💾 Archived View for eir.mooo.com › nuacht › cor17070876004.gmi captured on 2024-02-05 at 09:41:58. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
EchoLive.ie, 5 Feb
KATE RYAN chats to Kevin Collins, from the fourth generation of the
family behind Molaga Honey, made in West Cork
Buzzing about sweet success of Cork honey company, run by fourth
generation
Kevin Collins, 4th generation with his children Míra and Daragh
producing Molaga honey in Timoleague in West Cork. Picture; Eddie
O'Hare
Kate Ryan
IF, behind every great man is a great woman, then the life of Kevin
Collins has been blessed indeed. A veritable sisterhood stretches all
the way back to his great grandmother, Catherine McCarthy Collins, an
enthusiastic beekeeper who established what would become Molaga Honey.
“There’s a strong thread in the Collins’ family history of farming
women,” says Kevin.
I’ve been surrounded by women my whole life who have driven the
business over the years, between my mother, my grandmother, my great
grandmother, my sisters, and, I hope, one of my daughters will one day
want to come into the business.
Kevin Collins, 4th generation producing Molaga honey in Timoleague in
West Cork. Picture; Eddie O'Hare Kevin Collins, 4th generation
producing Molaga honey in Timoleague in West Cork. Picture; Eddie
O'Hare
Molaga Honey are producers and bottlers of Irish honey, importers of EU
honey, and Ireland’s only commercial producer of comb honey. The farm
is located at Gurranes just outside the coastal West Cork town of
Timoleague. There has been a farm here in the Collins family since the
1770s: Nine generations raising cows, pigs, sheep, tillage and even
turkeys over the years – and now, honey.
In the 1860s, as a young child returning home from mass, Kevin’s great
grandmother, Catherine McCarthy Collins, spotted a swarm of bees and
asked her father to gather them up. So began a lifelong passion for
beekeeping and honey production.
Catherine had a talent with bees, selling her Collins Family Honey
locally. She passed on her talent to a son, Timothy, who passed it onto
his son, Jerry, Kevin’s father.
Imbued with an entrepreneurial streak and a greater interest in
engineering than farming, Jerry kept the bees while his wife was
regarded as the real farmer! It was a dynamic that worked and enabled
expansion of the business when Jerry saw a niche in the market for
importing quality honey from the EU to complement their wild West Cork
produced honey. Soon after, Collins Family Honey become Molaga Honey.
Kevin Collins with his children Míra and Daragh. Picture; Eddie O'Hare
Kevin Collins with his children Míra and Daragh. Picture; Eddie O'Hare
Timoleague has ancient connections with bees and honey. Coming from the
Irish, Tigh Molaige, or House of Molaga, Saint Molaga is believed to
have first brought bees to Ireland and established the famous
Franciscan friary that rises from the shores of the village, and Molaga
Honey made the most of this connection to honey folklore.
By focusing on honey, Jerry grew the business steadily, making in-roads
with national retailers. Kevin was always on hand but often busy
establishing a new dairying enterprise. With 240 head of cattle and 300
of their own hives, each producing around 50 pounds of liquid gold a
year from 100,000 bees per hive, Jerry and Kevin turned their farm into
a veritable land of milk and honey.
In addition to the honey farm in Timoleague, a network of apiarists
stretch from Kinsale to Ballydehob, supplying a golden hued honey
redolent of the Cork countryside.
When Jerry passed away in 2022, Kevin took over both dairy and honey
farms full time and has gained a nationwide listing with Tesco Ireland
for their EU sourced honey in all 166 stores. They are also listed with
Musgraves who carry their West Cork and EU honey jars and squeezy
bottles.
Kevin Collins, with Sharon Pamment, staff and Beth O'Regan, marketing
at Molaga honey in Timoleague in West Cork. Picture; Eddie O'Hare Kevin
Collins, with Sharon Pamment, staff and Beth O'Regan, marketing at
Molaga honey in Timoleague in West Cork. Picture; Eddie O'Hare
Molaga Honey is unique in that it is a single estate honey. This means
every single jar is traceable to the farm from where it came. There are
three honey lines: single estate EU honey sourced from farms in
Bulgaria, single estate West Cork honey from their own bees and their
carefully selected network of local apiaries, and a single estate
natural Irish honeycomb sold in sections.
Beth O’Regan is the Business Development Manager for Molaga Honey. She
joined in 2022, working closely with Kevin on their exciting expansion
plans.
“We are one brand, but these are two different products,” explains
Beth. “There is a significant difference in flavour. Some people love
the single estate EU honey, others prefer the single estate Irish honey
for its richer flavour. It hugely depends on someone’s taste buds.”
“My father saw a niche in the market for a good quality honey at a good
price,” says Kevin, “that’s why we started importing and meant we could
expand our business. We’re selling 15% Irish honey to 85% of the EU
honey.”
Although both are remarkably close in colour – a light, golden-hued
honey that suits the Irish palate - they are very different when it
comes to tasting. The West Cork honey has a complex taste, deeply
floral with a nutty and rich honey flavour bordering on nostalgic. The
EU honey is a clean shot of straightforward sweetness with a hint of
citrus. The West Cork honey is one to savour, while the EU honey would
be excellent in baking, sauce-making, marinades and general cooking.
