Large Kaikōura honey and mead factory burns down

A large Kaikōura honey and mead factory has burned down, destroying a year’s worth of product.

Owner Paul Hislop said the Saturday morning fire was a terrible blow for the family business, which three generations have been involved with for almost 60 years.

No-one was in the Peketa factory, about 9km south of Kaikōura, at the time and the fire was spotted by a passerby, who contacted the fire brigade.

Fire and Emergency NZ shift manager Lyn Crosson said two fire engines and a tanker from Kaikōura attended at about 10.20am to find the shed well alight.

READ MORE:
* Family of nine lose everything in house fire
* Fire weather warning after busy weekend for Marlborough crews
* Suspicious spate of early-morning fires in Christchurch thought to be linked

They were onsite for about four hours but were unable to save the building.

The cause of the fire was not considered suspicious, she said.

Hislop said the large shed held a truck, workshop, packing room, laboratory for the mead, storage areas and an extraction room for the honey.

“We’re in the middle of our processing for this year’s crop of honey and also onsite there was a year’s worth of aged mead, so we’ve lost quite a lot.”

The distinctive smell of burning honey and boxes of wax was commented on by the fire brigade.

No bees were lost, and now the difficulty was keeping the bees away from the site.

“There’s a lot of honey spilt, so it’s quite an attraction to bees,” Hislop said.

The family is well known for specialising in organic products and also runs the Kaikōura cafe, store and online store BeeBox.

In recent years the region has been hit by the 2016 earthquake and the Covid-19 tourism downturn.

“Various members of the family are involved [in the business], so it’s going to be a bit of a knock for us,” he said.