Mannes Desert Honey ‘came to be’ from humble beginnings, so to speak, as a hobby in the early 1990’s.
Business owner Lachlan Mannes was studying agricultural science at Adelaide University at the time when his father Kevin Mannes, started keeping a few bees. Kevin’s weekend interest soon rubbed off on to Lachlan, who returning home from university with a major in entomology, began keeping a few beehives of his own.
Lachlan’s passion for bee keeping was a natural companion and perfect side operation to his entomology business, Mannes Entomology and both Mannes Desert Honey and Mannes Entomology have been growing from strength to strength, ever since.
The business has continued to expand with Lachlan and his wife Megan naming the business Mannes Desert Honey and meeting a strong demand for local honey through supply at various stockists around the district. But the desire to sell the enire range of Mannes Desert Honey products in the one place saw the couple open their own premises in Red Cliffs in 2023. And so, the Mannes Desert Honey Shop was born and continues to flourish with the addition of a commercial kitchen in late 2024, allowing Megan to pursue her passion to cook jams, sauces, pickles and chutneys using locally grown and seasonal produce. All preserves are made in the store and are gluten free. The journey to living more sustainably by reusing and reducing waste has also been embraced and enabled customers to refill honey and olive oil within the store.
Today, Mannes Desert Honey remains at its heart a family owned and operated business with three generations of Mannes family members involved in its operation in varying capacities. Honey is sourced in a 100-kilometre radius from flowering sites around Sunraysia in north-west Victoria and south-west New South Wales. The district fringes the banks of the Murray and Darling Rivers and is well known for its hot, desert climate and agriculture of citrus, table and wine grapes and almonds. Additionally, Mannes Desert Honey takes pride in not only extracting honey from our very own hives but supporting other amazing local beekeepers such as Trevor Monson, Roger Moser, Ronnie Robson and Jonathon Williams when our honey stocks are depleted.
Mannes Desert Honey – made by bees, naturally!
