The Manuka South Legacy
Our family looking after your family's health for over 30 Years
Family is at the heart of Manuka South. Sharing the gift of good health with the world.
Rob and Lynda Haines started the New Zealand Health Food Company in 1988 because they shared a vision of supplying hand-picked natural health products, to enrich the lives of Kiwis.
Family is at the heart of Manuka South with all of Rob and Lynda’s children working within the business. We thrive on building business connections that are honest, positive, and valuable to everyone involved. We strive to find distributors that share our values of developing long lasting, enriching relationships. We believe in quality over quantity and we take pride in selecting the best locations for our products to be sold. Our founding values are at the core of our business and we continue to preserve these by remaining 100% New Zealand owned and operated family business.
Our Philosophy
This amazing journey has seen four generations of our family working within the company for over 30 years and has seen us grow to share good health and vitality with people from across-the-globe.
Manuka South was developed by son Sam, who joined the business in 2013 after living overseas for a number of years. The vision for Manuka South was born from Sam's love of high-end luxury products with its sophisticated dark broody branding, black labels, gentlemen clubs, handcrafted style, wood barrel ageing and bespoke packaging, this forms the basis of the packaging that we see today.
Manuka South is our premium brand that never compromises on quality and the attention to detail is reflected in each element of all our products. It is the brand that our whole family is passionate about.
What Sets Us Apart
Leaders in producing premium Mānuka honey and bee products without compromising on quality, we always seek to create the highest standard of product available.
The unique cellaring of our premium range of honey enables the UMF properties of the Mānuka honey to thoroughly develop and mature and is why Manuka South consistently produce the highest standard honey available.
Our premium Mānuka honey is carefully matured after harvest, ensuring the highest MGO/UMF results are achieved before we individually pack our honey into our sustainable jars. This ensures that the natural enzymes found in raw honey are perfectly preserved, just the way nature intended and respecting the natural qualities of the raw honey. Each vintage and region are different, and our selection process enables us to enhance the individuality of the vintage, this is what distinguishes the Manuka South honey and gives it its hall mark complexity, integrity, and consistency.
Manuka South honey is known for its smooth, rich texture, creamed to perfection. The elegant maturity gives the palate a welcoming silky consistency with earthy, toasted notes. The intricacy of flavour and texture is achieved by our master honey craftsman that uses the traditional New Zealand methods of creaming and caring for our honey. All Manuka South honey is blended in small batches to allow for our extensive quality control. The consistent low processing temperatures guarantees that our honey retains its natural health properties.
Great things take time
Manuka South Honey is known for its smooth, rich texture, creamed to perfection.
The elegant maturity gives the palate a welcoming silky consistency with earthy, toasted notes followed by slightly bitter after tones. The intricacy of flavour and texture is achieved by our master honey craftsman that uses the traditional New Zealand methods of creaming and caring for our honey. All Manuka South honey is blended in small batches to allow for our extensive quality control. The consistent low processing temperatures guarantees that our honey retains its natural health properties.
Sustainability
We are Committed to Sustainability. Working alongside bees and beekeepers for over thirty years has given us a unique understanding of how important it is to reduce waste, and our impact on the environment.
Bee Populations are in Decline
The good news is that a lot of this decline is remediable. It is very important to us to ensure that our beekeepers consider the welfare of their bee colonies, which is why we are very selective with our suppliers. Our local beekeepers are involved in cultivating new Mānuka plantations in areas with land and soil degradation. This ensures we do our part in replenishing soils and positively contributing to the biodiversity of our precious country.
It is a critical part of our selection process that all our honey is sourced from areas in New Zealand which are clean, flower and Mānuka-rich, diverse landscapes. An estimated 1/3 of human food is dependent on pollination from insects like bees, and bees are responsible for pollinating 70 different crop types. However you look at it, bees play a vital role in the biodiversity of our planet.
Our Beekeepers are cultivating new mānuka trees
It is an essential part of the Manuka South philosophy to look after our earth for generations to come. We work with beekeepers who use sustainable farming practices to cultivate their honey. Ensuring that our beekeepers consider the welfare of their bee colonies is important to us, which is why we are very selective with our suppliers.
We use sustainable materials
| PEFC | PET | FSC |
| All our boxing is printed using PEFC Certified resources. The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) is an international programme promoting sustainable forest management. | We are currently in the process of transitioning our UMF 5+ through UMF 20+ to 100% recycled PET plastic jars. PET is one of the most environmentally friendly food packaging products and can be recycled after use. All our glass honey jars use recycled glass. | Our Limited Reserve range consists of 100% FSC Certified wood. FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) is an international organization that promotes responsible management of the world's forests. |
A Labour of Love
It is the spellbinding landscapes, the bounty of natural resources, and the generosity of the people that makes New Zealand one of the most beautiful and precious places on earth.
We are passionate about quality. This starts with the relationships we have nurtured over the last thirty years with our family of beekeepers, which enables us to carefully select each batch from the best Mānuka honey available.
We made a conscious decision early on not to focus on beekeeping, but to establish long-term relationships with experienced apiarists which share the same values of quality and sustainability. These relationships nurtured over the last thirty years gives us the ability to choose the best quality Mānuka honey from all over New Zealand. These apiarists are no longer just a business connection, but are part of the Manuka South family.
It is because of these fantastic connections we get the first pick of the very best Mānuka honey available, from all the top producers in New Zealand. Only the finest quality honey available is hand selected for our premium product range.
