Graham Watts
Honibe

Graham Watts is the marketing co-ordinator for Honibe, a line of 100% natural honey products from Prince Edward Island. Honibe produces the ancient sweetner – honey – with a twist. They’ve developed and patented an innovative process that removes the water content, resulting in dried pure honey in the form of drops, sprinkles, or tempered with a touch of menthol or eucalyptus as medicinal lozenges.

Graham and the Honibe team knew the process was unique and set out to create a Honibe brand that would represent the whole concept of dehydrated honey rather than one product. Early in the summer of 2010, while Honibe was in the start-up phase, the Honibe team contacted EF PEI to get advice, ideas and concepts about getting the products to the market place .

He says, “There were many great minds at the table, and they provided insights and avenues to the branding, but even moreso they zeroed in on our long-term strategy and pointed us in the direction of a huge market. In the UK 150 million cups of tea are consumed every day, creating awareness of Honibe -  Honey Drops or Honey Sprinkles - in that market would mean huge growth potential.”

Looking to international markets led to participation in the world’s largest food tradeshow - SIAL d’Or in Paris - in the fall of 2010. Honibe was well-received. The Honey Drop was awarded the Global SIAL d'Or gold medal – the grand prize for the most innovative new product in the market. The Honey Drop was also named as best new product 2010 in the "Sweet - Grocery" category and was the winner of the "Country Award-Canada" as the highest scoring Canadian product for 2010.

Graham says, “We’ve seen a big increase in demand since then.”

Though still in early days Honibe is expanding rapidly. Graham is enthusiastic about EF’s role, saying “When you’re on your own, it’s extremely difficult to see the big picture and bring together different aspects of business development and knowledge. EF is a service that an entrepreneur can bring ideas to, and they’ll bring the expertise to the table that will help you.”