Levy Restaurants, the exclusive food and beverage provider for the Cuyahoga County-owned Global Center for Health Innovation and the Cleveland Convention Center, has teamed up with SMG to start two colonies of honeybees to produce honey for Convention Center recipes.
This sustainable project includes colonies of bees that will produce anywhere from 40 to 60 pounds of honey per hive. In addition, the bees will travel up to eight miles from the Convention Center to pollinate plants and flowers in the surrounding area. Levy and SMG plan to utilize the honey as part of site visit packages, honey-infused recipes, and VIP client giveaways.
This sustainable project includes colonies of bees that will produce anywhere from 40 to 60 pounds of honey per hive. In addition, the bees will travel up to eight miles from the Convention Center to pollinate plants and flowers in the surrounding area. Levy and SMG plan to utilize the honey as part of site visit packages, honey-infused recipes, and VIP client giveaways.
“We have learned that the national honey bee population is in jeopardy and last winter, nearly one-third of all honey bee colonies were reported to have died,” said Mark Leahy, General Manager, Global Center for Health Innovation and the Cleveland Convention Center. “Honeybee colonies provide a vital component in the food chain and this represents our initiative to create a sustainable honey bee population onsite that can produce honey for our Levy Restaurants kitchen in the facility and pollenate plants and crops in the area. Best of all, its plain ol’ fun!”
Several members of the Levy Restaurants team attended bee keeping classes over the late winter of 2013-2014 through Northeast Ohio area park districts and nurseries to learn the basics of beekeeping.
In addition, SMG/Cleveland Convention Center building facility engineer Dave Benedict is an avid beekeeper, providing on-site guidance and consultation to the Levy chef staff. Benedict is a trustee with the Greater Cleveland Beekeepers Association, an organization dedicated to educating beekeepers, promoting good bee keeping practices, and informing the general public about the current plight of the honeybee population.
“We are pursuing a Gold level – LEED certification and this initiative like many others within the Complex represents our commitment to sustainability,” said Leahy.
On April 29, 2014 Levy Restaurant Chefs Matt Del Regno and Angela Howard drove to Queen Right Colonies in Spencer, Ohio and returned to the Convention Center with 16,000 bees that had been shipped to Ohio from California. Levy staff performed the “Bee Dump,” moving the bees into their new bee hives.
Located on the north end of the Convention Center, just beyond the glass façade in the Grand Ballroom, the East Bee Hive houses Italian Bees and the West Bee Hive is home to Carniolan Bees.
Several members of the Levy Restaurants team attended bee keeping classes over the late winter of 2013-2014 through Northeast Ohio area park districts and nurseries to learn the basics of beekeeping.
In addition, SMG/Cleveland Convention Center building facility engineer Dave Benedict is an avid beekeeper, providing on-site guidance and consultation to the Levy chef staff. Benedict is a trustee with the Greater Cleveland Beekeepers Association, an organization dedicated to educating beekeepers, promoting good bee keeping practices, and informing the general public about the current plight of the honeybee population.
“We are pursuing a Gold level – LEED certification and this initiative like many others within the Complex represents our commitment to sustainability,” said Leahy.
On April 29, 2014 Levy Restaurant Chefs Matt Del Regno and Angela Howard drove to Queen Right Colonies in Spencer, Ohio and returned to the Convention Center with 16,000 bees that had been shipped to Ohio from California. Levy staff performed the “Bee Dump,” moving the bees into their new bee hives.
Located on the north end of the Convention Center, just beyond the glass façade in the Grand Ballroom, the East Bee Hive houses Italian Bees and the West Bee Hive is home to Carniolan Bees.
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