There are about 20,000 bees who live on the rooftop of the Chase Park Plaza and get to dine in Forest Park.
More and more hives are popping up in urban areas, and research suggests city bees are often healthier than their suburban and country cousins According to the Best Bees Company, urban bees often produce more honey and have fewer diseases. Theories include greater biodiversity in the bees' diets and less exposure to pesticides.
Hear more about it with Debbie Monterrey and Executive Chef Eric Phillips:
"First, I think they're important to our environment," says Chase Park executive chef Eric Phillips. "[Bees] are important for pollination of flowers and fruits and vegetables, which I love as a chef. I also think the idea of being able to, ideally, if we can get to a point where I can harvest ten, twenty, thirty pounds of honey and we can feature that in a recipe? With Forest Park being right here, I think it's really cool that whatever flowers they are pollinating becomes the honey we're featuring in one of our dishes."
Chef Phillips says this is the third attempt at a colony on the rooftop. The first effort was more trial and error. The second attempt failed when a winter cold snap killed the bees. Then COVID meant layoffs. Now, he and some staff have taken classes on keeping bees and think they have the winterization puzzle figured out.
"The love that I had for it then is even more so now," says Phillips. "I bought a tripod. I'm going to set my phone up and do a slo-mo video of them coming in and out. It is really fun to watch."