Products of Molaga honey in Timoleague in West Cork . Picture; Eddie
O'Hare Products of Molaga honey in Timoleague in West Cork . Picture;
Eddie O'Hare
Beth confirms this is how many of their restaurant, hotel and bakery
customers use the honey.
“I focus on hotels,” says Beth, “and we are extremely delighted that
some of our local hotels now stock Molaga Honey.
They use the comb honey on their breakfast bar, the EU honey in their
baking and the Irish honey in ramekins for breakfast, porridge, scones,
etc.
“Kevin had successfully gained major contracts with two national
retailers and some local shops, so I was brought on board to grow and
scale the business, which are his hopes for the long term.”
First on Beth’s to-do list was a major rebranding project with a new
modern logo and website. Beth recognised the value of Molaga Honey’s
storied past and the long-standing commitment to single estate sourcing
for full traceability from hive to jar. It’s the kind of authenticity
that’s the stuff of dreams for a marketeer like Beth, and at a time
when honey fraud is an increasingly worrying problem on the
international stage, being able to stand over every jar of honey and
know exactly which farm it came from is vitally important for creating
trust and loyalty with customers.
“A lot of people will want to buy Molaga Honey because of the story
behind it,” says Beth. “It’s a fourth-generation brand, from the
Collins Family Honey to being rebranded in 1993 to Molaga Honey. People
buy things that have a good reputation and Molaga Honey has a great
reputation, locally and nationally. People buy from brands they trust -
we are that brand, renowned for its single estate honey with full
traceability.”
When it comes to flavour, that can’t be compromised.
"The attention to detail to ensure we have that premium flavour in our
honey is paramount for us, because first and foremost we are about
taste. Once you blend a honey it dilutes the flavour and no longer
tastes of honey - it might as well be a syrup. We produce premium
unblended honey. We’re not competing against a honey that’s less than
€2 a jar because it’s not the same product as ours.
Bee hives to produce Molaga honey in Timoleague in West Cork .
Picture; Eddie O'Hare Bee hives to produce Molaga honey in Timoleague
in West Cork . Picture; Eddie O'Hare
“We make a high-end honey in Ireland and replicate that by importing a
honey that’s on par with what we can produce ourselves here.”
As a farmer of both cows and bees, Kevin’s job is as much about land
management as it is about food production, and everything is done with
an eye to sustainability. The farm is signed up to a scheme to bolster
on-farm biodiversity with more clover in pasture and a no-grazing
boundary that flourishes during summer, providing additional forage for
bees.
“The bees feed on mainly clover and bramble,” says Kevin, slipping in
the dynamite fact there are 365 different varieties of blackberry in
Ireland – one for every day of the year!
There’s a little bit of whitethorn, sycamore, dandelion, and the effect
of the salt air.
The vision for the year ahead is not shy on ambition, as Beth explains.
“This year, there’s a real focus on growing and scaling the brand. We
have massive ambitions to go outside the Republic of Ireland and start
exporting first to Northern Ireland then into the EU.
Kevin Collins, of Molaga honey . Picture; Eddie O'Hare Kevin Collins,
of Molaga honey . Picture; Eddie O'Hare
“The Local Enterprise Office in Cork have been an amazing resource for
us with mentorship and consultancy to help us prepare, but when you
have a really good product, the prospect is much more exciting!
“Brexit is a complication, but we are hoping our existing relationship
with Tesco Ireland will act as a gateway to trading in Northern Ireland
via Tesco GB,” says Beth.
Beth and Kevin are close to sealing a deal with a third national
retailer which will push them even further toward their goal of being
Ireland’s most accessible and available honey producer.
Inside Molaga honey in Timoleague in West Cork . Picture; Eddie O'Hare
Inside Molaga honey in Timoleague in West Cork . Picture; Eddie O'Hare
“Our ambition is for Molaga Honey to be available everywhere, so we’d
be delighted if someone wanted to stock our honey,” says Beth.
Aside from Kevin and his farm manager, John Crowley, who takes care of
the dairy herd, the team is made up of hard-working women, keeping up
the businesses’ long-standing tradition. With Beth in Business
Development, Kay Oats handles administration and Sharon Pamment works
on production line and generally keeps the honey houses ship-shape.
There’s another Collins woman right beside Kevin, too. His sister Kay,
who married and moved away to a farm of her own, is one of the
apiarists supplying West Cork honey to Kevin, and is often found at the
farm assisting with the bees because, ironically, Kevin is allergic to
bee stings and has to carry an epi-pen with him constantly.
“I have to suit up very well,” he says. “My sister helps me out quite a
bit when I’m stuck!”
Blessed amongst women, indeed…
Molaga Honey starts at €4.49 per 350g jar, Single Estate EU Honey to
€8.99 per 350g jar, Single Estate Irish Honey. Squeeze Bottle, Comb
Honey and Commercial Buckets are also available. www.molagahoney.ie
Read More
I'm proud to be part of the story at Cork's English Market