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SAN FRANCISCO—MeliBio, the world’s first company focused on creating real honey without bees, is partnering with San Francisco-based BAIA for an exciting new summer menu. The upscale restaurant will showcase the award-winning bee-free honey in two summer-exclusive menu items, a bruschetta appetizer and a panna cotta dessert. Guests of BAIA will have a chance to be among the world’s first to sample MeliBio’s bee-free honey from July to September 2022.
The product provides a unique opportunity for culinary innovators, such as BAIA Executive Chef Joshua Yap, who first gained notoriety for his work with plant-based culinary giant Matthew Kenney in recent years. Chef Yap shared his enthusiasm about the dish creation, stating, “Many times while developing a new plant-based dish I think, ‘I wish I could use honey.’ Unfortunately, many chefs struggle with the standard industry alternatives, such as agave, which miss the distinct flavor and nutrition profile of honey,” he continued. “MeliBio is exactly what I, and other chefs, have been looking for. Not only is it real honey from plants, not bees, but it provides an ethical and sustainable option for restaurateurs and consumers alike.”
This partnership follows MeliBio’s five-star culinary debut at world-renowned fine dining restaurant, Eleven Madison Park, in New York. Featuring a five-course food and drink menu, sustainability changemakers, innovators, and government leaders convened for an intimate commemoration of UN World Bee Day, which takes place on May 20, 2022. Guests of the exclusive event were delighted and amazed by Daniel Humm and the Eleven Madison Park team’s unique culinary applications of the world’s first truly sustainable honey.
“MeliBio is exactly what I, and other chefs, have been looking for. Not only is it real honey from plants, not bees, but it provides an ethical and sustainable option for restaurateurs and consumers alike.”
— Joshua Yap, Executive Chef, Baia
MeliBio’s award winning plant-based honey provides a sustainable solution to the often overlooked crisis facing the $10 billion dollar commercial honey industry. Current global production of commercial honey poses a significant biodiversity threat to native bees, which provide pollination for up to two-thirds of the world’s crops, and could cause a dire collapse in the global food system. Additionally, issues posed by climate change and the supply chain have created volatility in production in recent years, creating opportunities for sustainable honey alternatives like MeliBio.
MeliBio was founded in 2020 in Berkeley, CA by scientist and amateur chef Aaron Schaller, PhD, and honey industry executive Darko Mandich. The company’s first product, a plant-based honey ingredient for B2B and foodservice, was unveiled in October 2021 after a blind taste test of industry leaders revealed that the honey was indistinguishable from standard honey, and was previously named TIME’s Best Inventions 2021. MeliBio has developed an extensive waitlist of interested partners, with over 40 letters of intent signed from international companies wanting to include bee-free honey on their menus and in their products.
MeliBio
MeliBio, headquartered in Oakland, California, is a food tech company that is the market leader in bee-free honey. Leveraging advanced culinary techniques and plant science, MeliBio produces sustainable honey to match taste, quality, and nutrition of animal-derived counterparts. MeliBio is on a mission to create a sustainable future for bees, humans, and the planet.