Pittsburgh Honey sweetens the deal for its customers
Carol Williams combats allergy symptoms with local honey from Pittsburgh Honey in Squirrel Hill. When COVID19 pushed the business to pivot to an all-delivery model, the option comforted the 82-year-old. Having honey dropped off on the doorstep of her Essex House apartment in Squirrel Hill does more than maintain her health: It brings back memories that help sustain her through the isolation of the pandemic.
She remembers grocers — Stevenson’s on Highland Avenue and Ehrenreich’s on Walnut Street — that used to deliver orders routinely, and milkmen who dropped off milk and butter on her family’s porches. Later in life, while living in Turkey — “A friend thought I would love it, so I ended up living there for 15 or 20 years,” she quips — she gained an appreciation for local honey, for both taste and allergy relief.
She moved back to Squirrel Hill and became a Pittsburgh Honey customer when the 300-square-foot shop opened on Murray Avenue in 2017. After asking when her allergies peak and where she lives, they matched her with hyperlocal honey, harvested from a Shadyside hive to amplify its allergy-fighting benefits. She was hooked. Many others are, too.
When Pittsburgh Honey closed its walk-in business in March 2020, the phone rang off the hook. “You never know how many customers you have until they start calling you every day,” co-owner Adam Revson said. Those same customers encouraged an evolution of the specialty market.
Mr. Revson and his wife, Alyssa Fine, started delivering their honey and beeswax products, including Ms. Fine’s beeswax-based beauty line Abeille Beauté, for free. They filled daylight hours with beekeeping at their main apiary in Monongahela and preparing orders, then spent evenings delivering them over three or four counties, which made them experts on the roadways of southwestern Pennsylvania. “It’s kind of strange just leaving something on someone’s porch, sending a text and running away,” said Mr. Revson. ”It’s like Halloween, sort of.”
About two weeks into the lockdown, their regular customers tiptoed into some bigger asks, such as, “If you pass a grocery store, do you think … you could grab me … a gallon of milk?”
Requests poured in for more staples such as bread and peanut butter. The duo obliged, “understanding how difficult it was for them to psychologically or physically leave the house,” Mr. Revson said. When the requests got more specific — for dill pickles, Mineo’s Pizza and Mancini’s bread — the couple saw an opportunity to adapt their business to meet community needs.
Pittsburgh Honey’s neighboring storefront had been empty for months. Its longtime inhabitant, Howard Reisner — a pillar of the community and owner of Chair Restorations by Aleph — was one of Pittsburgh’s earliest COVID-19 victims. Renting the space gave the couple a place to open their own tiny grocery.
They filled it with “the best” of each staple, supporting local producers. The idea inspired a twice-a-month road trip. They load their personal pickup truck with maple syrup from Brantview Farms in Shanksville, Gibble’s potato chips from Chambersburg, Zimmerman’s peanut butter and Middleswarth BBQ chips from Harrisburg, and 100plus half gallons of Penn State Berkey Creamery (“The Creamery” to locals) ice cream.
The support is appreciated by these small businesses suffering due to the pandemic. For instance, Brantview Farms was unable to offer tours or sell at fairs, so the family who owns it said it was grateful to Pittsburgh Honey for helping to grow their customer base. “Having them reach out and put our product in their store is a great feeling for a small business like us,” office manager AmyBrant said.
Supporting small generational businesses is second nature to Mr. Revson and Ms. Finebecause they are one.
Pittsburgh Honey is a spinoff of the decades-old Fine Family Apiary in Monongahela, which is owned by Ms. Fine’s father, Al, and provides most of the honey and beeswax the couple sell. They also run the Pittsburgh Honey Cooperative, which is a regional group of beekeeping hobbyists that also supplies honey to the store.
That wide range of honeys attracted Karen Bellisario, 63, of Brentwood, who also uses them to relieve her year-round allergies. She prefers lighter honeys while her husband prefers darker ones. She calls the delivery service “priceless” and still prefers it, even though Pittsburgh Honey opened both of its storefronts to walk-in customers in November. They do miss the in-store banter with Mr. Revson, which can go on for more than an hour. “That’s Pittsburgh,” she says.
Because of customers such as the Bellisarios, Pittsburgh Honey’s delivery business is bustling, and they plan to keep at it. Mr. Revson sees it as “one good thing” to have come from the past year. “I think personal service and deliveries are important,” he said. “I think it gives people a sense of comfort.”
Ms. Williams agrees. When her phone dings with a text from Mr. Revson to signal that her favorite honey and peanut butter were delivered, it “means a lot,” and she’s happy to see the practice of home delivery come full circle.
“Pittsburgh Honey was smart enough to grow and provide these needs as the world is changing,” she said. “It helps them, and it’s wonderful that they’re bright and industrious enough to do that.”