A Visit to The Waldorf

The idea of raising bees came to me after learning that the Waldorf Astoria in New York City served honey to their guests from its rooftop hives. 

After attending bee class for a year and maintaining my own hive for a year I found myself leaving for college! I go to school in New York and figured this would be a perfect opportunity to reach out to the lovely people at the Waldorf Astoria and ask for a tour of their rooftop hives. Within two short days, they excitedly responded with details of the tour. 

I arrived to the hotel (with my dad) and was immediately greeted by the manager. He escorted us up to the 20th floor where we met our tour guides: Head Pastry Chef - Charlie Roland and Culinary Director - David Garcelon. The chefs showed my dad and I the garden of herbs (used in many of their dishes) as well as their six beautiful hives. They explained that each hive is home to about 50,000 honeybees that forage from Central Park, Bryant Park, The Highline and other New York City parks. That year alone (2017), the bees brought in 500 pounds of honey --- you could definitely say they pay their rent in honey! This honey is used all over the hotel, ranging from the honey chicken baked in the kitchen to the pedicure treatment in the spa. 

A few of the hives had name tags including: 

• The Royal Hive

• Empire Hive of Mind

• It’s Hive O’Clock Somewhere

• Grand Bee Room

We were then escorted to the kitchen. The chefs were kind enough to let us try a freshly baked cupcake as well as show us how to glaze croissants with honey. The sweetest part of the tour was when Chef Roland and I exchanged our honey! We did as all beekeepers and chefs do -- we dipped our fingers in each others honey and enjoyed each other's silky smooth honey. The Waldorf’s Honey is quite different than Riviera Honey Farms. It’s darker and much thicker which creates for a bolder, stronger taste. 

I am so grateful to have been able to visit the source of inspiration for my own backyard beehive. Chef Roland and Chef Garcelon were extremely gracious and have proved to the world that if a hotel in the middle of New York City can be home to a few beehives, so can anyone else with a backyard!