Trite as it is to say it, 2011 was one sweet year for the Honibe brand.

I’m sure I’m not the first hack to use that corny line about the line of solid honey products produced by Island Abbey Foods Ltd. of Charlottetown. And given the growth of its business, I doubt I’ll be the last.

The company, which produces the world’s only products made of solidified honey, tripled its network of retail outlets in 2011, began work on its new plant in Charlottetown’s BioCommons, and expanded its product lines.

“Last year, we launched our first natural health product,” Island Abbey President John Rowe said in an interview last week. “It’s a pretty significant move for us because it opens up a whole new line of business.”

The year 2011 began with Rowe’s appearance on CBC’s Dragons’ Den and Canadians witnessing him agree to sell 30% of the company to four Dragons for $600,000. What viewers didn’t know was that deal had fallen apart by the time the show broadcast. Soon after the show was taped, business really started to pick up for Abbey Island. Its first product, the Honey Drop, was named as the Global SIAL d’Or Winner 2010 for the best new food product in the world, and the $600,000 price tag suddenly looked like too low a valuation. So Rowe and his family politely declined the Dragons’ offer and walked away from the deal.

At the time, Honibe was already available in 1,000 stores and the growth was strong.  But the company knew the holy grail in the food industry these days is natural health products and it was no brainer to move into that space. First of all, says Rowe, honey has natural healing properties, which is why your grandmother gave you a spoonful of it when you were sick as a child, and the body digests it more easily than manufactured sugar.

And second, P.E.I. has a peerless infrastructure for developing natural health products. The National Research Council’s Institute for Nutrisciences and Health is based in Charlottetown, which Abbey Foods has made liberal use of. It has also worked closely with the province’s Food Technology centre to develop its products.

The work resulted in the introduction of Honibe Honey Lozenges, its first natural health product. The lozenges are made from 99.9% pure dried honey and are available in two flavours: Honey with Menthol and Eucalyptus and Honey with Lemon, Menthol and Eucalyptus.

Earlier this month, Abbey Island Foods announced the lozenges are now on sale at Pharmasave locations across Canada, which means Honibe products are now being sold at 3,000 retail outlets across the country. Rowe said the company plans to expand its product range to include cough and cold treatments, likely in the fall.

To accommodate this growth, Island Abbey Foods is now placing $1 million in preferred shares with private investors – all of them so far from P.E.I. The company now has commitments for about three-quarters of the round, and expects to close by the end of March. Rowe said the company plans to sell another tranche of preferred shares later in the year.

The Rowe family retains ownership of 100 percent of the company’s common stock.

The additional capital will help the company continue its growth, introducing new products this year and increasing its work force from the current 35 to about 50 by the end of the year.  John Rowe and his company possess an admirable ambition, hoping the company will have $50 million in annual revenues within five years.

“The interesting thing about the honey market is there are no international brands; it’s all regional or local,” said Rowe. “We believe Honibe will be the first honey brand to cross borders.”