Our Story

Simple Beginnings

Walters & Bee Crafted Confectionery started in 1999 in our family kitchen. Our Mum Gilly Walters is a naturally innovative culinary pioneer who began hosting concerts at her home for up to 100 guests. She would entertained and delighted her guests with culinary creations from her kitchen. Gilly had travelled to France as a aupair in her youth and decided to try to recreate the Montélimar nougat as an evening alternative to dessert. The first batch was runny and had to be served frozen. Not one to give up, Gilly toiled over the stove for five months before she perfected the Walters & Bee recipe that we still make today. Starting small, Gilly took her new innovation to the local farmer’s market and quickly gained a following with her nougat and her totally unique nougat biscuits. To this day, we still use only the finest sustainably sourced and environmentally friendly ingredients, and Gilly’s world class recipes are still made with the same attention to detail and innovative passion in every turn of the whisk.

Gilly’s vision for culinary experimentation was ahead of her time. Her recipes continue to inspire the next generation of flavour innovators here at Walters & Bee. Our family now incorporates the many people who have joined the Walters & Bee Team under her banner and give their life and passion to our brand. Although we come from diverse backgrounds, our goal is to make a difference, whether it’s developing recipes, giving back to our community or finding ways to be more environmentally friendly and sustainable. We all share the same goal. The Walters & Bee Family is also our community of customers who have helped us build and grow over the years.

“After our father became ill with cancer, to make ends meet our mother, Gilly Walters, held concerts for music lovers at our family home for up to 100 guests. With her passion for good food, our Mum created her innovative recipes to serve to her guests. At one of these concerts, Gilly tested her nougat making skills. The taste was great but the recipe was a flop! Not one to give up, our Mum went back to the drawing board”. Our family kitchen became a constant stream of nougat to be tasted, pulled and prodded by anyone who stepped over the threshold. Eventually, Gilly perfected her well-loved nougat recipe and packed it into baskets to sell at the local farmer’s market. Such was the demand for our Mum’s honey rich nougat, and later her world first nougat biscuits, that production grew fast. Her three sons jumped in to stir pots and help where needed. And that’s how Walters & Bee began."

“Walters & Bee celebrates 25+ years as a family business. Our nougat is still handmade on our farm and we work with the same passion and commitment that we always have, whilst creating exciting new recipes and all the while keeping a very particular eye on quality, just the way our Mum did.”

Paul Walters (CEO – Walters & Bee Crafted Confectionery)

ONLY THE FINEST INGREDIENTS...

At Walters & Bee we are passionate about finding the finest ingredients and looking after our planet and its resources. So we obsess over every ingredient that goes into our confectionery and we go to great lengths to find them. So, when our customers experience our nougat, they are assured that our honey comes from ethically harvested, sustainably managed hives, and our eggs come fresh from local farmers to be hand-cracked in our Makery, and we use 100% local farm butter for our biscuits, bought from farmers who we trust. Our confectionery is always made using the finest ingredients, no preservatives, no artificial colours or flavours…ever!