# marketing ideas and contracts



## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

I am interested to know how other beeks sell / market their honey. I have a few thoughts that I would like a opinion about. (did I really ask for opinions?).
For a small hobby beek, as in a recent post by Chef, it is very possible that you will run out of your own honey and risk loosing customers. His concern was about ethics, which are like opinions. My question is this, would you consider being a part of a "guild" so to speak, so that if you have alot of honey, you would sell it at a reduced (contract) price to meet demands of the other members. This would by no means interfere with your regular private customers. If the "guild" could land big supply contracts, you would then profit by the percentage you had invested. Of course there are concerns with being a part of something where your honey will be a blend with other's. It's the "one bad apple " thing that is scary. My thoughts are for maybe Local bee clubs, keeping it for local beeks only, but getting security of being able to supply the demand. I know this is basically the same as selling to the bigger packers, but on a smaller scale. I'd like to know your thoughts about this.


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

Yoyo:

You know, I thought hard and long about what to do if I ran out of honey. Basically, if I run out of honey, my customers are screwed. They get mad or annoyed and go somewhere else. It actually happened at a farm that a beekeeper used to sell to. They owners were mad that he could not supply he honey at their bussiest times so they buy form me . 

If I run out of honey, which I have since I have started beekeeping, I do buy from a sideliner who has the same philosophy as I do about treatment. This can be tough but it can be done. 

The bad thing about this is that you take a hit from your profit margin. That is a instant upfront hit. Long term, it will benefit you. 

For example, I run at out honey this year. I bought honey and took a hit on the profit margin. The people I sold honey too will hopefully continue to buy from me in the future. Next year, I will ramp up the number of hives in hpes for a bigger harvest. Then I can sell to those loyal customers (and new ones) without taking a direct hit to the profit margin. 

Make sence? 

I do think that this area is really underdeveloped in beekeeping. Grant, who is a member here, wrote a great e-book tha takes about this a litlte more. Check it out!


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## Jon D. (Apr 15, 2005)

*Co Operative*

Yoyo,

Is what you are talking about a cooperative? It seems like there has been discussion on this board about that in the past. The two basic concepts are to allow smaller beeks to sell to bigger contracts, and to get them a better price for honey by eliminating one of the middlemen in the honey commodity market.

It seems like a great idea, and I'd love to join one too. I think that the right person organizing something like that, someone with hustle, could really make a great thing. Unfortunately, someone with enough hustle to round up beeks to join, and obtain contracts to sell, could probably make more money just hustling for themselves.

--Jon D.


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## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

I guess for the comercial guys, there is always alot of honey to deal with. They can sell in 55 gallon drums to the honey packers. The small beek hobbyist, is usually working 40 + hours a week and has very little time to try to package and market his limited supply of honey. I do believe he has an edge over bigger operations if he can find the buyers. A co-op, could be a great thing , like you say, if the right person is in charge. It would give the beek a sure market and could take some of the work out of the packaging and marketing area, but at a reduced price of course. Could the local bee clubs be the co-op? I have places where I can place 10 or so honey bears for sale, and could make a sales route out of it. That is not practical for me at this time. I also have a local place in mind that could possibly want more honey than I could supply, being I am a small beek. I would hate not to be able to meet that kind of demand after making a deal with them. Again, the co-op gives you some security in this case while still keeping the product "local", which seems to make honey more marketable. I was just wondering if others had been in this situation before.


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