Small Business: A royal new venture with King Bees Honey

Cate and Mike King, founders of King Bees Honey, used to supply to the big brands like Comvita but now they've launched their own honey brand.

Cate and Mike King, founders of King Bees Honey, talk to Tom Raynel about the switch from supplying to manufacturing, and the challenges working in the honey industry. Each Monday, we interview a small business owner, which is now a regular feature of NZME’s editorial campaign On The Up, showcasing uplifting stories of success, inspiration and possibilities.

What is King Bees Honey?

King Bees Honey is based around our own personal family values, the authenticity of who we are as people, and of course, the name King is our surname.

There are no king bees in the hive. There’s a queen, and it’s a female-dominated world. We wanted to play on that aspect of how the king is the kaitiaki, a caretaker of the land and the bees. Our role as beekeepers is really, really important to make sure that we ethically protect the bees, sustainably look after the bees, and then in return we produce really high-quality honey.

What inspired you to start the business?

Back in 2016 we started beekeeping and we started off with Pauariki Honey. We supplied some of the bigger corporate beekeepers like Comvita and New Zealand Manuka Health, and that made up the largest percentage of our business.

We exported a little bit to Japan with Pauariki Honey but it wasn’t until 2023 after Cyclone Gabrielle hit, where we lost about a quarter of our hives, that we had to pivot in terms of what to do next. Business was a little bit slow and all of our eggs were in one basket.

That’s when we reached out to New Zealand Business Mentors and got a really great mentor, which opened up a few opportunities for us. That led us to create King Bees Honey, which is absolutely who we are.

Cate and Mike King have been beekeeping since 2016 under the name Pauariki Honey, leaving behind jobs in teaching to pursue the craft.

What is it like in the honey industry right now?

When we first got into beekeeping, one of the major drivers was what was going on with the honey industry at the time. The price you could get for low-grade honey and selling it to another corporate was pretty good. It was the gold rush and it was crazy for where we are. At that point in time, it was pretty good and everyone was making money, whether you were a small-time hobbyist or a big commercial company.

It reached saturation point maybe four or five years ago. The amount of honey that had been produced year in, year out was far surplus to what was being either sold domestically or on the international market. There’s been a correction to that now, so the price is really, really low, and lots of people have been getting out of the industry. The repercussions of that is that we have about half the amount of registered beehives in New Zealand than we did at its peak in 2019. The flock of bees, if you will, has halved in New Zealand.

With that, some of the bigger corporates and smaller guys have had some pretty massive financial losses and beekeeping operations have just disappeared. That also affected us, as we were no longer able to sell our honey for a premium price. That’s part of why we’ve diversified with our rebranding and looking into new markets.

King Bees Honey is based around family values, protecting and sustainably looking after bees, and in return producing high-quality honey.

What are your plans for growth overseas?

When we first started out, we were ‘like if we could just get three more export markets, tick tick’. We’ve been pushing into America a little bit last year and we’re currently working with a company in Malaysia and Taiwan, as well as trying to do it domestically.

It’s really challenging and it’s hard for smaller businesses like our own to break into those big export markets because the big brands have the manpower, the staff, the contacts, the infrastructure, the money. We run and own the whole supply chain from the hives to the processing to the harvesting to the packing to the marketing to the distribution, we do the whole thing.

But for us, ultimately, we love the lifestyle. We want to grow slowly but sustainably.

What would be your advice to a budding entrepreneur wanting to start a business?

You’ll need to become a jack-of-all-trades to survive. At the start of the business, you don’t have a lot of resources or connections or time, so being able to do as much as you can yourself can be a lifesaver. Be prepared to put the hard work in, the rewards do come.

Also find a mentor. Our mentor was a massive help in supporting us to find our way and learn what we needed to do, so don’t be afraid to find someone who can help.

Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.