Celebrating 10 Years

This year, Charlie & Ivy’s is delighted to celebrate 10 years in the food and drink business. As a small, independent business this is a huge milestone for us, and we have loved every minute of our foodie journey so far. We’ve had our challenges, but the support we have received from the foodie community has been humbling at times. We thought in way of celebration, we would share some of the highlights of our journey so far.

But first, let’s head to life before Charlie & Ivy’s even existed! A family business, the brand was founded by Adam, his father Ben and me, his wife Jennie in 2014.

In the beginning

Adam had taken over the tenancy of his family farm on the Yorkshire Wolds back in 2001. Having farmed for a number of years, it became apparent that the farm would need to diversify, and he started to investigate opportunities. He was keen to find a diversification that made use of crops already grown on the farm. In 2008 Breckenholme Trading Company was launched, specialising in cold pressing rapeseed oil. Initially our aim was to press and sell oil to the bulk market, but as we trialled the product at farmers markets to gain consumer feedback, we unexpectedly we got a real taste for getting out and seeing our customers!

This love of getting out and meeting people led us to develop out first (and still popular) regional brand Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil back in 2008. We attended lots of local food festivals and farmers markets and saw the brands presence grow within Yorkshire’s farm shops and delis.

After building Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil throughout our home county, we realised there was space in the market place for something a bit different. All the regional rapeseed oil brands, including us, were putting out product ranges that were quite similar and heavily promoting on their own regionality. We felt there was opportunity to do thing a little differently! Charlie & Ivy’s was born.

Our first steps

Charlie and Ivy’s was inspired by the Mediterranean approach to dining, sharing food and families coming together. When you look at it, this must have been influenced by our farming background. Big, noisy, family meals with food bringing everyone together!

Adam had the idea to launch a range of bread dipping oils. We’d seen a few in delis, but nothing championing cold pressed British rapeseed oil. All were imported and using blended oils, so we set about developing products and brought a range of bread dippers to the market launching at the Country Living Fair, London in November 2014.

We knew these wouldn’t fit under our existing brand, and we wanted to opportunity to break away from being just a regional product. So, we set about creating Charlie & Ivy’s, a brand named after our children. It seemed the most suitable option for a small family business!

Not always right the first time

Having launched the brand at the end of 2014 we realised it wasn’t working as well as we believed it could. We undertook some research and realised that our branding and labels were working against us. Busy and dark, they didn’t catch people attention on the shelves. And although the bread dippers were proving popular flavours, our other products just weren’t catching people’s attention. In 2018 we completely rebranded with a fresh, bright new look, and a new range of flavours for our dressings and mayos.

The change made a huge difference to our sales, and we experienced huge growth following it. Customers were really noticing our products and we were receiving fantastic feedback from them at the food festivals and events we attended.

On the TV!

In 2016 we appeared on the BBC’s James Martin, Home Comforts programme. We welcomed his team to the farm as one of the local food and drink producers that James chose to feature from around his home town. We had a fantastic time, and it was a brilliant opportunity to show our customer the farm where all this began.

A few years ago, we started working with the team at the teleshopping channel QVC. This is great fun and an excellent opportunity to talk about our products with their presenters. We’ve seen our following grow due to our involvement on their food shows and are still airing with them today.

The Covid effect

Things were going well, the brand was growing, we were getting out on the road meeting customers, and more and more independent shops were stocking our products. By this time, Charlie & Ivy’s was available on Not on the High Street and Yumbles, as well as on our own online shop. However, most of our business was still through farm shops and delis. Then, lockdown hit!

As farmer's and food producer's we were all able to continue working and running things here on the farm, in our manufacturing unit. The farm shops we supplied saw a huge boom of support and use from the public, and online sales went crazy as everyone shifted the way they shopped. It was an opportunity to focus more on the online aspect of our website, fine tuning what we had for people to use, and be inspired. We developed our feast boxes, which launched originally with the Midsummer Feast Box and an immersive experience that people could enjoy from the comfort of their own home, whilst being supplied with the products and inspiration then needed for a celebration with friends, all be it via Zoom.

This concept, whilst no longer a live event, formed the framework of our feast box collection, still available today.

Award winning flavour

Over the past 10 years we have been delighted to be awarded a number of product awards. From Deliciously Yorkshire to Great Taste and Farm Shop & Deli Gold successes. Awards are a huge boost to all our team. From those who develop the product, to the ones who make it, pack it and send it out. We’re a small team here and the wins are certainly for us all. You can find our which products have received awards over on our awards page.

Enjoying food together

It has always been part of our ethos to create products and inspiration for everyone to create and enjoy simple food together. We are continuously creating new recipes and sharing serving ideas for a little inspiration at home. Our products aren’t complicated. Delicious flavours, simply helping your food taste amazing.

From beautiful grazing platters loaded high, to next level grilled cheese sandwich combos, we believe great flavour should be for everyone. You can discover all our recipes here.

Farming in our roots

Whilst we develop and grow Charlie & Ivy’s, we remember that farming is at the root of everything we do, and our home pressed Yorkshire Wolds grown rapeseed is at the core. We’re developing the farm to work more sustainably and regeneratively, working with nature for a better farming future.

A huge thank you!

As we look back over the last 10 years, we can’t help being proud of how far Charlie & Ivy’s has come. We are stocked in some of the UK’s greatest food halls and have even started to export to Canada. All of this could not have been achieved without our amazing customers, without you buying our bottles and jars, trying our recipes, following us on social, we just wouldn’t exist. Equally, the fantastic team that has worked with us, some from the very start, have been a part of Charlie & Ivy’s as much as we have. Their passion and enthusiasm have truly made it an enjoyable process.

We’re really excited to see what the next 10 years will bring, thank you all for joining us on our journey.

Adam, Jennie, Ben and all the team.