Meet Ian and Carly Blessing | Co-Founders, All The Bitter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ian and Carly Blessing and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ian and Carly, as a parent, what have you done for you children that you feel has had the most significant impact?
That’s an easy one. When our first son, Jack, was 5 months old we quit drinking together. After wonderful careers in wine and hospitality, it became clear very quickly that we couldn’t continue drinking the way we had been. We don’t have an off switch, and newborns don’t care if you’re hungover when they wake up at 4 am.

We didn’t know it at the time, but quitting drinking would lead to founding All The Bitter, a line of non-alcoholic cocktail bitters, that we started because we wanted to have complete control and flexibility over our work schedules. We loved restaurant work, but the late nights weren’t conducive to raising two small boys. Of course, now we’re working more hours and making less money—that’s the life of a bootstrapped startup business—but it allows us total control over our schedules. And just as importantly, we’re building something that our kids get to be a part of, that they can be proud of, and that will be theirs some day.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
We make a line of alcohol-free cocktail bitters called All The Bitter, and what sets us apart is the transparency and authenticity of our products. What started as a husband-and-wife operation now employs three people—all friends and family—who make our award-winning bitters entirely by hand from raw, organic ingredients, without any added flavors, extracts, colors, etc. It’s a long process, taking over 2 months to make, using 2-3x times the amount of raw ingredients compared to alcoholic bitters. We believe that people connect with the story as much as the product itself, and we share the entire process on our social media accounts (instagram.com/allthebitter).

It certainly wasn’t easy getting to this point. Our backgrounds are in hospitality—we worked in food and wine before this—we had never run a business or dealt with the intricacies of packaged food. It would be impossible to list all of the challenges here, but the short answer is this: when you’re passionate about and believe in what you do, it never truly feels like work. Monday is our favorite day of the week.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Chico is a very bike-friendly city, so we’d probably hop on the bike and take them through Bidwell Park, a huge park that runs through most of the town, and we’d stop at the Made In Chico Store downtown, where you can find our bitters and a selection of incredible handmade local goods. We’d definitely show them our production facility in Meriam Park, which happens to be home to some of our favorite places to eat and drink in the city: DayCamp Coffee, Roselle Bar & Lounge, and Savor Ice Cream. Meriam Park also hosts free music at The Barn, which is where you’ll find us most Friday nights. And finally, no trip to Chico is complete without a visit to Sierra Nevada Brewery, and with their new non-alcoholic IPA and Golden Ale, it’s a stop that everyone can enjoy!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Honestly, there are way too many people to recognize all of the help, mentorship, and support we’ve had along the way. There’s a fun stat we like to share: in our first year of business, we (Carly and Ian) physically produced and shipped 30,000 bottles of bitters by ourselves. And while that’s true, it doesn’t even begin to tell the story of the countless people behind the scenes who offered advice and encouragement, the bartenders and influencers who promoted our product, or the connections we were offered which helped sell those first 30,000 bottles. The non-alcoholic beverage space is incredible for many reasons, but one of its best traits is how free everyone is with their help and support.

If we’re going to dedicate a shoutout, though, that one is easy: our moms. They’ve been our biggest cheerleaders throughout this experience — we wouldn’t have even made it off the ground without their support.

Website: allthebitter.com

Instagram: instagram.com/allthebitter

Facebook: facebook.com/allthebitter