Honey Producer Growing Again

Last fall Winnipeg, Man.-based Bee Maid Honey Limited unveiled its new production line equipment, including a new liquid honey filler, bottle orientator and labeller. And according to the co-op’s CEO Guy Chartier, the more than $500,000 in new equipment will assist North America’s largest single-source honey marketer in achieving its target of increasing sales of packed honey by a million pounds per year.

“Our production efficiency has already improved by 20 per cent in the short time the new equipment has been in operation,” says Chartier. “Not only will our new processing line improve packing efficiencies, it will allow Bee Maid to package honey in a wider variety of containers.” The company’s older equipment wasn’t capable of efficiently filling some bottle types with liquid honey, he notes.

Formed in 1954, Bee Maid Honey Limited is the marketing arm of the Manitoba Cooperative Honey Producers Limited and the Alberta Honey Producers Co-operative Limited. Honey produced by over 300 beekeeper members in Western Canada is processed and packaged at Bee Maid’s Winnipeg and Spruce Grove, Alta. plants. The company’s products include white honey, creamed honey, liquid honey, cinnamon honey and the newest member of the family, Au Naturel Amber honey. Bee Maid sells its honey worldwide.