It was 1959 when Leon Janson, a newlywed from Hawke's Bay drove home in his Vauxhall PA having just purchased his very first bees. Thousands of bees swarmed around the car as it potted along New Zealand's winding roads. Leon stacked ten hives on his trailer, two in the boot and two more in the back seat of the car; tense and squinting through the mesh of his bee suit the whole ride home.
Little did he know these were the humble beginnings of a family company spanning generations, a company that nearly seventy years later would be distributing the highest quality Manuka honey to consumers all over the world.
These days it is Leon's grandson Hamish that oversees our bee-keeping operations, continuing his family's tradition with passion, pride and respect. Now collecting far more than a few dozen jars of honey each year, the Janson's are committed to maintaining the integrity and purity of their bee's honey.