My dad, Nick Poto, was an unconventional guy, to say the least

He worked the swing-shift at a Southern California aerospace company, but when he clocked out at 11:00 PM, instead of going home and relaxing, he'd move his beehives around until the wee hours of the morning (hence, his nickname, The Midnight Beekeeper).

That's because beekeepers need to be mobile - different locations enable distinctly different flavors of honey to be produced.

Nick took great pride in how his raw, unfiltered honey hit people’s taste buds like no other, and he enjoyed giving away jars of it to fellow farmers he’d stop by and visit with in the Bakersfield area.

While there, he’d ask if they needed any bees for pollination, and the answer was almost always a resounding “Yes!” In fact, they’d gladly pay Nick quite well for the service.

Hmmmm…

My mom, Jean, understood its great value.

While dad loved to delight folks with gifts of his signature honey, mom loved to keep the family afloat.

So whenever the household budget needed an infusion of cash, she’d set up a roadside stand out front and, in the process, ultimately built up quite the clientele. As with Nick, everyone just naturally loved her.

All this time, friends and family kept telling Nick, “It’s a crime to not share this with the world,” until finally he relented and officially started a honey business, back in 1979.

Farmer’s markets were the natural next step.

This new phase in our story put Honey Pacifica out before the public much more broadly.

Surprisingly, very few people back then sold the kind of raw, unfiltered honey that we produced. That, coupled with the unlike-any-other-taste-in-the-world flavors we offered, made our products instant hits.

I remember how gratified my folks were by the reception our honey got – some buyers became downright emotional about it!

Today we sell directly to our customers at many Farmers' Markets throughout Southern California.

Whole Foods® got wind of Honey Pacifica and gave us instant credibility.

They actually sought us out and couldn’t have been nicer, more helpful or more generous. Whatever shortcomings we had in terms of the business side they happily gave us a hand.

As a matter of fact, we were the first all-natural, raw, unfiltered honey product to grace the shelves of Whole Foods, which will always be a great source of pride for us.

Since then, our validation by Whole Foods encouraged other stores to carry us, too, such as Bristol Farms, Gelson’s and Pavilions, along with independent natural-food venues throughout California and Nevada. Please check our Where to Buy Page for all the locations.

Needless to say, we also offer people the chance to shop online and have our honey delivered direct!

So many great people to recognize and thank!

And I’m painfully aware that I will still be leaving out many wonderful folks, but here goes…

A big nod to my brother Frank, whose choice for his high-school science project ‘way back when made everything possible today. (That’s the kind of brother to have!) While not a farmer by nature, he’s a great CPA whom we rely upon to handle all the financials for the company.

Frank is very ably assisted by his amazing wife, Carol. She's our expert paperwork specialist who’s been indispensable when it comes to dealing with the bureaucratic side of the business.

A.G. Kawamura, the brilliant creator of Solutions for Urban Agriculture and co-founder of OC Produce, has given us invaluable mentorship and astute advice over the years. He is, simply, the best.

I’d also like to recognize Jim Butler and Mike Schwenn for their many important contributions over the years. Seems like honey has a way of attracting truly terrific people!

And although my sister Sarah, a school teacher, was never directly involved in Honey Pacifica, she’s always given us much-needed moral support. To this day, Sarah continues to pass along everything she learns from us about honey-making to her students.

Ours, then, is truly a multi-generational family business.