Tassot Apiaries owner retires, company bought by NJ farm
Tassot Apiaries, a regular vendor at many farm markets in the Princeton region, has been bought by a farm in Chester, New Jersey called Sweet Cheeks.
Sweet Cheeks Farm will continue to sell products at local farmers’ markets where Tassot Apiaries sold items, including the Princeton Farmers Market.
Tassot Apiaries, a family-run business created by Jean-Claude Tassot and Bea Tassot and located in Hunterdon County, has managed beehives on many parcels of land throughout New Jersey since 2002. The family business specializes in raw honey and bee products, including beeswax candles and handcrafted soaps.
“After 20 years in business, we have decided to retire,” said Jean-Claude Tassot, owner of Tassot Apiaries. “And we are thrilled to have found a great successor with a stellar reputation who will take care of our customers, and our bees, the way we did.”
The Sweet Cheeks Farm business will be bolstering its current honey bee population with the additional Tassot bee yards throughout central and northern New Jersey. Allison Tolpa, owner of the Sweet Cheeks Farm, said she was fortunate that the Tassots were looking to retire when she was looking to expand.
Tolpa’s son, Ben, is the head beekeeper and makes many of the products the business sells. Her two daughters, Olivia and Mia, help take care of animals on the farm and come up with new scents and flavors for cosmetics. They also package products and managing sales at the farm stand on Sundays, and will help run a new market at the farm that will be opening soon.
Prior to the addition of Tassot products, Sweet Cheeks offerings included honey, specialty foods, organic eggs, small-batch soaps, lip balms, essential oil bug repellent products, and party favors.
Sweet Cheeks is a 16-acre privately owned family farm. In addition to approximately 300,000 bees, the farm’s menagerie of rescued animals includes four dogs, two cats, five tortoises, four horses, ducks, Nigerian dwarf goats, a miniature horse, a miniature donkey, and a Vietnamese pig named Boris.
Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.