The natural honey trade in America?
Posted by ayman_alariqy@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 48 comments
Hi everyone, I’m a beekeeper from Yemen producing local honey and I’d like to enter the U.S. market. I’m looking for advice from people with experience in honey sales or food imports.
What honey types sell best in the U.S.? Are buyers interested in premium imported honey such as Yemeni honey? What sales channels work best: Amazon, specialty stores, wholesalers, farmers markets, or direct online sales?
What certifications, labeling, packaging, and food regulations are needed? How can a small producer build trust, brand awareness, and find distributors or import partners?
TheEmperorOfJenks@reddit
Buddy, I went way too far down this rabbit hole a few years ago and was burned pretty bad. I had anticipated a major increase in the popularity of mead as Gen Z drinking habits collapsed and climate change made grape harvests less predictable. Unfortunately this didn't really pan out and my venture also failed for unrelated reasons. That being said, if you would like to do some small scale informal importation, I could assist you. I am developing a network of vendors in San Francisco for selling high quality foods informally. I think we could work something out where you pay for the shipping and I send you some percentage of the profits I am able to generate from selling it. Please PM me if you have any further questions.
PatolomaioFalagi@reddit
That phrase is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
MattFlynnIsGOAT@reddit
Food imports are way too complicated for a Reddit thread.
Mysterious_Jello69@reddit
Beyond that, the honey market is already over saturated in the US.
You can go to a local farmers market in any town and find 15 different types of honey.
There's really no market for imported honey.
ATaxiNumber1729@reddit
This. I don’t have to buy honey often but when I do I get it from a local source. Not that shit in a bear
sponge_welder@reddit
Local places will sell it to you in a bear these days
ATaxiNumber1729@reddit
Where I live in Tennessee the places around me usually have it in jars. I have nothing against a bear container but it used to signify foreign honey haha
limbodog@reddit
I can pretty much guarantee that some snooty store would sell "Yemeni natural honey" for $17 a jar if it was marketed right.
iowanaquarist@reddit
Sure, they might sell it at less than the farmers market, but pricing it low would undercut the claim it's a premium product
limbodog@reddit
I meant that as an expensive price for a tiny jar with a very pretty label
iowanaquarist@reddit
Again, that's about what they charge at the farmer's market......
garster25@reddit
Very true.
Ritterbruder2@reddit
I’ve heard that honey imports in particular is difficult to obtain a permit for. This is to protect US bee stock and prevent dumping from China.
Impressive-Weird-908@reddit
Honey in general is heavily faked but Chinese honey is basically asking for it to be fake.
SnowblindAlbino@reddit
I don't know how much of a market there is for this at all actually. In my area every farmer's market has multiple beekeepers selling honey. (Those are popop "markets" with vendors selling from tents in parking lots...we have six of them within 15 minutes of us, each on a different day.) I know several people with bees that give me honey a few times a year, so I never actually buy it anymore. Costco sells big jars for little money, if you happen to want large quantities. So the market for "premium" honey would be pretty much met with famers markets and the local co-op (which sells from mid-sized producers) in my area.
zoppaTheDim@reddit
Local honey is big with people because theoretically it helps with allergies.
Western-Finding-368@reddit
It truly does! I’m not one to believe in “natural remedies,” but my husband’s seasonal allergies have improved a freakish amount. He wasn’t eating honey for that reason, and we only found out about the link after the fact when he told his doctor his allergies had been vastly better.
Imaginary_Ladder_917@reddit
Does he eat a specific amount per day?
Western-Finding-368@reddit
We noticed the difference after he was sick for a week or so and had almost a whole jar of local honey in warm drinks during that time. It wasn’t something he was doing on purpose so we didn’t really pay attention.
Mountain_Man_88@reddit
Many natural remedies actually do work. They're not gonna cure cancer, but for stuff like allergies, cold/flu relief, tummy problems, and trouble sleeping there are some decent natural remedies that can be worth trying, especially for chronic issues and when meds don't have the desired effect.
qwertyuiiop145@reddit
There’s a strong demand for local honey over imported and lots of local honey supply to fill the demand for honey. To sell imported honey, you would have to convince people that there’s something fundamentally different and better about your honey that they can’t get from local producers.
Sea_Analysis_8033@reddit
I don’t think I would every buy non local honey especially not from a foreign country.
iowanaquarist@reddit
People would not likely believe imported honey is "premium". That is definitely a product that people believe the local product is premium.
VideoApprehensive@reddit
A small suggestion is to contact a company that already imports coffee from Yemen. I think Q'amaria is a chain based in Dearborn, MI, and they do a lot of Yemen pride stuff...they make tons of traditional desserts. See what they think.
SockSock81219@reddit
Unless you have a very rare honey there in Yemen with special culinary properties, you probably won't find much action in the US. As you've seen from the thread already, there is already a lot of hyperlocal honey available in most parts of the US and not much demand for imported honey.
Your best bet might be to market to the most elite restaurants you can find to see if they can do something special with your honey, where no other honey will do. Global trends have grown from such sources.
Inconsequentialish@reddit
You could find a small niche market if the imported honey has some really interesting, unusual flavor or appearance.
shammy_dammy@reddit
Importing honey from Yemen into the US is permitted but requires strict compliance with
FDA
regulations, including facility registration, prior notice of food imports, and adherence to safety standards, as Yemeni honey is subject to FDA surveillance for adulteration. Commercial imports require proper documentation, such as invoices and certificates of origin
Minute-Frame-8060@reddit
I can't imagine a market for imported honey here, we produce so much of it locally.
jcstan05@reddit
I'm sure there'd be some interest in Yemeni honey, but I doubt it'd be worth it.
