Demand grows for Honey Collection
Blenheim company recently secured a $100,000 deal with a Korean distributor.
Monday, January 23 2012 || News || BY Kat Pickford, Businessday.co.nz
The Honey Collection manager Georgia Devlin said interest in its Bee-tox range of face and remedial creams had snowballed since they were filmed by Australia's Channel 9 last year, and the company was looking to expand.
"The local market has always been a bit sleepy, but we've had huge response in the last few months, it has gone ballistic," Devlin said.
Nick Coomb started The Honey Collection 20 years ago. He inherited an interest in honey from his mother, Jean Coomb, 84, who has been making remedial creams for more than 40 years.
Coomb said there were now three people employed at the shop and seven commissioned representatives around the country, but with business expanding so rapidly some changes were probably needed.
"It's been a case of getting through the last few months over the holiday period, so we can take a breather and have a think about where we will go to from here."
The Honey Collection recently secured a deal with a Korean distributor worth $100,000, and had had inquiries from Britain, the Netherlands, China and Australia.
Devlin said it took a lot of hard work to meet the demands of their Korean clients, but now the company's future was unlimited.
"The Korean deal took a huge amount of communication. It took a year alone to get the Korean Food and Drug Administration's approval," she said.
The Honey Collection's Bee-tox range contains honey with the unique manuka factor, UMF – an antibacterial-antibiotic found in some potent manuka honey – sourced mostly from the West Coast, where there are dense manuka plantations.
Three years ago they started experimenting with bee venom, said to work wonders on arthritis and wrinkles. Before her wedding the Duchess of Cambridge reportedly used a bee venom product made by Coomb for Nelson Honey.
Coomb said the bee venom was extracted by giving the bees a tiny electric shock, which only stirred them up enough to do a half sting, not a fatal full sting.
"It sells for anywhere between $250 and $350 a gram, but a tiny bit goes a long, long way."
Devlin said they tried to keep the prices reasonable and affordable. Women were their biggest market, but men might find more products of interest in the future.
"We [are] trialling new products all the time. We're looking at breast enhancement and stretch-mark creams, and Nick has always been interested in an alternative to Viagra, so watch this space."
