Did you know that when you eat honey, you’re dining on stolen food?
Honey is the primary menu item for bees, explains Venessa Stonehouse.
“So we give them sugar water, and we’re declining their population by doing that,” she said.
But her alternative product, Bee Mindful Hunnie, offers a similar experience to traditional honey using discarded apples as its base, instead of bee food.
That innovation has earned Stonehouse’s North Vancouver company Mindful FÜD a $100,000 prize from Canada Post.
Mindful FÜD is one of five recently announced winners in the national postal service’s Tales of Triumph contest, which celebrates small business stories.
Mindful FÜD won the Going Green category of the competition, and the six-figure prize includes shipping credits, promotion across Canada Post digital channels, as well as national and regional marketing campaigns.
Former food prep business burnt down in 2021 arson
Stonehouse’s current success started with tragedy.
In March 2021, her bustling vegan food prep business at 1144 Lonsdale Ave. burnt to the ground when the adjacent Masonic Lodge was set ablaze by a serial arsonist.
“It was devastating to lose my business,” Stonehouse said. “I had that for eight years there, and it all burnt to the ground in front of my eyes that day.”
Mourning her loss, she travelled to Salmon Arm to visit a friend. She liked it so much she decided to stay a while.
During that time, she noticed a neighbour had an apple orchard that was being totally ignored. It turned out the owner had bought the property but had no use for the apples.
Hating food waste, Stonehouse started collecting the apples.
Then one day, sitting amid a field of grazing donkeys, the thought struck her like a piece of Newtonian fruit: from the apples, she would make honey.
Like a phoenix from the ashes, her food product business was born.
With no prior experience in the sector, Stonehouse came flying out of the gates, with her first samples ready that June – just three months after the tragic fire.
People liked the product, asking her if the bees used to make it were pollinating apples. They didn’t realize that bees weren’t involved at all.
The recipe was simple, too. Apples, apple cider vinegar and cane sugar, cooked with proprietary precision.
The real challenge for Stonehouse was finding a reliable partner to package her product. She went through nine co-packers in three years, before finally settling on one in Aug. 2023.
Now Bee Mindful Hunnie – which also comes in a spicier Hot version – is in 250 stores across Canada, including Thriftys on Marine Drive, Queensdale Market, and Loblaws Park Royal on the North Shore.
It's also in several Lower Mainland eateries such as Switch Café in North Van, and Virtuous Pie in Vancouver.
In most cases consuming bee honey is just a waste, Stonehouse says
Stonehouse said the $100,000 prize is really beneficial for her company.
Compared to the dozens of grants she’s applied for, which require a fee, all she had to do is tell her story.
“There was 3,500 applicants, so to be chosen in the Top 5 was pretty neat,” Stonehouse said.
The contest itself has also shone a light on her Hunnie brand.
“Ever since the Canada Post thing came out, I feel like so many other things are falling into place,” she said.
While her Hunnie product is technically vegan, she emphasizes that it’s not just for people who don’t eat animal products.
“I suggest all the time: put it over your chicken wings, coat your salmon filet on a pork roast or whatever you want to do,” she said. “It’s not a vegan thing.… Maple syrup is vegan, and no one says ‘vegan maple syrup.’”
Another aspect to her brand is education. When Stonehouse does product demos, most people don’t know that honey is the primary food source for bees.
They’re also unaware that unless you eat honey raw, you lose most of the nutritional value.
“If you’re going to eat bee honey raw, then you’re getting nutritional benefits. I can’t compare that with my products,” she said.
“But for every other way to use it – if you heat bee honey to any extent, it’s lost all nutritional benefits, or if it touches a metal spoon, it becomes toxic,” Stonehouse said.
That’s why you always see the wooden dipper used with honey, she explained.
“Eat it raw if you want it for those nutritional benefits, or for allergies or things like that,” she said. “But for everything else, there’s no reason not to use an alternative, because we’re wasting this precious food for nothing.”
