Huka Honey Hive celebrates 30 years

Owners of Huka Honey Hive in Taupō, Jo and Mark Saville. Photo / Dan Hutchinson

It’s been 30 years since the Huka Honey Hive moved in to the old Country Music Hall of Fame at Wairakei.

Hundreds of people used to pile into the venue for music, meetings and big town events, before the Great Lake Centre was built.

The hum is still there, it just sounds a lot different these days.

Owners Jo and Mark Saville have been celebrating the occasion all month, while enjoying an unseasonal influx of international tourists, a component of their business that has been missing in recent years.

Jo said the venue had a great history, as the place to come for concerts, speakers, and other presentations.

“It had a lovely big stage at the back with big velvet curtains and it would seat about 400 people, so before the Great Lake Centre existed it was kind of the place to hold those bigger events.”

She posted an old photo of the hall recently on social media and had a lot of response.

“People who had been married out here, concerts out here. They used to ride out here because it was a stables at one stage as well.

“I guess our connection to it was that Sir Edmund Hillary came out and did a speech. Obviously he was more famous for conquering Everest but he was a beekeeper.”

In May 1993 the venue became the Huka Honey Hive, “which I reckon is something to celebrate”, Jo said.

The couple has owned the business for five years, but it had been operating for almost 50 years, previously known as The Honey Village, on Poihipi Rd, founded and run by Dawn and Rob Jansen. They ran it for about 10-15 years, before Rob’s death.

Rob was one of the early pioneers of beekeeping in Taupō. Before he died, he purchased the lease on the old Country Music Hall of Fame, which had closed by that stage.

In 1993, Dawn found a new business partner in Blair Mathieson and together they ran the business for another 25 years as the Huka Honey Hive, before the Savilles took over.

The original concept of the business was around education and the benefit of bees, the products they produce and how they operate, Mark said.

“They are quite mystical. There is a lot to learn about bees. It is a big subject ... We have definitely focused on continuing with the education part and over time the number of products available that are related to bees has increased.”

Jo has fond memories of the original Honey Village from her childhood days.

“We used to come down to Taupō for our summer holidays and my father always felt that the kids should always do something fun, but educational, so he always brought us to ‘that honey place’ he called it, to do a honey tasting, on Poihipi Rd.”

There was an old VW car called the Bee-W, painted with black and yellow stripes, that used to be up where the bicycle is now, near the corner of Poihipi Rd and Wairakei Drive.

That car is long gone but it had been replicated, with a black and yellow striped VW on Wairakei Drive, near the turnoff to the present-day premises.

Jo is a qualified beekeeper and looks after a few of their own hives, but the honey and honey-related products they sell come from a group of small beekeepers, mostly from around the North Island, that they know well.

“Some are third generation beekeepers and we know that they are passionate about the welfare of their bees, so by supporting them we can help the bee population of New Zealand which is always under threat.

“Bees are generally very gentle. They are amazing creatures and the more I learn about it the more fascinated I become. We want everyone who comes into the store to leave having learned something. Excuse the pun, but to leave having had a buzz.”

Mark said they were steadily recovering from the difficulties brought about by Covid-19 but it was still difficult trying to gauge visitor trends and having the confidence to project that into planning for next year.

“We are definitely getting a resurgence pattern but it is very difficult to build a trend line and say what will happen at this time next year.”

They were hoping to re-introduce their Honey Shack beekeeping tours, which allowed people to don a suit and accompany a beekeeper out to the hives.

A storage shed at the back of Huka Honey Hive in Taupō. Photo / Dan Hutchinson

International tourists were the key to that venture because they usually booked their activities in advance, allowing them to plan when the beekeeper would be on site, whereas Kiwis were more likely to book when they were there.

They had been able to retain all of their staff over the Covid-19 period and continued to trade outside of the strict lockdown periods. Many of their staff had been with the business for a long time and were knowledgeable about the products, which was a key part of their success to date.

Another key to the success was that people could try any of their products before they buy.

“It’s one of the only places where you can taste everything. People will not often venture to buy something they have not tasted before.”

They don’t keep a huge number of bees on the property to ensure people don’t get too much of a good thing.

“We have to be a bit cautious about having a few but just being careful not to make this place a swarm of bees.

“In the five years we have owned the business, we have had a couple of people have a bee sting, out in the carpark, but it is very rare. I’ve never been stung,” Mark said.

There were some upgrades planned inside the showroom, including a prominent display in the store that would give more space for people to be able to get around the tasting table on both sides.