Jim McMillan
Helicopter pilot and honey man
Doing things the right way and being true to himself, to others and to bees underpins Jim McMillan’s business model. His goal is for The True Honey Co., of which he is founder, to be the most trusted and true honey company in the world.
The helicopter pilot became inspired after flying over hills blanketed with Manuka flowers in New Zealand’s back country. He initially became involved in the industry contract flying for other bee companies. But he realised as he flew the length and breadth of the country that there was a lot of pristine Manuka resource that wasn’t being utilised, and an opportunity to assist landowners to start generating some income. It gave him the idea to harvest, bottle and sell Manuka honey that’s truly good for you, while looking after everybody and every bee in the process.
“Looking after our landowner partners is fundamental to the way we do things,” says McMillan, who has built solid partnerships with farmers, local iwi and the New Zealand Department of Conservation, built on transparent and ethical practices, and mutual benefit. “What we share is a deep respect and desire to protect our land by looking after the ecosystems we rely on. Together we are dedicated to ethically producing the highest quality Manuka honey for consumers around the world and building a long-term sustainable industry.
McMillan and his team are doing this by helping farmers and iwi regenerate unproductive farmland with unique native bush, which enhances the environment while ensuring the land is left in a better state for future generations. Even the box that the honey is delivered in is made from sustainable forest cardboard, and its design has dispensed with the need to use bubble wrap.
“We feel very passionately about the industry and the product itself and we really wanted to make a real difference to the industry in regards to being able to provide consumers with absolute confidence around the authenticity of the product they were purchasing. That’s really what we’ve built the brand around,” McMillan says.
The True Honey Co. independently tests and rates its honey so that it can guarantee the level of the methylglyoxal (MGO) to ensure it is of the quality it says on the jar. TRUEVIEW technology is used to monitor the hives whereby Bluetooth technology sends out daily messages via satellite with minimum disruption. And it keeps the number of hives to beekeeper to minimum levels.
Another driver for McMillan is giving back to the community, which is why the company has partnered with the Garden to Table Trust; they are able to talk directly to kids about bee welfare. “We believe we can have the greatest impact on bee conservation through education,” McMillan says. “Bees play a very beneficial part in our lives and in the world so we genuinely want to provide them with care… like us, if they’re strong and healthy and well fed they tend to perform a lot better.”
It also means he can stand behind every last drop of honey, and sleep easy at night.