Premium honey brand Haughton Honey has created a big buzz by smashing through its £80,000 crowdfunding target and collecting more than £112,000 in investments.
Over 200 investors backed the six week campaign which was launched to support the next stage in the company’s growth.
Founder Crispin Reeves said: “We’ve got high ambitions for Haughton Honey. Demand for pure, raw honey is growing in the UK and we feel there’s tremendous export potential too.
“I’m thrilled that so many investors have come on board to support us as we continue to expand, and would like to thank everyone who’s got involved. Some 98% of businesses that apply to CrowdCube don't get selected and of those 2% that do, only half successfully fund.
“It's been a gruelling four months of due diligence, promotion, meetings, sleepless nights, and answering thousands of queries but we smashed it.”
Some 211 investors swarmed to get a taste of Haughton Honey – with £112,870 in total being invested.
The investment pledged to the Cheshire-based company will be used to recruit more bee farmers, expand markets and raise awareness of the brand, which was launched in 2014.
Since 2014, the firm has steadily expanded and recently began supplying the fine food retailer Booths, as well as The Protein Works, a large sports nutrition brand owned by Alliance Boots, which has just launched a co-branded Cashew Nut Butter Luxe product containing Haughton Honey.
The honey is available via more than 80 regional sales outlets across the North West and Midlands, as well as through premium supermarket Booths, which started stocking Haughton Honey at the beginning of April 2016 and which has almost 30 outlets.
During the crowdfunding campaign alone, which was operated through CrowdCube, the company secured eight new independent retailers across the Midlands and East Anglia.
The honey market within the UK is worth £119.5m per annum, with healthy annual growth. UK sales of jams, spreads and honey grew 5.9% in the year up to October 2015, with growth in honey sales alone between 2014 and 2015 increasing by £9.8m year-on-year.
During 2015 Haughton Honey packed and sold over 8,000kg of English honey and anticipates requiring more than double that amount during 2016.
The company, based at Radmore Farm, Haughton, near Tarporley, bottles raw honey which comes straight from the hive, is cold extracted and never pasteurised which means that it retains all of the natural enzymes and proteins that make English honey so special. It is also 100% natural and pure and features traces of dandelion, chestnut, blackberry, clover and other wildflowers.
For more information about Haughton Honey visit www.haughtonhoney.com
Press release issued by Nottingham based PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk
