Australia’s dominant honey brand - Capilano, now has even less competition after its merchant bank owners bought Byron Bay Honey.
No details of the sale have been released, but the company address printed on Byron honey jars has recently changed – it is now the same as Capilano’s at 399 Archerfield Rd Richlands in Brisbane
Capilano is the main business of the merchant-banker owned, Hive and Wellness. And as a private company Hive and Wellness does not have to reveal any information about the sale.
But various public sources suggest that the sale took place quite recently.
For example, Susanne Rose (formerly known as Susanne Tietze) has updated her Linked In profile to show that her role as “Byron Bay Honey founder and CEO” at the company ended in June 2025.
She appears to now be setting up a completely new, wellness-oriented business venture and perhaps, felt it was a good time to sell out.
With the dreaded varroa mite having now spread to Byron Bay and surrounding areas in northern NSW, bee-keeping there has become much more costly and difficult.
(Hives need more frequent attention, and regular treatment with miticides to keep on top of varroa.)
For Capilano, the takeover gives it another supermarket brand, as Byron Bay honey is stocked by both the dominant Australian supermarket chains, Coles and Woolworths.
Bryon Bay honey is also on the shelves of independent supermarket operators, such as IGA.
In that sense Byron Bay honey’s marketing approach, focussed on the major supermarkets, is a good fit with Capilano’s corporate owners - Hive and Wellness.
Back in 2019, Horst Tietze, Byron Honey managing director, told the local Byron paper – the Echo – that the company had secured vendor contracts to more than 500 supermarkets.
‘What started as a cottage industry on a local back porch has turned into the largest regional honey distribution company’.
‘Initially we supplied only health food stores, green grocers and smaller supermarkets. Through sheer grit and determination, we acquired much coveted vendor contracts supplying five DCs (i.e. distribution centres) for more than 500 Woolworths and IGA supermarkets since 2005.’
In typical Byron fashion, Tietze told the Echo that the company was organizing a dance party to celebrate.
https://www.echo.net.au/2019/10/swarm-intelligence-byron-honey/
(Accessed 5 August 2025)