Haughton Honey, a distributor of English honey, has recently launched an equity crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube with a mission to raise £80,000 as it prepares to expand its third party distribution and new flavors development. The company is currently offering 18.60% in equity.
The business, which has established 70 regional sales outlets including Booths and Protein Works, sells raw English honey produced by themselves and other commercial bee farmers. It also supplies other food and drink manufacturers with honey as an ingredient for its own products.
“We want to take on more like-minded English bee farmers so that we can increase our own product sales and also the supply of honey to more 3rd party food producers and develop a set of related food products using our growing brand. We have plans to launch a 900g honey product alongside a co-branded honey breakfast cereal later this year.
“We are currently exploring export opportunities of English honey, as there is already an established export trend to other regions like the Middle East. Further down the line we will potentially explore a trade sale to a larger food manufacturer within 3 to 5 years from now, or alternatively, return for further investment as our national and export sales grow whilst aiming to pay dividends.”
Also discussing what the funds will also be used for, the company shared:
“Funding from this round of investment will provide working capital to help us meet our month-on-month demand, obtain a suitable trade vehicle for shipments, secure significantly more independent retailers across the United Kingdom through distribution partnerships and also allow us to engage in sales and marketing activities with the aim of Haughton Honey being listed by a second, premium multiple retailer by the end of 2016.”
During a recent interview, Crispin Reeves, founder of Haughton Honey, stated:
“Forget spreading the love. Loving the spread is more accurate at the moment. UK sales of jams, spreads and honey grew 5.9 per cent in the year up to October 2015. Growth in honey sales alone between 2014 and 2015 have increased by £9.8m.”
He then added:
“Now is the time to seek additional investment to support the growth of Haughton Honey so that we can take on more bee farmers, increase our honey production to satisfy our growing month-on-month demand and hopefully achieve a listing with a second premium multiple retailer.”
The campaign is set to close mid-May.
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