Our Story

 

Ethical, sustainable raw honey from Whāingaroa, Raglan, New Zealand

G’day, we’re the O’Briens. We like bees. And flowers, we like flowers too. Rory is the beekeeper. Hannah is allergic to bees. Kieran and Alice have their own beesuits now, and Mickey knows if you poke a bees bum it stings. He’s tried this theory quite a few times now.

A few years back we made a choice to change the career paths that we were on and try out life as beekeepers. We wanted to be part of an industry that has a more positive impact on the environment, and on our family life. And we haven’t looked back. We have discovered that we love working with bees, and with each other.

At the end of 2015, we packed up our family and moved home to the Waikato. Rory had a great new beekeeping job, and we had a wee baby girl on the way. Starting with just 16 beehives and a ute, we launched Hunt and Gather Bee Co. at our local Farmers Markets.

7 years on, our baby girl is no longer a baby, we have a new baby and we have hundreds of thousands of new family members; our bees. We have started to build an amazing team here in Raglan who help us run the day-to-day operations of Hunt and Gather Bee Co. and a wider team who help get our honey to countries we never dreamed it would be! It has always been our dream to produce our own honey and sell it to our customers and in stores around New Zealand, and now around the world.

We are passionate about being a sustainable, artisan business and our mission is to bring you a range of delicious New Zealand honeys, fresh from the hive to your table, as well as contributing to reforestation projects here in New Zealand. Thank you for joining us on this fantastic journey!