Graphic designer Jamie Kaye and chef and writer Ben Lippett met in Brighton in their early twenties and bonded over a shared enthusiasm for slurping great beers and eating delicious food.
They launched Dr Sting’s Hot Honey with the aim of building a brand that is all about fun and flavour – and one that doesn’t take life too seriously.
Where did your idea for hot honey first originate?
Ben Lippett: I spent the best part of 2015/16 living in New York City, and I ate a load of pizza. I tried hot honey for the first time at a little pizzeria called Barboncino in the Crown Heights neighbourhood of Brooklyn and it blew my mind a bit.
Years later I was living back in London and having just left behind a handful of years wrapped up in kitchens and having no time to do anything about my obsession with spicy honey, I was presented with an opportunity to give it a go.
I developed a recipe and then gave Jamie a call. I asked if he’d knock up a design for a bee and that I had this idea for a brand called “Dr. Sting’s”. We scribbled a design on a napkin at a little bakery in Peckham and then just went for it. It grew and grew from there!
How did you go about creating Dr Sting’s?
Jamie Kaye: Ben had the recipe locked and I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted Dr. Sting’s to look like, but one of the biggest hurdles to date has been finding the right packaging. When you’re starting out small and ordering at low volumes, your options are limited, and you’ve got to run with what’s available.
Relatedarticles
Our bottle is still a work in progress but has put us in great stead so far. We’ve made a few recipe tweaks as production has scaled up, but our main focus has been on building the brand and always ensuring that what’s inside the bottle is as best as it can possibly be.
Why is it so important to be using high-quality ingredients?
Ben Lippett: You’re only as good as your ingredients! It was vital that we used a seriously good raw ingredient as the foundation for the product. When your product is made of three ingredients, there’s nowhere to hide.
We spent months sourcing the best honey we could get our hands on. One that was rich, complex and delicious, but also didn’t break the bank. We wanted to offer a product that people could actually afford.
How has it been seeing people’s interest grow in your hot honey?
Jamie Kaye: Soul hugging. We’ve done heaps of cool collabs with brands that we really admired before starting Dr. Sting’s, such as Nando’s, Patty & Bun and Willy’s Pies.
It’s felt really special and it’s great to see that there’s such an appetite for collaborations and for the product in general. I still think there’s still a lot of education to be done around hot honey, especially its application; you can get so creative with it.
People are enjoying everything spicy at the moment – from hot sauce to hot honey, but what makes these hot products so hot?
Ben Lippett: I think it’s equal parts people craving convenience and folks becoming more and more exploratory in their tastes. Hot sauce is like shaking instant flavour onto your food, it wakes it up, gives it an edge and can lift a relatively normal plate into something really delicious.
I think there’s something in the label design, too, kind of like the wine industry, more and more people are seeing products like these as signifiers, little status symbols. People want to try the latest hot sauce and drink the latest natural wine. It’s a bit fickle, but it is fun.
How do you recommend serving Dr Sting’s Hot Honey?
Ben Lippett: The shoutline is “goes with everything” and we really back it. It’ll level up your toast in the morning, your cocktails at night, a big ol’ pepperoni pizza is best friends with Dr. Sting’s. We also love it mixed through salad dressings, marinades and glazes.
We made a ripper Hot Honey Ham this year for Christmas, it’s actually becoming a bit of a staple! Essentially, you use it like you would regular honey or a hot sauce. It can finish a plate or be used in cooking. Dead versatile, and that’s why we love it.
And do you have a favourite way to eat it?
Jamie Kaye: I’d often get roasted by Ben while we were making it as he’d catch me quite literally scraping the barrel of honey at the end of a production run and emptying the contents into my mouth.
If you don’t back your product, how can you expect others to?! I love it and have it every day (sometimes just on a spoon) – but my favourite way to eat it is probably on fried chicken. I would say pizza, but that’s a given.
While it adds great depth to things such as dressings and marinades, I think it also really sings on simple dishes. My other answer would have to be a cheeseboard.
What is coming up in 2025 for Dr Sting’s?
Ben Lippett: Big year! We’re having a little glow-up… Expect a slightly refreshed aesthetic and you might see us popping up in more and more shops! Watch this space.
Grab a bottle of your own Dr Sting’s Hot Honey from south London locations such as General Store, Mother Superior and Trude’s Grocery, to name a few, or buy it all year round online: drstings.com
