Startups @ HSWT | Part 22: Honigguad
In this interview series, HSWT presents startups that are part of the Food Startup Incubator Weihenstephan (FSIWS). The series introduces the companies and their product ideas, how they work and how they overcome challenges.
In part 22, Andrea reports on her Freising-based startup 'Honigguad'. The founders receive support from the Food Startup Incubator Weihenstephan.
Your product idea explained in a few sentences:
Honey is healthy, contains antioxidants and bioactive substances. However, the taste variety of honey is limited to the particular trade, tastes for many simply "sweet" and therefore usually relatively the same. We want to change that. We bring fruit and spices together with honey to create new flavor combinations. The honey comes, of course, from our own bee colonies.
What makes your product unique?
Honey guad is unique because of our own honey. It is harvested with respect for the bees, in harmony with nature.
How did you come up with this idea?
I did not always want to eat the same honey. Of course, every honey harvest tastes different. But since I do not count myself among the "honey purists" and love honey, I wanted to do something different based on honey.
What aspects of the product, packaging and distribution are particularly important to you with regard to a possible market launch?
Honey is a pure natural product. We depend on nature in all its facets, we treat our bees with respect. Because bees get along in nature without humans, but humans need the bees. 75% of global food crops need help from bees for pollination.
What difficulties did you have to overcome in the product development process?
The consistency of the honey in conjunction with the other ingredients made me despair every now and then. The spreads should be spreadable and above all remain so.
How did you motivate yourselves when things weren't going so well?
Then we looked back and saw what we had already achieved. And realized that it's worth it just not to give up.
Working together as a team certainly wasn't always easy, was it? How did you structure it so that it worked well?
We have a clear division. Honey guad' with everything that goes with it (marketing, recipe, etc.) I do alone. Everything that has to do with beekeeping (honey harvest, bee care, etc.) is done by Christine, my wife.
What was the most triumphant or emotional moment for you so far?
When our 'honey guad' jars first appeared on the shelves of a farm store.
Do you exchange ideas with other startups or network with them? How?
The monthly get-togethers of the FSIWS via Zoom have already helped me through emotional startup lows every now and then, because I then had the feeling that I was not alone. The FSIWS summer party was also interesting to exchange ideas with other startups.
What tips can you give to other startup founders in the food industry or elsewhere?
Just do it! Many experiences await you that you would probably not gain in your traditional environment.
What are your plans for the future of your startup?
The 2021 honey harvest was not optimal, so that we would not have had enough honey for sale at the end. We wanted to avoid this supply bottleneck from the outset, so that we now want to be represented in more sales outlets with the new harvest of 2022.
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Info: Food Startup Incubator of the HSWT
At the beginning of June 2019, HSWT launched the Weihenstephan Food Startup Incubator (FSIWS). This enables students and employees of the HSWT and the institutions associated with the Weihenstephan campus to bring their business ideas in the food sector to market maturity. Through the FSIWS, external founders can recruit competent students from all areas of the food value chain as partners or employees, for example in the context of final theses or with the students as co-founders.
Link to the startup of the previous month:
Startups @ HSWT | Part 21: www.hswt.de/presse/news/article/startups-hswt-teil-21-die-frischemanufaktur.html
