A Caersws honey company is buzzing after four of its products were selected as stars at this year’s Great Taste Awards.
Hilltop Honey is also celebrating another major success after landing a big order to supply two organic honeys to 477 Tesco stores across the country.
The Great Taste Awards, recognised as the Oscars of the food and drinks industry, gave the company’s Raw Thyme Honey the highest ranking of three stars while Raw Scottish Heather Honey, Raw Yucatan Honey and Raw Orange Blossom Honey each received one star.
As an added bonus, Raw Thyme Honey is now in contention to receive the ultimate Golden Fork Award for the best ambient food product at the Great Taste Awards at the Royal Garden Hotel, London on September 5.
From 10,000 products entered for the awards this year, only 141 achieved three stars rating, 878 foods receive two stars and 2,520 were awarded one star, meaning that only 35 per cent of entries were accredited.
“As a quality food producer, it is always rewarding to receive recognition from a panel of expert judges and it doesn’t come much better than the Great Taste Awards,” said Hilltop Honey’s managing director Scott Davies. “A one star rating is a fantastic endorsement, but to get a three star rating and a chance of winning the overall Golden Fork Award for our Raw Thyme Honey is beyond our wildest dreams.
“The Raw Thyme Honey is a new product introduced five months ago and has a strong, pungent flavour. The honey comes from Spain where the bees collect from thyme plants. The Great Taste Awards star ratings are a reward not just for our company but also all our honey suppliers and, of course, the bees.”
It has been another memorable year for Scott and his team at Hilltop Honey who have also recently secured a big order to add squeezy bottles of Raw Organic Acacia Honey and Raw Organic Multiflower Honey to the British Wildflower Honey and British Creamy Honey already supplied to Tesco stores.
“Despite being in the higher end price bracket, the two organic honeys have been very well received by Tesco customers,” said Scott. “You can definitely taste the difference with organic honey and we are finding that customers want good, natural products.
“The additional order from Tesco is great for the company and there are now very few places in the UK where customers are unable to buy our Hilltop Honey.”
Daniel Anderson, a Tesco buying manager, said: “Providing our customers with great quality honey is important to us. When we reviewed our range last year, Hilltop Honey was a standout choice for us to have on our shelves and we’re really pleased with how shoppers have responded to it.”
Earlier this year, the company also landed a deal to supply Raw Organic Acacia Honey, Raw Organic Multiflower Honey and Cut-comb in Acacia Honey to 340 Sainsbury’s stores across the UK.
The orders boom is expected to create three extra jobs this year, taking the workforce to 12. After tripling turnover last year, Hilltop Honey is on course for 200 per cent growth this year, which is forcing the company to look for larger premises and more honey suppliers across the UK and Europe.
Beekeeper Scott, 28, started the business in his parents’ kitchen with a £5,000 overdraft in 2011. Five years later, he is supplying honey, comb honey and bee pollen to major High Street and online customers.
“Five years ago, I walked into Newtown to sell my first four jars of honey on a sale or return basis in the vegetable shop,” added Scott. “Now I’m supplying thousands of jars to customers across the UK and even as far away as New York It’s incredible.”
