The world is abuzz about the health properties of mānuka honey, and a Taranaki company is building a strong international market for its unique Kiwi brand.
Award-winning South Taranaki-based Egmont Honey, founded by father and son Toby and James Annabell in 2015, has grown rapidly from one hive – a Christmas gift from son to father – to more than 4000 hives.
The company now exports its range of health, skincare, and honey superfood products to more than 20 countries, including China, Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia, and has carved out a strong position in the highly competitive wellness brand and supermarket sectors.
Since 2018, Australian supermarket giant Woolworths has exclusively stocked Egmont Honey’s products putting the brand in 900 Woolworths stores across the country. Egmont Honey can also be found in Holland & Barrett UK and European stores, a premium offline channel for mānuka honey in these markets.
They also have contracts with two large Chinese supermarket chains that have more than 1000 stores between them, and will soon launch with large US online retailer, i Herb.
James says it’s the company’s story of an all-natural, sustainable product sourced from remote Taranaki forests that has hit a sweet spot with international markets, and has enabled Egmont Honey to grab a good-sized spoonful of the $348 million (2017–18) New Zealand pure honey export industry.
“There’s something like 200 New Zealand honey brands in China, so I guess what makes us unique is we get to sell the great story of this region and where we’re from. The people in the company are driven and passionate about the region, which is a key part of our branding – the mountain is on our label,” he says.
“We have invested quite heavily in a virtual reality experience, so we can take a bit of Taranaki around the world with us and use it as a tool for selling. You can put on a set of goggles and fly in a helicopter all over the Taranaki hill country and right into the middle of where our hives are placed in the mānuka, and then into our factory.”
The hives are not used for commercial pollination, which means the bees are never exposed to pesticides or other chemicals. This allows Egmont Honey to market its honey as among the most natural, pure, and pristine in the world.
The company’s success was recognised in 2018, with Egmont Honey clinching Taranaki’s top business accolade, the Supreme Award, at the TSB Taranaki Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards.
The same year, James was named as a finalist for the New Zealand EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award. James says there is large scope for further development in the food and health product sector in Taranaki.
“Taranaki is fast becoming an attractive place for highly skilled people who want to move to the regions – we have a lot of applications for jobs from outside the region. That brings opportunity for further investment.”