Worldwide Beekeeping
Beekeeping => Products Of The Hive => Topic started by: Perry on November 08, 2015, 10:16:40 pm
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Been thinking about Honey Stix for some time now. I think these would be a hit, but the machines I see out there have me wondering a bit, is there something simpler and cheaper. Surfing the net when it's too cold to do bee stuff and I may have stumbled on to something. Any thoughts on this? Looks pretty simple to me, no valves, etc. About all one would need is a sealer and you're in business.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhLxPRCqtxE
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What would be the initial cost for the sealer plus the tubes? These are very popular with kids and people that aren't so sure about buying a bottle of honey. At the state fair we sold honey sticks, for 25 cents each. Those were bought from one of the bigger companies, like Mann Lake. They were in about 7 different flavors. How long would it take to pay for the sealer at 25 cents each? How much honey is in each stick? The trouble with premade sticks is you don't know where the honey came from. If they gave these details in the video, I apologize, I couldn't hear over the music and background noise.
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The video didn't really have anything audio wise, just some people chatting about nothing. From what I could quickly determine is that the sealers are somewhere between $100 to $200, the straws I have no idea.
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They filled 5 and sealed 6 in 2minuts 11 seconds. Each stix holds 1 tsp (5 grams) of honey, with 15 calories. or 100 stix per pound. 5 cents honey, 4 cents for straw. 16 cents for sealer, flavor, color, and labor. At a production rate of 150 stix per hour.
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I sell honey sticks at the farmers market and have people ask how i make them, (mostly old women) ;D I tell them in the winter i take straws and a eye dropper and fill them, then take my wife's iron and seal the ends 8) You should hear some of the names these sweet old ladies call me. :laugh: :laugh: Jack
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They filled 5 and sealed 6 in 2minuts 11 seconds. Each stix holds 1 tsp (5 grams) of honey, with 15 calories. or 100 stix per pound. 5 cents honey, 4 cents for straw. 16 cents for sealer, flavor, color, and labor. At a production rate of 150 stix per hour.
You've done the math, so is that a good deal or no? ;D
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http://honeystixandagavestix.glorybee.com/shop/HoneyStix-Bulk-Packs/?page=99999
When you can buy them at 12.5 cents a piece, get a 50% markup and not have to mess around with it.. for me no.
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http://www.mannlakeltd.com/beekeeping-supplies/product/FO-202.html
You would be buying in us dollars so with exchange the costs are a bit higher.
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perry, considered doing so myself with the impulse sealer, and like jack using a syringe. but jack probably has more time and patience than the rest of us to fill straws and seal them up with an iron.......... ;D :D :D :D especially in large quantities..........
i saw this from tim arheits website from honey run apiaries on how he does it and he was using the impulse sealer and a syringe:
honey sticks tim arheit honey run apiaries (http://www.honeyrunapiaries.com/blog/honey-sticks/honey-stick-machine-the-manual-version/)
another blog post by tim on honey sticks:
tim arheit honey sticks (https://www.honeyrunapiaries.com/blog/honey-sticks/honey-sticks/)
and his blog post about making a machine...........don't think it has advanced:
tim arheit honey stick machine (http://www.honeyrunapiaries.com/blog/honey-sticks/honey-stick-machine-part-1/comment-page-1/)
like apis, i don't mess with it (be kinda fun to try it out) but this is where i get my honey stix:
honey sticks THE HONEY JAR (https://www.thehoneyjarhome.com/buy-honey-online/honey-sticks-straws)
he is in utah........great sticks and awesome customer service!
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riverbee's source in Utah looks pretty good. I will say, from my experience selling honey sticks, the kids and teens really like those different flavors. Not uncommon for the kids to get one in each flavor so they can compare the different flavors.
I think "do-it-yourself" looks pretty tedious. With your kind of winters, it might be welcomed. ;D
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I get mine at Glory Bee Co. if you buy the 100 straw packs of same flavor, you get a discount, i order three to four hundred dollars worth every year to sell at the farmers market for $.25 ea. Kids see them and come running, parents follow and usually buy a jar of honey. I don't make much off honey sticks, the grand kids take a supply home when they come over, even the ones who are teenagers now. :D Jack
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"riverbee's source in Utah looks pretty good. I will say, from my experience selling honey sticks, the kids and teens really like those different flavors. Not uncommon for the kids to get one in each flavor so they can compare the different flavors."
kyle kanno, (the honey jar) a young senior high school student who was an entrepreneur turned beekeeper. (family business) they have given me discounts and will mix and match for different flavors. the blackberry stix are awesome! you are right bakers the kids really like the different flavors to try out, the adults are really looking for something to carry to put in tea or coffee, but the stix do sell well, or if you are doing a presentation for kids, the honey stix are a hit.
ps jack, used to get the honey stix from glory bee, now use the honey jar, just cause they will mix and match a variety of honey stix for me, but you probably purchase way more than i do, i just get smaller quantities.
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Just got home from Moore County N.C. bee meet, they said one day at state fair booth made $6400.00 the straws made the big% of that at $ .50 each
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Perry,
I have one of those sealers and I got it to make honey straws just like that video.
