High technology with honey

Alexandre Stern invents a new profession at the crossroads of the worlds of gastronomy and luxury: Creator of Honeys. He creates from the rarest honeys unique assemblies for great chefs and palaces.

With a rather academic educational background and a first company created in the high technology sector, nothing predestined Alexandre Stern to become Creator of Honeys. But in 2014, he decided to radically change his professional life to finally live his two passions on a daily basis: gastronomy and travel.

Passionate about honey, Alexandre keeps fond memories of his Vosges fir honey breakfasts of his Alsatian origins. He therefore decides to turn to honey, the least processed food product and one of the few to be produced in the whole world. Since then, he has traveled the world in search of the most exceptional honeys, then he blends them to create unique flavors.

Born in 1978 in Paris, Alexandre Stern developed an entrepreneurial spirit at a young age. At the age of 9, he created an association for the protection of nature; in this context he will publish for 5 years a monthly newspaper of a dozen pages. A student at Lycée Louis-le-Grand, his desire to create his own business led him to join HEC and to create, when he left the campus in 2001, the company Cryptolog in association with his brother Julien. He will develop this company specializing in electronic signature for 8 years, making it grow from three to twenty employees and going through all the stages of development of a young company: product development, first customers, fundraising with investors… But, over the years, he feels that this business will not bring him all the satisfactions and he is thinking about a new project that would allow him to reconcile his passions and his work.

In 2009, he therefore decided to take the time to reflect on his new project; he chooses to take a year to do an MBA at INSEAD. With more than 60 nationalities represented on campus, this school is the ideal place to compare ideas and perfect your project. However, at the end of his schooling, if his project around honey begins to take shape, it is not quite successful and Alexandre prefers to join a strategy consulting firm - McKinsey & Company - to perfect himself and continue to improve his project. At this point, he remains convinced that it is possible to create a luxury brand in the honey sector, but he understands that it is not enough to sell good honey in beautiful packaging - you have to create real value. added for the customer.

The art of blending

It was in 2014 that he finally had the idea that would allow him to create his new business; while passing in front of a perfumery, he realizes that if the perfumes were sold as we sold honey, in perfumeries there would only be natural essences of rose, patchouli or even violet ... What makes each perfume unique , it is the work of the perfumer who will associate the fragrances. It was at this point that Alexandre Stern decided to create the profession that he would be the first in the world to exercise: Creator of Honeys.

Inspired by the approach of oenologists who assemble great vintages by mixing wines from different plots and different grape varieties, Alexandre Stern decides to blend honeys to create unique flavors. He began to bring together a vast collection of honeys from different floral varieties and various terroirs. He began his quest in France, from the forests of the Vosges to the maquis of Corsica via the plains of Champagne. The horizons quickly widened to include honeys from the five continents: raspberry honey from Canada, jujube honey from Yemen, wild honey from Nepal and manuka honey from New Zealand. Each time there are new discoveries of textures and flavors, with honeys with citrus notes, minty honeys, others with chocolate scents or even the taste of salted butter caramel ... Soon, Alexandre has in his collection over 600 honeys of different varieties.

Then Alexandre tests combinations of flavors in search of perfect harmony between sugar and acidity, the floral character and the citrus notes, the sweetness and the spicy notes. It combines the power of chestnut honey with the fruity taste of orange blossom, the freshness of linden with the floral notes of lavender, the gluttony of heather and the power of buckwheat ... After hundreds of trials, it delivered at the end of 2014 his first creations: Black Forest, a powerful honey with woody aromas, Un Matin en Provence, a sweet honey with floral scents and La Routes des Indes, a gourmet honey with spicy notes. Alexandre first decides to reserve his creations for palaces and starred chefs who will become his first ambassadors.

In 2015, he delivered his first creation to the general public: Honey of Wonders. For this honey, he imagines an enchanting world tour where the fruity flavors of Asia, the woody scents of Europe, the spicy notes of the Americas and the powerful aromas of Africa would be mixed.

For the continuation of his adventure, there is no shortage of projects: developing a range of chocolates and macaroons with honey, opening a first boutique in Paris, setting up an international distribution network; with its company dedicated to honey in all its forms, Alexandre Stern has created the job of his dreams!

On sale at Drugstore Publicis, at the Alexandre Stern house from November 2

Price: 35 euros 330 ML

To know more :www.alexandrestern.net