Case Studies

How small time savings add up to big wins at Tai Tokerau Honey

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Kaitaia-based Tai Tokerau Honey is thriving. Over the last few years, the Maori-owned business has grown from a small local honey producer to a robust business with roughly 5000 hives producing high-quality manuka honey. They have recently leaped into international exports, making the team even busier. Tai Tokerau switched over to My Humm to manage their honey testing after using another provider for years. In a business with thousands of hives and hundreds of samples being taken every week, they’re already finding that the new system is saving time in lots of little ways – and in such a busy organisation, every minute counts. Twyla McDonald, Tai Tokerau Honey’s Head of Sales and Marketing, explains the difference My Humm has made.

Small time-savings, big results.

When you’re managing 5000 hives, submitting honey samples for testing can quickly become a time-consuming task. With My Humm, the Tai Tokerau team saves time on this essential but fiddly job. Twyla explains that although the time spent filling in testing forms and bagging samples hasn’t changed – she spends around 5-7 minutes per bag of ten – there is one major time-saving difference: pre-printed courier labels. “I am saving myself about 30 minutes each time I need to send samples, as I no longer have to go downtown to the post office and wait in line to courier – I just seal up the bag and ring for pick-up! So good in the middle of the season when we are super-busy!” – Twyla MacDonald, Tai Tokerau Honey.

Simple, user-friendly systems

Speed isn’t the only factor when it comes to managing honey samples. For Tai Tokerau, it’s also essential that they get the results they need in a simple, readable format. Because they have so many hives, the team needs to be able to find and refine results quickly and easily. Twyla explains that My Humm’s web portal is simpler to use than others – making it easier to search for specific samples and find batch results. She’s a big fan of the customised reporting function that lets her and the team create detailed reviews, including the specific hives or batch numbers they’re focusing on.

“So good! I don’t have to email the lab and ask them to split sample A off report 1 and Sample C off report 3, etc.” – Twyla MacDonald, Tai Tokerau Honey.

Simpler invoicing is another handy feature. The My Humm portal provides the price for a batch of tests as soon as an order is placed, so when the team sends samples on behalf of another honey producer, they can be invoiced immediately – and accurately. As with all My Humm’s built-in features, it’s about streamlining processes, cutting out inefficiencies, and making things easier for a busy team of beekeepers.

Adding all these small time-savings together, Tai Tokerau Honey saves at least a couple of hours a week by using My Humm – time that’s better spent checking hives, harvesting honey, and growing the business.

Benefits for Tai Tokerau:

• Pre-printed courier labels save 30 minutes driving time per batch
• Estimated two hours saved in an average week
• Individual batch results through user-friendly web portal
• Custom reporting function makes it easy to create detailed reports
• Immediate pricing information makes invoicing easier