lb bucket of honey at a time.
The customers brought thier own jars and saw the honey being poured in to the jar. They loved it the shop loved it and, tell you the truth, I loved it too
. Any way to cut down on waste is a good thing IMHO.
I got the price that I asked for, and I dn't have to faff about with jars.
Do i care how much they sell it for? Not really. I don't have overheads of running a shop/ cafe on the high street.
Funnily enough it WAS llandeilo high street Mr Brynmawr

 

[bignikki]

* Brynmair. Sorry.

 

[North End Bees]

The customers brought thier own jars and saw the honey being poured in to the jar. They loved it the shop loved it and, tell you the truth, I loved it too

You don't supply them any more?

 

[Hedgerow Honey]

we bought the tank as could always use it ourselves if it didn’t work out.
customer is selling around 30lb @ month which is kept at 30 c.
Damian has a lot of experience of this type of selling as has been supplying a number of shops for quite a while, I went with his advice.
Trading standards were consulted and were quite happy as the shop owner fills the container, not the customer, product is visible in the tank which is designed for the job, also dedicated scales and a small hand wash sink adjacent were required.
can’t believe how much the cost of the tank has risen, 18 month ago it was almost half the advertised price now.

It’s been a slow start but is picking up month on month.

 

[Antipodes]

I've been approached by someone who owns a Zero Waste refill store for potentially selling honey 'on tap'.
They sell all the usual zero waste refill products (organic grains, spices, oils, as well as organic household cleaning refills, etc.) Apparently customers have asked about honey so there's a ready market.

I have no idea if this is feasible. Has anybody here tried it?

The store is a converted farm building, not too warm at the best of times, so I don't know how they would maintain a runny enough consistency to get the honey out of the tap?! (They keep the containers of different oils on heated mats to stop them going cloudy but oil is a lot less dense than honey.)

If anyone has done this, or knows it can be done, I'd appreciate some advice. The store owners have no more idea than I do if it is a do-able way of selling honey but, as they asked, I thought it's worth looking into.

It's been done here for the last approximately 30 years that I can vouch for, but has probably been sold like that here for much longer. You'll generally see it in the sort of shops that also sell flour and grains etc. in tubs where the customer uses a scoop to get the product out of the tubs, purchasing the quantity they want. With the honey, there is generally a plastic 1kg honey bucket left hanging on the honey gate so the remaining drips don't end up on the floor. I'm guessing once the big 20kg bucket (with honey gate) is empty, the shop lets the supplier know and the empty bucket is swapped for a full one. It would obviously have to be a honey that is relatively slow to crystallise. Because the honey gate diameter is so large, even quite viscous honey should come out fine.

 

[bignikki]

You don't supply them any more?

No the cafe shut down because the owner wouldn't extend the lease unfortunately.

 

[nantmoel]

We supply one such store.
I purchased a polycarbonate tank from Abelo which is also heated

£520 just to sell honey in a store! Did they cover the cost of the tank? I was going to suggest a heat mat like a propagation mat, this would give enough heat to stop granulation. I do like the idea of a jar return scheme and having labels printed with removable glue, just to conform with trading standards, I'm sure they would have something to say about selling honey un-labelled.

 

[Antipodes]

£520 just to sell honey in a store! Did they cover the cost of the tank? I was going to suggest a heat mat like a propagation mat, this would give enough heat to stop granulation. I do like the idea of a jar return scheme and having labels printed with removable glue, just to conform with trading standards, I'm sure they would have something to say about selling honey un-labelled.

Perhaps there are some sort of labelling exceptions under the law there?

 

[Hedgerow Honey]

£520 just to sell honey in a store! Did they cover the cost of the tank? I was going to suggest a heat mat like a propagation mat, this would give enough heat to stop granulation. I do like the idea of a jar return scheme and having labels printed with removable glue, just to conform with trading standards, I'm sure they would have something to say about selling honey un-labelled.

You obviously didn't read my post !!.

We did what the TS required we do to sell honey this way.
We also paid no where near the current advertised price for the tank,
As I wrote, can't believe how much equipment prices have risen.
A lyson melliflow premium is now more than a api-melter.

 

[North End Bees]

We did what the TS required we do to sell honey this way.

Is there a requirement to register with TS to sell honey to shops?

Genuine question, as it's not something I've been asked to do by the shops I've supplied. That is jarred honey though - I've not sold honey this way before.