Honey: Sweet success
Horizons
Miels d’Anicet
Anicet Desrochers created Miels d’Anicet—a company that raises queen bees, produces wild honey and builds beehives—in the Laurentians in 2001. Today Desrochers and his life partner manage 1,500 beehives, a honey production facility, a learning centre, a seasonal restaurant and a boutique offering fine gourmet products, honey-based drinks and cosmetics made from beeswax.
Alvéole
Étienne Lapierre and his partners, Alexandre McLean and Declan Rankin Jardin, had an ambitious project: installing beehives on urban rooftops in order to make beekeeping more sustainable for both the environment and for the bees. Their business was not only highly successful, but also enabled them to reintroduce citizens to the environment while harvesting the fruits of their worker bees’ labour.
Intermiel
The Intermiel apiary has offered its honey, apple and maple products since 1976. Under the leadership of Éléonore Macle, daughter of the founders, the company today also offers many on-site agritourism activities.
Nectar
Nectar offers a tool to help beekeepers practise their art by allowing them to access what goes on inside of a beehive. The sensors and algorithms developed by Marc-André Roberge and his team enable unprecedented access to the interiors of the hives, opening up a kind of dialogue between bees and humans.
Aliments Sibon
This food manufacturer acquired by four friends, two couples who are also entrepreneurs, offers close to 200 products ranging from honey to pasta sauces to maple water.
