Case Studies
Issue No. 3 - December/ 2001/january
Buzz Honey
Creating a Buzz
Keeping up with their bees’ workrate is a challenge, but apiarists Tim and Jude Crow seem to be coping. Their 12—year—old microbusiness recently launched its own brand, they’ve just moved house and they’re building up to the next big step of creating — and then supplying — interstate and overseas markets.
At the moment, Buzz Honey is sold through 40 retail outlets in and around Adelaide. The Crows’ product began appearing under the Buzz brand in January 2001, so that’s not bad growth for an unassisted couple.
Buzz markets six varieties of honey — they’re differentiated by the species of tree the bees harvest from — in a premium, gourmet style.
An early stumbling block was packaging. Jude scoured Australia for distinctive glassware that would give Buzz products unique appearance to go along with the flavours. “I rang every glassware manufacturer in the electronic Yellow Pages," she says. “None of them could supply what we wanted. We ended up importing our three types of jar from Italy.”
Distance poses another challenge. From home base at Nairne, Tim Crow tends hives scattered between Keith, Greenock, Loxton and Strathalbyn. The production staff work in eight apiaries of more than 500 hives altogether. They are Apis melifera, cousins to the Ligurian bees for which Kangaroo Island is famous. Tim learned his craft from his grandfather.
Buzz has moved about 10,000 units of its six—product range s...
