I am trying to help a friend find a way she can make some extra money without a great deal of overhead.

My cousin has twenty bee hives and quickly sells every drop of honey he can produce. I am wondering if it is possible to purchase good quality, unadulterated bulk honey at wholesale prices, repackage it into small jars and resell it at farmers markets?

Pros/cons???????

Anyone know of a source to buy honey???

Thank you in advance for your help!

-- clove (clovis97@Yahoo.com), March 05, 2002

Answers

Clove, where are you located? Try contacting your state beekeeping association, or your state apiarist. This should put you in touch with beekeepers who sell wholesale. Good luck!

-- Judy in IN (whileaway3@cs.com), March 05, 2002.

Judy,

I am in Indiana, too!!!! I am in Franklin, which is just south of Indianapolis.

I did contact the bee keepers association, and they arrogantly told me that everyone sold everything that they could produce, that it was IMPOSSIBLE to buy wholesale honey and I should start keeping my own bees. (That wouldn't go over very well here in town.) I think that is total and complete hogwash. Any other ideas?

-- clove (clovis97@Yahoo.com), March 05, 2002.

Maybe this place? I'm not sure how expensive the honey you are looking for would be, but they sell 60 pound buckets for $66. They are located in the far northern part of NYS.

http://www.honeygardens.com/index.html

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), March 06, 2002.

I'll sell you all you want wholesale. $2.50 per lb. but you have to pay shipping...

-- Laura (lauramleek@yahoo.com), March 06, 2002.

Only problem I see is if your customers found out that you were actually a reseller, not a beekeeper. Most people I know who buy honey at a farmers market are under the impression it came from that person's own bees, otherwise they would buy honey at the store. I would be upset to find out I was paying premium prices for a product that was not truly local. Just a thought.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), March 06, 2002.

Don't know about Indiana , but here in Alabama, your required by law to register as a local grower with the municipality sponsoring the farmers market and can only sell product that you have produced yourself legally.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), March 06, 2002.

I sell Bulk Honey. 5 gallons is the biggest container that I have for sale. I have many--and variety also. Clover, Sourwood and the ole "I can only say it is honey"---your request is our demand. The email is valid and the location is Virginia.

-- JoeL Rosen (JoelnBecky@webtv.net), March 06, 2002.

Please check with the farmers market your friend wants to sell at before she invests any money in this project. Jay is roght, many farmers markets require that items sold are either produced by the vendor or sometimes they allow item to be 'bought in' from other farmers within a small radius of the market. For example the market I sell at allows vendors to purchase items for resale from other farmers within a 35 mile radius of the market, as long as the bought in items are less than 25% of out total goods.

If the farmers market location doesn't work out, how about selling the honey at a local flea market. The flea markets I know about are much less regulated than farmers markets. Customers at a flea market are also much less likely to get upset about someone reselling than they might at a farmers market.

Whereever your friend sells, make sure she factors all of her costs, such as jars, labels, gas, table fee, ect. into pricing her honey. I've found that it is easy to set your price low enough to actually lose money if you don't remember all of your expenses.

Best of luck to your friend. I hope it works out well for her.

-- Murray in ME (lkdmfarm@megalink.net), March 06, 2002.

We have an Amish community about 20 miles away. The Amish general store sells it in 5 gal buckets.

-- Rickstir (Rickstir@budweiser.com), March 06, 2002.

Joel How much is your 5 gal. size? And Laura where are you located? Trying to compare prices and shipping. Jill

-- Jill (lance1_86404@yahoo.com), March 07, 2002.

I'm in Oly Wa....

-- laura (lauramleek@yahoo.com), March 09, 2002.

Our prices here At Wild Rose Bee Farm in south central KY are as follows: 1 5 gal pail $1.30 Per pound; 2 5 gal pails $.87 per pound; 5 5 gal pails $.73 per pound; 10 5 gal pails $.65 per pound; 15 5 gal pails $.63 per pound; 20 5 gal pails $.61 per pound. This is all last summers Wisconsin clover honey. And all cold processed (not heated) A 5 gal pail holds 60 pounds of honey (industry standard) For 10 pails or more I will deliver any part of KY, or as far as Indy, or Columbus OH, Mongomry AL.

-- Butch (beefarm@scrtc.com), March 09, 2002.