Whakatane business secures honey deal
28 April 2015
SWEET DEAL: Jahn Iseri, Sophia Lim, Max Stowers and Judy Law at Thornton Road bottling plant Ora Honey.
Photo Troy Baker D1985-05
A SINGAPOREAN business – Honey House – has signed an agreement with a Whakatane company to buy an initial consignment of honey.
Honey House has secured the deal with Apis Mellifora, according to Whakatane businessman Jahn Iseri.
He said Apis Mellifora received its honey supplies from a well-known apiarist, Andrew Thompson, an Apis Mellifora director.
Mr Iseri, who owns the Bhuket Turkish Kebab shop on The Strand, said Honey House distributed honey in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
He said he hosted the visit on behalf of Apis Mellifora because he wanted to promote Whakatane.
Max Stowers, a production assistant at Ora Honey, on Thornton Road, showed Honey House buyers Sophia Lim and Judy Law the company’s bottling facilities last week.
Mr Iseri said the two women bought honey from other countries as well as New Zealand, but preferred New Zealand honey mainly because of its manuka component.
He said the parties agreed to enter into a partnership for supply and sale of manuka honey and also various new products under development predominantly for the health and wellbeing industry.
Apis Mellifora was also soon to test extracting bee venom for use in the lucrative beauty market where it was used as a skin rejuvenator for image-conscious females, Mr Iseri said.