Most people I know consider local honey (harvested within their own county) to be more desirable than something from far away.
TooManyDraculas@reddit
Things like that tend to be limited to ethnic markets.
Polish markets like to carry Polish honey, Greek markets like to carry Greek types of honey etc.
It's also usually tied to a specific type that's uncommon in the US. Like the Greeks are after thyme honey, pine honey and other special types.
There's a good lot of Yemeni Americans, and Middle Eastern markets. But you're still talking a niche in a niche. You'd need to be selling something like Sidr honey, to the subset of markets that know what that is.
disheavel@reddit
Yeah, farmers markets are the highest price- particularly in dollars going to the producer. However, if it ain't local no one is going to buy it. Amazon is bottom of the pricing situation. No one would assume Amazon or Walmart honey is actually honey. Costco would guarantee that it's honey; however, knowing nothing about Yemeni honey, they aren't interested.
The only way for your idea to take off is to somehow identify some special taste or special flower that the bees are using. I, myself, am partial to clover honey but lavender honey is a thing as is the psychodelic honey, but you can't actually find it. You're going to need to get some buzz marketing going about the benefits of Yemeni honey before ANY American or European is going to have any interest other than it being the cheapest honey out there.
disheavel@reddit
I met an African small farming collective that was harvesting plant leaves and making essential oils. They were exporting into China. I connected them to a European fragrence company (one of the giants) and they paid the group 4x more for their product. ANd helped diversify as well as helped them refine their existing extraction to be a cleaner product. However, the real value was the naturalness, small farming, african-owned collective that the company could use in their advertising.
So it is possible, you just have to find the right person, idea, opportunity to whom to connect your product. And it may not be the honey... Think Burt's Bees or queen bee acid or you know what bees can do???
cdb03b@reddit
Local honey is the preferred honey for most due to the medicinal benefits of fighting local allergens. Imported honey does exist, but it needs to be special in some kind of way such as being made from flowers that will not grow in the US, or by a breed of honey bee that has a unique flavor or texture.
CosyBeluga@reddit
I love honey and buy a lot of it; I buy premium local. I'd try Yemeni honey though.
Eric848448@reddit
You need a lawyer who specializes in import/export. Specifically, you need one who knows how to deal with food items.
It will be incredibly expensive and difficult.
eyetracker@reddit
Can you get honey from dragon blood tree? You wouldn't be able to compete on scale with wildflower, but expensive rare honeys, optionally with bullshit health claims, are a market. Manuka honey from NZ became popular for a bit in certain sectors, now Costco has it.
Of course bees do what bees do, also kind of BS to claim a single source flower in many cases. And I'm not sure if Socotra is a place you can make much infrastructure for it.
lavasca@reddit
There are too many ways to get local honey conveniently. Not really many of us would know about the industry.
Heffeweizen@reddit
I'm in Southern California. I always see independent vendors at street fairs with a variety of honey for sale, but nobody ever stops at their tent. I don't think Americans are honey people. It might go hand in hand with the fact that Americans aren't Tea people. I've also never seen anybody put honey on toast, even though I like that myself. What are we supposed to use honey for?
crunchyfoliage@reddit
Everyone I know who cares about the honey that they buy wouldn't buy imported honey. I don't know how true it is, but there is a strong belief that honey that comes from local bees helps with allergy symptoms. There are a lot of American beekeepers and I'd rather get my honey from a neighbor down the road than Amazon.
I don't mean to be a buzzkill, this is just my experience. If there is something truly special about Yemeni honey I think farmers markets or specialty stores would be your best bet, but you'd need good marketing around it to convince people that it's better than something local
DangerousDave303@reddit
Good points. I'd suggest that a vendor like the Savannah Bee Company might be a starting point.
ABelleWriter@reddit
I buy quite a bit of honey. I have a honey lady at the farmers market.
Where I am, people want local honey. Your honey won't help with any allergies (and yes I know, it's not going to help with hay fever much, but when you are allergic to a LOT you want anything that might help at all). Yemen is just far.
But also, I can go to any farmers market, even tiny ones, and buy local. I bought honey outside of a Tractor Supply one day (That's a store that does supplies for larger gardens/hobby farms. You can buy baby chicks and ducks, too). One of the major grocery store chains here also carries local honey. Some gas stations have it. Do you see where I'm going with this?
Sad_Construction_668@reddit
The main issue you will have is that most honey imports have to have USDA inspection of sourcing and storage in the country of origin, so Honey importer like New Zealand and Vietnam have to have US government officials in country to observe most of the production and storage infrastructure during the whole production cycle, and getting a US official in Yemen right now would be complicated.
Squirrel_Doc@reddit
Can’t answer your questions, but something to look into…
All 50 states in the US have their own sets of laws. So there could be certain restrictions on selling honey in one state, but less or none in another. Plus, there’s federal laws and regulations you gotta follow too.
LeastInsurance8578@reddit
Yemen = Muslim = terrorist plot or Sharia Law introduction
That’s what you would face, forget it and aim for a more sensible customer base
tabby90@reddit
From what I know, we like honey to be as local as possible to help with pollen allergies.
Ok-Walk-8040@reddit
This is something that Reddit just can’t answer. You would be best googling us regulations on honey.
sneezhousing@reddit
There dozens of regulations you'd need ro talk with an attorney and get a business partner on the american aide most likely
notthegoatseguy@reddit
Products from Yemen are extremely expensive in the US because of the...instability of the country. There's a couple distributors of Yemeni coffee beans and its like $20-40 for a small little bag of beans.