About Honig-Schmidt
Interview with Michael and Stefan, Honig-Schmidt GmbH
Question: You both recently took over the business of Honig-Schmidt GmbH. What was the decisive decision for this step?
Stefan:
"Honig-Schmidt is a family business, which we are now continuing in the fourth generation. The company was founded in 1948 and I am glad that it continues to exist as a family business. Michael helped with the filling of the honey as a little boy and later delivered the honey personally in the surroundings. There was no internet or internet shipping."
Question:
What is special about Honig-Schmidt?
MIchael:
"Honey is a natural product and we are proud that, as with Honig-Schmidt, pure honeys can offer the highest quality. We still process the honey in our honey factory by hand and with a lot of passion and love. Stefan and I pay particular attention to the careful processing and filling of our honeys. And even today, we turn each lid on the glass by hand or manually apply the labels. Honig-Schmidt has been around for over 80 years and we are committed to this tradition."
Question:
Nevertheless, the appearance has recently changed. Why?
Michael:
"That's true. We wanted to create a consistent appearance and a brand that has a high recognition value for our customers. Despite the modernization of the show, it is important to us to put the tradition of the company in the foreground the regional connection and the high quality of our bee products. These are the things that make up Honig-Schmidt and which our customers have appreciated for decades. This has not changed and will not change. The personal work in our honey factory, the manual processing of honey, and other bee products such as propolis, pollen or royal jelly, up to the dispatch of the products to the customer are, in my view, the guarantee of comprehensive quality control, a product of the highest quality and the best service we can offer our customers."
Question:
What is important to you about honey?
Stefan:
"As already mentioned, honey is a natural product and it is important to us that we offer pure honeys of high quality. We work together with local beekeepers, some of whom are already in business with us in the third generation and who care as much about the welfare of bees, the environment and, above all, the quality of honey as we do. I am originally from Rheinhessen, the largest wine region in Germany. Honey is no different from wine. There are different varieties and even within the varieties not every vintage tastes the same, depending on the season, the climatic conditions or the variety itself. But that's exactly what makes it so exciting to always be able to offer our customers a high-quality honey."
Question:
What makes a good honey for you?
Stefan:
"First of all, as for our customers, the taste, the consistency and the color of the honey. But there is more to it than that. We work with local beekeepers who do not harvest huge amounts of honey, but place more emphasis on the quality of honey. The honey is gently harvested to preserve the valuable ingredients. Also in the processing and bottling in our honey factory, we make sure that we do not heat the honey, but only heat it in order to obtain all the valuable ingredients. And this knowledge and respect for the work of bees and honey itself makes for me a good honey. In any case, an industrial honey from the supermarket would not come to me on breakfast bread."
Question:
What else is important to you?
Michael:
"We live by and with the bees. Bee protection also means effective environmental protection. For example, when selecting our beekeepers, we are not only concerned with a gentle handling of the bees themselves, but also with an intact environment and biodiversity on site.
But it is not only honeybees that are important to us. A wild bee pollinates up to 10x more flowers than a honeybee. However, wild bees in particular are at risk as never before due to intensive agriculture, the use of pesticides and monocultures. We therefore advocate every year for environmental protection projects, so that natural habitats are preserved and new ones are created, such as .B natural wildflower meadows or planting native trees whose flowers are nectar-rich and provide the bees with sufficient food.
On our blog there are also many tips on what each individual can do for active bee protection."
