Our Story
Crafted for the curious
Our Founders
"We aim to change the way the world drinks"
Ryan and Chris have been friends since their early teens, where Chris spent most of his Saturday afternoons chasing Ryan around a football pitch. The pair went onto study Sports Science, Nutrition and Business together at the same University and where their initial conversations toward applying these subjects into the real world were instigated.
Ryan (left), the creative dreamer for extravagant ideas has a wealth of experience in the consumer goods sector, working with some of the worlds leading brands.
Chris (right), admittedly prefers to administer tempered pragmatism has over a decade of exceptional history in the finance sector, helping small businesses with their growth plans - the duo has a nice ‘blend’ of skills that complement each other, allowing them to execute their passion and share their creations with the rest of us lucky folk.
Our Story
At Blendsmiths, a love for tasty drinks, good people and challenging the status quo is at the heart of what we do. The exploration of taste started long before our launch in 2017, but ever since then, we haven't wavered on our commitment to providing a range of exciting products using the best quality ingredients we can get our hands on.
Our blends are designed to bring joy, through intriguing flavours and wonderful colour. We really care about the planet and the people that live here, so you can sleep easily at night knowing our ingredients are ethically sourced and sustainability is a major consideration in all the decisions we make.
Blendsmiths is built on life long friendships, bringing people together through conversation and a smile, all whilst sipping on a delicious brew.
Our aim is to provide a small piece of happiness to your daily routine and we won't rest until we get there.
The Blendsmiths
The beginnings
Manchester
Est. 2017
In true Steve Jobs style, with limited budget there was no other option but to get to work in Chris's garage.
Launch
Just as one of the UKs coldest winters on record was about to come down, we were not to be deterred by the aptly named 'beast from the east'.
We headed on down to our closest 'speciality' coffee shop in the small Lancashire town of Bury and presented our products to Dan, the owner of Bloom Coffee Co.
5 years on and Dan is a dear friend of the family and Bloom continues to serve Blendsmiths to this day.
Community
2018
Our creations started to make a name for themselves and were being stocked in some of the best shops
around the UK.
Family
The Blendsmiths team grew by one with the arrival
of little Fletcher.
He became chief taster and as you can see, he was delighted with the Matcha milkshake.
Design & Packaging
2019
An upgrade on our initial packaging and marketing material began. Gradual development on Tiffanys (Ryan's wife) original sketches. We wanted to bring further colour and a more amplified element of design into our packaging. We teamed up with Wildnut Studios Design Company to bring our ideas to life.
Furthermore, we enhanced the sustainability of the packaging material to be fully recyclable.
Big Moves
We moved into a fully operational site where we would manage production, fulfilment and stock. We also registered BRC and now one of only two vegan manufacturing sites in the UK, how good?!
European Neighbours
2020
We had just started to venture into Europe with Blendsmiths now being served in 5 different countries when the UK sadly decided to leave Europe and COVID-19 struck.
Better Together
Nothing good comes easy and relationships take work. Thankfully our Spanish partners, El Magnifico felt the same and saw the importance of sticking together.
Blendsmiths continues to be successfully delivered to cafes all over Barcelona.
Our Local Community
Too many people are sleeping rough on our streets and Manchester is one of the worst areas for it in the UK. We committed to donating a % of every Blendsmiths sale to the charity Mustard Tree - helping the most vulnerable people, tackling both causes and consequences of poverty.
Heads Down
2021
We all know what the middle of COVID-19 times were like - sit down and buckle up.
We ploughed all our energy into streamlining our processes and just as prices for everything were going up, we were working on ways to best support customers when they needed it most.
Brand Progression
2022
Brand evolution was always part of our development plans and after meeting design agency, Creative Spark, we knew they were the partners to bring our brand to life.
It was important for us work with a local company with a vast amount of experience. Blendsmiths had built a lovely little name for itself in our industry over the years but we needed to reach a larger audience.
Creative Spark spent 6 months getting to know our brand before repositioning our proposition.
Creative minds and empathetic humans resulted in a beautiful outcome.
Retail
2023
It's something you can only dream about when you first start a business.
Being recognised and then stocked by one of the UK's most prestigious retailers, Selfridges & Co is an absolute honour and a privilege.
We are stocked in all 3 of their stores across the UK.
Working with independents as a wholesaler is what we do but we will continue to venture into other categories with alternative products in the future. Watch this space......
