Table Talk: The Johnson Family, Zach & Zoë

Meet The Johnson’s — Zoë, Kam, Zach, and Summer — the family behind Zach & Zoë’s Sweet Bee Farm. While their actual farm is located in picturesque Hunterdon County, New Jersey, Summer and Kam Johnson (mom and dad, respectively) realized there was a growing market for local honey in Midtown Manhattan. So they moved into a cozy shop at Chelsea Market, and they’ve found a pretty sweet home there ever since.

It was never their plan to become beekeepers, honey connoisseurs, and now, food business entrepreneurs, but when their son Zach started showing symptoms of extreme allergies, Summer and Kam took equally extreme measures. “He was in the hospital twice a year. He’d get steroids, they’d work for a little bit, but nothing was ever permanent. He was five years old at the time, so we got pretty desperate.” They decided to buy some land out in the country — “We wanted to get him acclimated to breathing fresher air.” Around the same time, friends began suggesting local honey to treat the allergies. Although Summer first questioned this suggestion, at this point, they were willing to try anything.

So beekeepers, they became!

Source: HUDSON KITCHEN (February 6, 2020)