Adelaide’s Mayfair Hotel installs rooftop bee hives

Adelaide's top rated 5-star hotel, the Mayfair Hotel has further embraced its support for the utilisation of local produce and sustainable practices with bee hives having been installed on its roof in what may well be the most luxurious looking hives in town – as is befitting the property.

Bee enthusiast, apiarist and head chef Bethany Finn has applied a strong focus on sustainability and use of local produce across the Mayfair's menus, and oversaw the installation of the hives.  The Mayfair strongly supports the protection of bees and promotion of an increase in hives in both rural and metropolitan regions.  In fact, the Mayfair hives were kept and Bethany's own home whilst the Mayfair made way for their installation at the hotel.­­­ The Mayfair Rooftop Bee hive area also includes a number of plants to act as windbreaks and water.

Mayfair Hotel General Manager Martin Radcliffe said, "We fully support this initiative.  It is the policy of the management of the hotel to be as sustainable as possible in all our practices and we are constantly looking for new initiatives to support this ethos.  Drawing on Bethany's knowledge and skills to create the Mayfair Rooftop Bee is an exciting project.   Bees are such an important part of the plant based food cycle and to assist in the promotion and support of bees and in turn, the role they play in the production of local produce meant the entire project ticked all the boxes for us."

Bee enthusiast, apiarist and head chef Bethany Finn

The bees have had time to settle into their new location a secluded specially designed hive atop Adelaide's most luxurious 5 star boutique hotel.  They've found their 'flight path' which is essentially the route they will always fly to and from the hive to the plants they will pollinate and they are busily producing honeycomb and honey –  they are 'busy bees' so to speak.  

Mayfair honey treat

"Im so excited about this project – I've been training as an apiarist for a while and fully embrace the support by the Mayfair Hotel to do their part to ensure the bee population remains strong" said Mayfair Hotel head chef, Bethany Finn.   "Sadly bee numbers have been dwindling on a global level and if there's no bees to pollinate the plants, we're all in trouble.  That a 5 star hotel in the CBD is supporting a bee initiative that fully managed and operated in house – along with expert guidance of course, is fantastic.  It is great to be adding our very own honey to dishes served up in the Mayflower Restaurant and across the hotel" she said.    

The honey produced by the Mayfair Rooftop Bees will feature throughout the hotel – from the Honey Trap cocktail at HENNESSY, to Honey Pana Cotta for in house banquets.  It will be a most delicious accompaniment to the house made muesli or on toast at the breakfast buffet and in dishes created for the Mayflower Restaurant by Bethany Finn, right through to being a VIP guest gift.  Eventually the hotel is hoping the honey will be available for guests to purchase as a take home memento of the prestige property, and a reminder of fine South Australian produce.

This project has been achieved with the support of some of the Mayfair's primary suppliers who share the hotel's passion in this area, namely Coopers, Wills and Daniel, Bunzl, Holco and Vittoria Coffee.

A Mayfair Secret

In keeping with its 'nothing but the best' ethos, guests wine and dine off Wedgwood crockery and Riedel and Waterford marque crystal glassware