Wainwright’s bee farm ‘buzzing’ as Welsh wild honey lands on Co-op shelves
16 December 2024
Wainwright’s Bee Farm is ‘buzzing’ after winning a deal to supply Co-op food stores across Wales.
Located near Llandre, near Aberystwyth, the bee farm will now see its wild Welsh honey available in almost 60 Co-op stores.
Co-op is committed to backing British farmers, growers and, local suppliers, with the move promoting wider brand awareness and ongoing business development for the bee farm, while providing Co-op customers with quality, local, products, crafted to interest, excite and enthuse shoppers.
Lois Betts, Co-op Local Buyer, explained: “We are excited to be working with Wainwright’s Bee Farm. With quality, choice and provenance valued by our member-owners and customers we are delighted to see their great tasting honey on our shelves. We are committed to creating value in our communities and confident that customers will make a ‘bee-line’ for the new range of Welsh honey available at Co-op.”
Dawn Eleri Wainwright, Brand Manager and daughter of the founder & beekeeper, said: “This wild honey from the green land of Wales is the only Single Origin Welsh honey available from a supermarket – a farmers’ market style honey, but available at your local Co-op. Each jar is numbered, from a small batch of unblended, raw honey, and a moment captured in time never to be repeated. You can taste the powerful flavours from the diverse landscapes of Wales in each different variety. This is Welsh honey terroir. We’re so pleased to be working with Co-op on this ‘bee-rilliant’ new venture, taking the honey market in a new direction, focusing on single farm provenance and big flavours.”
Co-op has worked closely with the Welsh Government’s Food & Drink Wales Trade Development Programme - which is dedicated to supporting the growth and development of Welsh food and drink companies - to create the new listing.
Deputy First Minister with responsibility for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies, said: “Wales has fantastic food and drink products and the Value of Welshness research carried out by the Welsh Government revealed that 8 out of 10 shoppers would like to be able to buy Welsh food and drink. It is therefore wonderful to see the Co-op listing this Welsh honey on its shelves having worked closely with the Food & Drink Wales Trade Development Programme."
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Editor notes:
__About Wainwright’s Bee Farm – __it is a family owned and run business established in 1990 and one of the largest honey producers in Britain with 70 million worker bees, and a few two-legged helpers. Powered by renewable energy, they produce terroir honeys from hive to jar. The only bee farm supplying Single Origin honey at scale, in all their diversity of colour and flavours. They don’t blend their honeys but pack them separately so customers can enjoy the different flavour from each farm location. Wainwright’s Bee Farm has 2500 hives situated in apiaries, groups of around 20 hives on farms with suitable bee forage. There are over 120 of these farms scattered across the countryside, from the Welsh mountains to the Salisbury Plain.
About Co-op: Co-op is one of the world’s largest consumer co-operatives with interests across food, funerals, insurance and legal services. Owned by millions of UK consumers, the Co-op operates almost 2,400 food stores, over 800 funeral homes and provides products to over 6,000 other stores, including those run by independent co-operative societies and through its wholesale business, Nisa Retail Limited. Employing 56,000 people, the Co-op has an annual turnover of over £11billion and is a recognised leader for its social goals and community-led programmes. The Co-op exists to meet members’ needs and stand up for the things they believe in.
Further information:
Andrew Torr
Senior Press Officer, Co-op Press Office
M: 07702505551
E: andrew.torr@coop.co.uk