BC Honey Producer wins Leadership Award
Jeff Lee, a BC beekeeper and co-owner of Honey Bee Zen Apiaries Ltd. and Swan Valley Honey located in Creston, BC was awarded the Leadership Award at the 2024 BC Food & Beverage Rise Awards. The event was held Thursday, November 28th at the Anvil Centre in New Westminster, BC.
Lee is a former career journalist who co-owns the largest producer of honey in the Kootenays with his wife Amanda Goodman Lee. He was singled out for his tireless work and invaluable contributions to the BC honey and food industries, and for helping five Ukrainian families move to safety in Canada as a result of the war within their country.
Lee was nominated for the BC Food & Beverage (BCFB) Leadership award earlier in the fall along with Marc Wandler, co-founder and CEO of Susgrainable and Laura Cuner DuBois, founder of Avafina Organics. The Rise Awards celebrate the best in the province’s food and beverage industry. In addition to the Leadership Award, the BCFB awarded top honours to producers in categories of Best in Brand, Circularity, Emerging Business, Export, Indigenous Led Business, Social Impact, Innovation, Sustainability and others.
Supports BC & Canadian honey industry
Lee was nominated not only for his support for resettling Ukrainian workers, almost all of whom work in the honey or grocery business. He also has devoted many years of support and service within the BC’s honey industry. He is a long-time executive member of the BC Honey Producers Association and BC director of the Canadian Honey Council. In addition he is chairman of Fields Forward, a Creston-based society that runs the Kootenay Farms Food Hub Innovation Centre. That group assists farmers and food producers in southeast BC to get value-added products to market.
“I am both honoured and humbled by this recognition,” Lee said at the awards event. “BC is a Canadian hotbed for entrepreneurial food producers and processors, and the BC Food & Beverage Rise Awards help showcase that talent.” He added, “I believe firmly in helping others within our food sector and as an immigrant myself to Canada, helping settle the Ukrainian families into the Creston Valley was the right thing to do. Canada has been very generous to us, and I wanted the families to also experience my country’s generosity.”
The Lee’s company is active in supporting BC’s honey industry and elevating honey as a food source. It leads the way in developing innovative high quality products. Earlier this year Honey Bee Zen won top North American honours for its Creamed Honey, single flower Fireweed Honey and Cranberry-Orange Infused Honey at two prestigious shows in the United States. Here’s more information on the honey awards they won.
Working with celebrity chefs on honey recipes
The Lees recently formed a relationship with chef Bruno Feldeisen, a judge on The Great Canadian Baking Show, to use Honey Bee Zen products in recipes featured in his new book “The Bacon, Butter, Bourbon and Chocolate Cookbook”.
It follows a relationship with another celebrity chef, Ned Bell who created several honey-based recipes for Honey Bee Zen. The Lees’ company is also a partner in the provincially-run BuyBC program.
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ABOUT HONEY BEE ZEN APIARIES LTD. and SWAN VALLEY HONEY LTD.
Honey Bee Zen Apiaries Ltd. and Swan Valley Honey Ltd. are the largest producers of local, raw honey in southeastern British Columbia. As beekeepers our mission is to ethically produce and source 100% pure, natural and innovative honey bee products from British Columbia and western Canada, and provide pollination and educational services to foster hive health and a thriving industry.
Our vision is to provide award-winning honey products and services while elevating the understanding and appreciation of the essential role of honey bees and beekeepers in agriculture, environmental biodiversity and local food security.
