A socially and environmentally responsible honey brand, targeted at young shoppers, is to make its retail debut.
Mama Honey is the brainchild of hedge fund manager-turned-philanthropist Martin Zuch, working in partnership with Stonehouse Foods.
Zuch founded his business Mama Buci Honey in 2010, after “recognising the need for pure, ethically produced honey”. His friend John Enright, who was carrying out missionary work in Zambia at the time, had developed a “specially designed treetop bar hive”.
“We discovered that the bees were much happier to be high up in the tree… So we built these treetop bar hives, which you hoisted high up about three to four metres high in the tree, and then twice a year we would harvest from them.”
According to Zuch, the beehives quickly began to flourish, producing over 12kg of honey on average per hive, in a structure that, if maintained properly, could last a lifetime.
“That’s when we knew we had found something with the potential to really make a difference,” he said.
Supporting communities
Today, Mama Buci builds over 150 beehives a day, five days a week, in its Zambian workshop. The beehives are made from offcuts of wood from the Forestry Commission that would otherwise be thrown away or burned.
Mama Buci gives families in rural Zambian communities 10 beehives each for free through a co-operative, also offering them protective gear and training.
It harvests honey twice a year from those hives and pays the families “above market rate in cash, based on the weight of honey collected, on the day of harvest”, according to Zuch.
Mama Buci’s legacy brand is currently listed in Holland & Barrett. However, after receiving investment from Stonehouse Foods in 2024, it has developed a new brand, called Mama Honey, which is set to launch into UK supermarkets this summer.
Disrupting the market
Mama Honey will debut with Summer Harvest, Winter Harvest (both rsp: £5.49/340g) and Hot Honey (rsp: £5.49/340g).
Stonehouse Foods director William Walter enlisted the help of branding agency WhoWhatWhy to develop Mama Honey, which – through its work with Pip & Nut and Moju – demonstrated “a pedigree of disrupting markets which appeal to younger consumers looking for ingredient-first, transparent, pure brands”, he said.
“Kantar data shows 55% of honey buyers are over 55 and only 10% of buyers are under 35, meaning there’s this enormous opportunity for an ingredient-first brand to get this younger market going,” said Walter.
“It’s the older consumer who’s buying the cheaper, squeezy stuff. The younger consumer wants a transparent ingredient with provenance.”
Stonehouse Foods will support the launch with retailer-specific media spend, alongside “six-figure activations from mid-2025”, said Walter.
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