The ‘put the kettle on’ Breakfast

Appropriately at breakfast time, the topic covered for the Chamber’s latest early morning gathering was the rise of Brighton’s own tea company, Bird & Blend. Co-founder Krisi Smith took the audience on a journey from humble beginnings to the national success story that her company is today. They offer over 100 different blends of tea from their famous tea wall and are the biggest matcha supplier in the country. Bird & Blend have 14 stores for customers to taste their unusual tea blends from Brighton to Cardiff, Norwich and Manchester, plus a growing online presence.

Founded 11 years ago, Bird & Blend was originally called Bluebird Tea Co. and was conceived by Krisi and her partner Mike Turner. They were both living in Canada enjoying life as ski instructors, when Krisi came up with the idea of starting a tea company when they headed home. It was literally a back of a napkin moment in a local pub inspired by Krisi’s time working for a Canadian tea company. The name “Bluebird” came from Canadian slang for a day which had both fresh snow and clear blue skies - something that happened only a few times a year. Schools and businesses would close for the day, so everyone could hit the slopes. Krisi thought this was a great metaphor for pursuing your passions and knowing what was really important in life.

Although now describing herself as Chief Tea Mixologist, a familiar face on TV and podcasts talking about tea and the author of a book on the subject, Krisi confessed she didn’t know too much about tea when she decided it was the right product to launch her fledgling business. She knew she wanted to start something with a community focus that was kind to the planet and saw a gap in the market back in the UK. In North America, she felt there was a lot of innovation in the way tea was consumed and presented, but back then in the UK, tea was either a bog standard supermarket staple or something that was super premium or extolled for its mystical health properties. She felt there could be a middle ground where people could access and enjoy the wide range of tea blends that she sells today from seasonal specials like Cream Egg tea to warming favourites like Gingerbread Chai and Gingernut Matcha.

Once the couple were back in the UK, they were very far from having a business empire as they started the company in the back bedroom of Krisi’s mother’s house in Nottingham. Krisi had struggled to hold down a regular job having got through 39 different roles by her mid-twenties from debt collector to working in a stables and at IKEA. She realised that some of the things that her previous bosses and school-teachers found to be negative like asking too many questions or talking too much were just the skills she needed to be an entrepreneur.

From the East Midlands, Krisi and Mike set off to conquer the UK and share their newly created teas by visiting local markets and food events using an old van. They travelled from Bakewell to Glastonbury often sleeping in the van, but connecting everywhere with potential future customers and getting great feedback. It was almost a kind of informal market research with the community they built up a very important part of the success the brand enjoys to this very day.

Within two years of travelling around the country, they had built up an invaluable database of 2,000 “fans” of the brand who had tried their tea. In 2014, there came a breakthrough moment, when they were invited to attend the Sussex Food Festival in Brighton when another food company dropped out. Although they had no Sussex connection and had never visited Brighton before, the organisers recognised that they had the right vibe. They completely sold out of stock at the festival and loved meeting the other local producers who told them that they had the right stuff to enjoy success in Brighton.

Wandering through the North Laines after the event, Krisi came across Borderline Records and as a keen vinyl collector, she headed in to check it out. The owners David and Sian were also keen advocates of the Brighton scene and as they were keen to retire soon asked the couple if they would be interested in taking the lease of the shop to set up a base. Six months later they set Bluebird Tea Co. up in a bright orange shop in Brighton, courtesy of this chance meeting.

Working hard and sleeping in the shop at first, they built up the business until they could also open up a warehouse in Goring by Sea. By 2016 they wanted to expand to more shops and realised the need to professionalise the business, so landlords would take them seriously. After raising money on CrowdCube helped by their strong community of tea fans, they were able to open shops as far afield as Manchester and back in Nottingham and were becoming a chain of specialty tea stores.

However, there was a setback when their growing national fame attracted a potential lawsuit over the name “Bluebird”. Although she had a strong attachment to the brand and it connected back to the genesis of the business in Canada, Krisi realised it would be dangerous to spend lots of money on legal fees fighting a bigger company, so they pivoted to being called “Bird & Blend” still retaining a tie to the original name of the business and the colour.

With seven stores now, they hit a further bump in the road when the pandemic hit in 2020. Half of the staff had to be furloughed when retail stores were shut during lockdown, but at the same time their online business exploded in popularity. As some businesses faltered during the pandemic, there were a number of unusual opportunities to lease shops in prime locations, so they took the option on four new stores during this period, despite not being able to open up until after restrictions were lifted. This gamble paid off and after crowdfunding in 2022 they built up again to the 14 stores they have now.

Started from just £5,000 in savings, Bird & Blend now have 170 employees and are looking at an annual turnover of 8.5 million pounds with plans for more stores and a loyal set of online customers. Krisi puts her success down to focusing on a business that has physical spaces, but is all about human faces boosted by the strength of the community of tea lovers who have been with them since the very earliest days.

A big thank you to Krisi for joining us at our March Breakfast and sharing her career journey. Find out more about Bird & Blend and explore their teas here.

Barney Durrant is Director at Bluebell Marketing – experts in digital marketing strategy, paid social campaigns, social media management, analytics, copywriting, SEO, training and PPC / Google ads. Find out more here.

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