Moss Nook Honey and Simon the Beekeeper
Harry Simpson
Harry has just completed his final year of exams at University of Leeds where he has been studying Economics as a BSc. After having a fascination of bees for many years, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck Harry began experimenting with bees, so that he was able to produce more colonies. This enabled him to increase the number of honey producing colonies, which led to larger honey harvests.
After realising the demand for honey, Harry began selling the honey to locals, this spread on to supplying Michelin started restaurants with honey for their seasonal menus. After selling enough honey Harry was then able to purchase more beehives and equipment, realising the price of a beehive was highly priced, acting as a barrier to entry for other beekeepers. As bees are a positive externality, Harry believes that everyone should have the opportunity to become a beekeeper at a reasonable price. Hence, he began buying flat packed beehives and assembling them. Harry then began selling the hives on eBay at a fraction of the price than the main beekeeping firms.
“With the help of the University of Leeds, I was able to obtain funding so that we could have our very own Moss Nook Honey website, enabling me to make higher profits, due to lower sale fees.”
Harry Simpson
Moss Nook Honey and Simon the Beekeeper
After selling beehives, Harry then realised there was a demand for colonies of bees, so he began selling starter kits so that people could get all the equipment needed for beekeeping. This service is not offered anywhere else in the UK. Spark also gave him an office space so that he was able to meet other like minded people and ask more advice.
“In our third year of trading, Moss Nook Honey was able to surpass a six figure turnover, the business has continued to grow. Earlier this year I had the opportunity to be able to acquire a large competitor called Simon The Beekeeper.”
On the 1st April 2023, Harry officially acquired Simon The Beekeeper and relaunched the business. Simon The Beekeeper is one of the largest beekeeping suppliers in the whole of the UK, ranking as one of the best known brands in the industry. In his first month of taking over Simon The Beekeeper he had a six figure turnover, with over 1,000 orders in one month, coincidingly, Moss Nook Honey doubled its previous years turnover in the month of April and has continued this rapid growth month on month this year. After having multiple requests from other customers located in other countries for their beekeeping products such as our Buzz Work Wear suits, they have now began exporting. This will allow Harry to further grow the Moss Nook Honey and Simon The Beekeeper.
With the acquisition of Simon The Beekeeper, Harry found himself very short staffed. He therefore needed to hire a member of staff and move into a warehouse as fast as possible. This was a step that required a large injection of cash into the business. Spark were able to offer advice on how to do this as well as offering funding to go towards the move. This was great relief and has allowed Harry to be able to move into a warehouse and hire a member of staff.
“Now in June 2023, we have 3 members of staff two of which are working full time alongside myself. We are now well on track to meet our seven figure 2023 annual turnover target. Without the help of Spark and the University of Leeds, I would not have achieved this success in such a short time frame. I really appreciate all the help and advice I have had, which has allowed me to grow the business to what it is today. This year has been incredibly challenging with completing my final exams as well as acquiring and running multiple businesses, but I hope that our growth continues in the future.”
