Bee Maid abuzz over new hive of operations

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This article was published 20/02/2024 (642 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bee Maid Honey is set to expand its local wingspan amid anticipated “substantial growth” in the market and increasing overseas demand.

“We just don’t have the room here,” chief executive Guy Chartier said, during an interview in Bee Maid Honey Limited’s office of at least 60 years in the St. James neighbourhood of Winnipeg.

Some 15 kilometres east, in a St. Boniface industrial park, work continues on the new facility. Bright yellow paint and a honeycomb pattern covers a corner of the building.

The $25-million facility has been in the works for five years. Beekeeper members of a co-operative responsible for Manitoba’s Bee Maid operations voted to build anew in 2019.

For roughly a decade, barrels of honey have been kept in a rented storage facility and on producers’ farms, in addition to Bee Maid’s current St. James site.

“(It) becomes inefficient when you’re trying to pull honey from one place to another,” Chartier said. “You’ve got too many trucks on the road.”

Ideally, the product is stored at Bee Maid in Winnipeg, where it’s put through a filtration system for cleaning before being packaged for store shelves, manufacturers and restaurants.

Chartier estimates Bee Maid intakes 30 per cent of Canada’s honey (between its Manitoba and Alberta plants).

Canada produced 89.8 million pounds of honey in 2021, Statistics Canada data show.

The local business likely stores 30 per cent more honey now than it did a decade ago, Chartier added.

He expects the flow of honey from hive to store shelf will be “a lot more efficient” once the St. Boniface location opens. The new facility will be 129,000 square feet, as opposed to the current Roseberry Street site’s 68,000 sq. ft.

The St. Boniface hub will also have a bigger store — stocked with honey and beekeeping equipment — and more office space for its 70 staff.

Chartier doesn’t plan to increase his staff count when the company moves. However, as there will be more room beekeepers can fill with honey; they may increase their own operations, he added.

Bee Maid predicts “substantial growth” in the honey market over the coming years. Perhaps five per cent growth annually in grocery stores alone, Chartier said.

Ian Steppler, chairperson of the Manitoba Beekeepers’ Association, shares in the belief in growth.

“I think consumers are seeing honey as a good alternative to using sugar.”– Ian Steppler

“I think consumers are seeing honey as a good alternative to using sugar,” said Steppler, who ships all his honey to Bee Maid.

(Chartier echoed Steppler: people searching for natural, sustainable and local choices have boosted Bee Maid’s sales, he said. Ever-increasing demand from countries such as Japan and South Korea has helped, Chartier added.)

Steppler pegs the province’s honey industry as contributing $40 million in production annually.

There are immense benefits from the pollination bees provide, which isn’t factored into the number, Steppler said, calling Bee Maid’s expansion “excellent news.”

“It shows a lot of confidence beekeepers have within the industry,” Steppler said. “It shows a lot of optimism.

“Being able to centralize everything… it’s going to be a breath of fresh air.”

It’ll likely help Bee Maid’s Manitoba co-operative cut costs, as well, he noted, adding the current facility recently needed roof repairs and other renovations.

It was built in the 1950s, according to Chartier. Bee Maid Honey Ltd. was formed in 1954.

Many shelves at 625 Roseberry St. are empty as Bee Maid prepares for its move. Staff aim to direct honey collected this summer to the St. Boniface facility, and to have the new Bee Maid store open in March, so beekeepers can buy their wares ahead of season.

Meantime, the Roseberry Street site is on the market with a $6-million price tag. It’s been listed for more than four months.

“I don’t have any problem with competition, as long as that honey coming in is authentic.”– Ian Steppler

Some 80 per cent of co-operative members in Manitoba and Saskatchewan voted to build the new facility, Chartier said. “We’re very fortunate to have members that are willing to reinvest back into their… co-op.”

Meantime, Bee Maid’s facility in Spruce Grove, Alta., is undergoing its own expansion — to 141,000 sq. ft. from 56,000 sq. ft.

Bee Maid encompasses more than 300 beekeeper members across Western Canada. The united, local approach is key to fending off international competition, noted Steppler.

“As we compete against this foreign honey coming in, we’re marketing to our customers that this is an authentic product,” he said. “The consumers seem to be hearing that. We’re able to hold our shelf position.”

Manitoba logged $516,000 worth of honey imported in 2022, or 0.7 per cent of overall imports to Canada. The province accounted for 49 per cent of honey exports during the same year, Statistics Canada data show.

Some imported honey is being sold below the cost of production in Canada, Steppler said, adding there are worries within the local industry there are products diluted with sugar syrup.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency does its best to identify potential issues, Steppler added. In 2020, the CFIA issued a news release highlighting its work against “food fraud,” such as added sugars in honey.

Its testing at the time found 87 per cent of targeted honey samples were authentic.

“I don’t have any problem with competition, as long as that honey coming in is authentic,” Steppler said.

Meanwhile, the industry was impacted by major bee colony loss in 2022, largely due to weather and pests. However, it’s “pretty resilient,” Steppler said.

Doris Rudolph, a beekeeper who owns Brambles ‘n Bees in Winnipeg, called Bee Maid’s expansion within the capital city convenient.

“I’ve appreciated Bee Maid being local in Winnipeg for any supplies that I need,” she said. “Bee Maid has been good for me, business wise.”

(It has local competition: Dufresne-based Dancing Bee Equipment also supplies beekeepers.)

Manitoba had 103,841 bee colonies in 2022, according to Statistics Canada, placing it placed second among the provinces behind Alberta.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com