Our Story
CanEU Honey Partners was founded to connect two markets we know well: Canadian honey production and the European honey industry.
With first-hand experience on both sides of the Atlantic, we understand the realities of Canadian beekeeping and production as well as the quality standards, expectations and commercial requirements of European buyers.
Our role is to bring the right people, products and information together. We help Canadian honey producers identify suitable opportunities in Europe, and we help European buyers discover carefully selected Canadian sources.
From assessing honey lots and coordinating quality and laboratory information to introducing qualified business partners and supporting commercial discussions, we make the process more transparent, informed and efficient.
Our goal is simple: to build reliable connections that turn Canadian honey into lasting European business relationships.
Thorsten Gooss
Experience Rooted in the Honey Industry
Thorsten began his professional career with two apprenticeships – first as a chef and later as a food technician at one of Germany’s largest industrial bakeries, WEBER GmbH, then part of the U.S.-based Borden Group. He went on to study Food Science and Food Processing Engineering at the University of Applied Sciences in Bremerhaven and later earned an additional degree in Technical Business Administration.
After approximately ten years as Assistant to the Board at Ritzenhoff AG, Thorsten joined Walter Lang GmbH, at the time Germany’s largest importer and packer of organic honey.
This role gave him extensive first-hand experience in the international honey trade. He travelled to many of the world’s major honey-producing and exporting countries, including Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Romania, China and India, working directly with exporters and maintaining close relationships with beekeepers and producers at origin.
At the same time, he developed a broad network across the European honey industry, working with importers, packers, customers, laboratories and other industry stakeholders. This combination of experience at origin and a deep understanding of the European market continues to shape his approach today.
Thorsten later joined Naturawerk in Hannover, one of Germany’s oldest health-food manufacturers, where he was able to further build on the relationships and experience he had developed throughout the German and European organic and natural-food industries.
In 2020, Thorsten moved to Nova Scotia, Canada, where he and his family established Holistic Health Centre Lunenburg and Keliza, a health-food store. He is also a passionate beekeeper himself, giving him a personal connection to Canadian beekeeping alongside his international industry experience.
Today, through CanEU Honey Partners, Thorsten brings these worlds together.
Drawing on decades of experience in food, honey, organic products and international business, he offers consulting and brokerage services to help Canadian honey producers understand and access European markets – while helping European buyers identify promising Canadian sources.