Qantas has found a novel way to reduce its carbon footprint and cut down on food costs - its own beehives.
The airline has installed six beehives at its Mascot head office and produced more than 600 kilograms of honey since   October. 
In collaboration with Hank's Jam, the honey is then served in Qantas lounges and on board aircraft in business and first class.
Qantas head of environment Alan Milne said the project began as an idea from a staff member who wanted to help the company's sustainability pledge. Mr Milne said the bees were one way the company was doing what it could to reduce its carbon footprint.
Bees are an important cross-pollinator and are essential for the ecosystem. If they were removed from the environment, plants would suffer and expire, which would in turn have an impact on those animal species that depend upon those plants for their own survival.
Mr Milne said that the airline "[tried] to be leaders [among Australian companies] in the sustainability and environmental space".
Mr Milne said it was not until the airline installed the hives and began to produce honey that Qantas realised it could be used within the business.
"We were producing more honey than we thought, so [we decided to ] see what we could do with it," Mr Milne said. "We started with the first-class lounge and then we had enough to blend it with our usual supplier [of honey], Hank's Jams, which led to us providing it on board."
Mr Milne said the airline's passengers were intrigued by the branded jars of honey.
It is expected more Qantas sites will have hives installed later this year to increase production.
The airline, which is the presenting sponsor of the Australian Financial Review Top Restaurants, is working on a bespoke dish that features the honey for customers in the first-class lounge, to be released later this year.
Qantas is the only ASX 200 company, and one of the first outside the restaurant industry, to install beehives and to then harvest honey for use in its own business.
Macquarie has also installed hives on its buildings but they are not used within the business.
Urban Bee Hive co-owner Doug Purdie said having the hives near the planes did not affect the bees.
"If anything, there is a lot of open space at the airport for bees to access flowering plants," Mr Purdie said.
"You'd be surprised how well they do. There is also a canal which means water and making plants grow all year round, which is good for the bees."
The Australian Financial Review Top Restaurants top 100 list will be announced at an ceremony in Sydney on   May 2. For more information and to view the list of 500 restaurants see australiastoprestaurants.com.