Our Hadquarters in the village of Ilias
O ur family˘s activity in the area of beekeeping began in 1890 with beehives kept in our garden by my Great-great grandmother Evangelia Barbarousi for the family˘s honey needs.
In 1989, our activities were semi-professional, and in 1996 our Company was founded, after which our aims were clearly professional, regarding the number of hives as and their transfer within Greece (from Kalamata to Thassos), as well as the establishment of our storage and packaging facilities.
In 1997 we began exporting our products, with the help of the "Odysea Ltd", Company, with whom we continue to collaborate today.
After the work
In 1998 our first investment plan was realized, with a program sponsored by the Greek Ministry of Agriculture for Countryside Restructuring. The plan was completed in 2000.
ÔIn the same year, and together with the Taka family, we slowly began cultivating tomatoes on a large scale in the village of Fyllo, outside Kardista. The seed we use, then and still today, has been cultivated since 1900 by our extended family, and the pasteurization method is the same as that first implemented in the period between the two World Wars.
Honey Package
In 2001 we exported the first tomato products, and in 2004 we began the certification process for the production of organic products on our estate in accordance with the DIO Certification Organization . In 2005 we began furnishing high-end hotels with our honey, offered both at breakfast and used in their kitchens.
In 2007 we began our second investment plan with joint funding for Agricultural Development from the Greek Ministry of Agriculture and the European Union, and our packing and processing procedures were certified by the ISO Food Safety Management System (ISO 22000:2005).
In 2008 we produced our first completely organic tomato products ("Tomata Stragisti" and tomato sauces), which were introduced onto the Greek market by the "Biotos".
We have inherited the knowledge of "how not to be afraid of bees" and we have developed a positive cooperation with them so as to produce an exceptional product with guaranteed safety to the consumer.
We inherited a sack of seeds and we came to love the earth in which they grow, we respected the cultivating and production methods implemented before industrialized farming came into practice, and with great effort, know-how and experimentation we are able to offer products which bring back the flavours of yesterday.
We will continue our efforts to prepare products of high quality and safety, giving particular importance to protecting the environment and to developing the human resources of our region.