I got mine brand new on ebay, it wasn't that bad expensive, Heres the deal though, I would get a little honey squirt out of the end of straw and pop went
the heating element wire. It came with a spare wire. 25 straws later- pop went the spare.
Moral of the store, buy lots of extra element wires. :-)
In fact, I probably will not use mine if you wanna make a deal, you will have to replace the wire though. :-) It's in the top of my closet.
I am happy with buying them for 12 cents and selling for 25 cents.
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They are all over ebay for 30 bucks free shipping. and they come with about 4 extra wires. you could do 100 straws :D I think the trick is to seal them without any honey coming out of the end of the straw and getting on the wire.
I don't think I could give you mine for free and ship it to you for 30.00
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Thanks for the offer, but you are probably right, shipping would be a killer. ;D
I thought I read somewhere a fella that is making one of those straw filling "machines", mentioned that you need a sealer that puts out 750 watts. I wonder if that might have been the problem?
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Two years ago i was selling honey straws 5 for a dollar and would sell out. The first year selling them $.25 ec sales went down some, this year was a little better, almost back to where they were. If i went to $.50 ec i think i would end up with a display box of granulated honey sticks at the end of the season? Jack
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I assumed they were buying in bulk ? ?
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Most suppliers sell in 100 packs Glory Bee sells in 2000 also with the price per stick at 9.5 cents down from 13.5 cents for 100
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I don't know if simply buying honey straws and selling them is the way I want to go. The whole idea behind it (for me) is to allow people to sample my honey.
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I don't know if simply buying honey straws and selling them is the way I want to go. The whole idea behind it (for me) is to allow people to sample my honey.
A pretzel stick for sampling is a lot less work.
Yankee11, I noticed in the video that they were leaving a lot of space at the top. Now I know why.
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Yea, that was what I was doing wrong. I was pushing honey out of the end of the straw and it was getting on the wire.
As far as Perry's point. It kinda is a problem cause people think that's what is in the jars and I hated telling them it wasn't. The sampling
does work great. Almost everyone that samples buys a jar. I use a wood tooth pick stick and let them dip it down into a squeeze bottle them throw the stick away. Works great.
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Sound's like the youngster draw. Is a start , But i under stand about your honey , would also won't them to try your honey, I'm sure it's tastee
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some of the draw is all the different flavors. Mix and match 4 flavors for a dollar. A lot of the flavors offered are from adding extracts and coloring. Not what I would call a natural honey tasting experience. A person in Perry's area could market spring, early summer, late summer and blueberry in natural honey, but then your going to have to keep them separate and market them individually if you are using them as samplers.
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This thread kind of died, so I don't know what you decided Perry. I was just looking through the Betterbee 2016 catalog. Betterbee has for sale a Honey Straw and Kraft display box for $55.95. This includes 500 straws. 50 straws of each of the following flavors: apple, blueberry, cherry, grape, lemon, peppermint, pure honey, raspberry, strawberry and watermelon.
I believe the craft display box is code for cardboard. They also sell the same with a wooden display case for $88.95.
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You could make your own.
http://www.johnwaynehoney.com/our%20store.html
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I think I would be inclined to not spend money on any machines other than a sealer and just go the ketchup tube route to fill the straws. I don't know how big a draw they would be in order to make it worth my while.
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Before buying equipment, I would purchase honey sticks just to see how popular they are. It seems like alot of work for an item that you can't sell for more than a quarter. I know your original idea was to let people sample your honey. Some farmer's market sellers have a sample jar with a flip top lid. Through the little hole in the flip top lid they let customers dip a coffee stir stick to have a taste. This seems to keep things sanitary and keeps health departments happy.
Perry you have "growing pains". ;D Everyone should be so lucky to have a growing business doing something they love.
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Thanks for the plug iddee. Yes I sell a complete honey stick making machine. it comes with the manifold, sealer, hand pump, hot plate and DVD with instructions. I have sold well over 200 units with no complaints or returns yet. Visit my site at www.honeystickmachine.com
you can view a video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfgXUiE2fmg
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Thanks for joining, Wayne. I hope you like our little family and become a regular.
Yes, I plug a few sites that I think are an asset to hobbyist beeks. That's the purpose of the forum. To help the little beeks as much as possible.
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Wayne, that is really great. It's easy to see with a little practice, you can produce honey sticks quickly. Welcome to the forum. It's good to have another Kansan on board.
Are you using warmed honey to fill the sticks with? Is that what I see on a warmer in the back ground?
Perry, I don't know...that devise looks pretty cool. I would be tempted. ;)
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Yes you want to warm the honey to flow better as cold honey does not work well.
Perry......I sell more honey by using my straws as free samples. A customer walks up to my booth and are looking. I take a straw, cut it in half and hand it to them to try. No mess no fuss. not only will that sell a jar or two of honey 9 out of 10 times but they usually buy a bunch of sticks too. When your making them at about 3 to 5 cents each (if you sell honey at 15 a quart) then you can see how quickly you will make up the cost of the machine.
The machine in the video was my origional that I built many years ago. quite a few improvments have came along. I spent over $1000 just trying out different sealers till I found a model that worked and was reliable. no need to worry if you spill a bit of honey on the element. I have customers packing honey, maple syrup, concentrated cherry juice and even one guy that does marijuana honey sticks in oregon. I wonder what those cost?