Our Story
Our family became involved in Bee Keeping in the late 1970's...
…when our dad Jack first started keeping hives. In 2004 we established a Manuka honey operation in the Bay of Islands and we now export manuka honey world- wide under our KARE brand. We are arguably a family of honey nerds.
Another passion is animals and in particular horses. We have used Manuka honey on horse wounds for many years and have given high activity manuka honey to friends and family for healing their own wounds and those of their furry best friends.
While everyone loved how effective the Manuka honey is, the general consensus was it’s messy to work with, particularly when applying to fidgety pets and injured animals. Discussions with vets and other practitioners lead us to trialing various different formats and formulas. The stand-out format was a syringe. While a number of the formulas showed good promise, in the end we found that 100% Manuka honey was most effective with wound healing and minimising scarring.
Billy Mulcare
Managing Designer
Billy has qualifications in international marketing and a background in business advice, finance and trade. She is our marketing director and directs our honey products innovation. She has been working for a number of years with product development advisers before commercialising our new equine range.
Jenny McEntee
Operations Manager
Jenny has a background in banking and farming and her family are involved in beekeeping. Jenny manages our day to day operations and oversees our domestic market and Australia operations.
Tim Askew
Director Logistics and Supply
From a background of managing dairy farms, Tim knows all about producing a quality product to strict quality standards and hygiene. When he is not working in the honey operation, Tim runs our farm with the help of his 3 working dogs and one of his horses. He loves the land and has a sound knowledge of the farming sector. Tim manages our transport and logistics division.
Heather Gray
Production Manager
Heather has been with Kāre for seven years. Heather is experienced in food processing and food production and is trained in quality auditing and systems. Heather runs our honey processing facility and is in charge of product safety, HACCP and quality control.