For this London honey seller, the buzz is about British bees
Business is strong for Samantha Wallace. But she's dealing with complicated import rules and seeking the right varieties of domestic honey.
There’s a lot to say about the British economy right now, with inflation falling to 2% in May and a general election around the corner (which could see the Conservative Party ousted after 14 years in power). But for business owners like Samantha Wallace, there’s been another development that’s top of mind: a change in the U.K.’s import policy.
“That means that our pallets go through a slightly different system,” said Wallace, who owns a honey stand called From Field and Flower in London’s Borough Market. “And that means telling customs a good 24 hours before our goods land into port what we’re landing, effectively, and what it is so that they can check it.”
Wallace spoke with “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal about what the changes mean for her and why she’s excited about sourcing British honey for the shop. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.
Kai Ryssdal: So how are things in Borough Market?
Samantha Wallace: Well, really good actually. I appreciate I sound slightly surprised. The last six months have been really busy, so the market, as a vibe, feels like it’s picking up again [to] pre-pandemic [levels], which I guess is the term of reference that everybody uses nowadays. It’s “pre-pandemic” and “post-pandemic.”
Ryssdal: That and vibes. So clearly you’re in on everything.
Wallace: You can tell I’m very relaxed. Yeah, it’s been really good. And it seems like we’re just getting more visitors. So I don’t know if they’re mainly international or local, but it just seems to be busy again, which is wonderful.
Ryssdal: Speaking of international, how are your relations with the Continent, as it were? Because it seems to me every time we’ve chatted the last number of years, there has been a Brexit, European trade barriers, “it’s harder now” thing that you have been dealing with. And I imagine that’s probably still true.
Wallace: Sadly, yes, that is still very much a thing. In fact, I think in April it was, the latest target operating model for borders changed again. That means that our pallets go through a slightly different system. And that means telling customs a good 24 hours before our goods land into port what we’re landing, effectively, and what it is so that they can check it. And that requires a lot of coordination, as you might imagine, with the haulier, with various government systems, which are not necessarily easy for little people like us to navigate.
Ryssdal: Do you and your very small staff — I mean, last I heard it was like three, maybe 3½ [employees] — do you do that yourself? Or do you outsource it? And how much of a bottom-line burden is that to you?
Wallace: Well, so we do some of it ourselves. And then we have to pay our haulier to represent us as a customs agent, and that comes with fees. So they have gone up recently. In general, haulier costs have gone up, haulier travel times have gone up. So overall, the kind of the cost is increasing all the time. If we’re trying to kind of have a smooth logistics process, where one would try and plan one stock to come in at a certain time and work out your budgets and all of that, it’s nigh on impossible at the moment to do that accurately.
Ryssdal: No, I’m sure. You more than once have talked about Italian honeys and some of the honeybees that you do get from within the European Union. And I guess, is there a point at which you would say, “You know what? Chuck it. To heck with this Europe relationship, it is too hard. And we need to further diversify our sources of money”?
Wallace: It’s a really tricky question. You know, we ask ourselves that quite a lot, I think. And honestly, as you probably remember, our passion is, is honey, but the different varieties. So for us, it’s the diversity of flavor. So we are trying to source, as we speak, honey from the U.K., basically, but looking for those distinctive varietals, which is hard. As I think I’ve told you before, we have quite a kind of abundance of various wildflower honeys here in the U.K. that don’t vary much in terms of flavor, but I suppose the good thing is, from our point of views, we found a lovely monofloral variety called borage, which is a very light, delicate honey. It’s quite hard to find because the bees don’t necessarily make a huge amount of it. But we’ve managed to source some from Essex, and that has been brilliant because it’s, you know, far more local, frankly, than Europe.
Ryssdal: OK, last thing and I’ll let you go because you have things to do, I’m sure. With the understanding that you are a honey merchant and not a political scientist, you are the closest thing we have to a source on the ground over there. There’s an election coming up in the U.K.
Wallace: Yes.
Ryssdal: And also, you know, obviously you deal mostly with tourists and international visitors in the market. But when you go to the local corner market to get milk for your tea, what’s the mood?
Wallace: Oh, I don’t know, I think people are generally quite optimistic. I mean, it’s the summer. We’ve got football over here, which is massive in terms of people’s spirits, so everything kind of feels more optimistic in the summer. And I do think the idea that there might be a change of government and perhaps a change of outlook, but it will take a long time I think for things to truly feel better. When I go to my corner shop, my price of milk is, you know, much more expensive than it used to be. So you do notice it.