What’s in a name? From BLSH Delivery to Starling Innovations Inc.
Big news: from July 1, 2023, BLSH Delivery is Starling Innovations Inc., but you can call us Starling for short. Find us at trystarling.com from next week.
Hold on a second. How did we get here? I have a story for you.
We made BLSH Delivery for our community
In December 2020, I was frustrated – why was it harder to buy from the small businesses in my own neighbourhood than ordering from Amazon? It wasn't the first time I’d felt like this either (more like the 100th). And then, Toronto started what would go on as the longest continuous lockdown in the Western world, which gave me time to think about what small part I could play in supporting small business owners in my community.
A simple little idea to 'Buy Local and Stay Home' (a.k.a. BLSH) was born. It took shape as a little local delivery service by locals for locals. I hoped we found a solution for friends and neighbours to help them choose local.
BLSH found a home with specialty food delivery
Something unexpected happened after that. People we didn’t know started using BLSH. Vintage clothiers, hardware stores, busy parents, Kijiji moguls, garden enthusiasts, and bakers (so, so many bakers). Funnily enough, no one could say the name: blish, bleesh, b.l.s.h, blush – are you a cosmetics company? But, however they said it, people kept hearing about 'BLSH Delivery' and wanted to try out our small-idea-turned-business.
It was curators of highly perishable foods, bakers, and other specialty food artisans who gave us the warmest welcome and confided in us their greatest challenges. They kept telling us: in a perfect world, there's a service like a FedEx, but for perishable goods. Something with reach that's affordable and professional, but without the overnight warehouse storage and high risk of damage for their fragile food.
All at once it felt: (1) completely crazy to not make this elusive service a reality and (2) extremely confusing no one else felt the same way. In hindsight, we were in a pretty sweet spot to make this happen. We’d built an amazing group of drivers who shared the same goals as us, learned invaluable care instructions from our small business partners, and we’d developed some pretty cool delivery optimization skills along the way. It just meant we’d need to focus on being the best at this one thing.
A name for who we are today and want to be tomorrow
This brings me back to the name. 'BLSH' is a testament to our original and enduring promise to make supporting our neighbours easier. But, it falls short of describing the network that makes it all happen, which we believe is greater than the sum of its parts.
Well, have you heard of the starling? You’ve probably seen one. Actually, you’ve probably seen many. These small birds, some with an iridescent purple-green plumage, often fly about in large flocks, a murmuration. These murmurations resemble waves of black specs in the sky, breaking and forming again, flowing as naturally as water does. It's a spectacular sight. It also has a function. A murmuration is made of hundreds to thousands of starlings coming together in harmony, attracting more as they move around their roosting grounds and beyond. Each new starling makes the group stronger, despite each individual bird's small size. It’s this kind of incredible coordination we seek to embody and is the inspiration behind our new name.
We are Starling Innovations Inc.
We’re excited to introduce ourselves to you as Starling. Our name change is us making clear to all our small business partners and those yet to discover us that we’re focused on finding new ways to help them succeed.
As Starling, we are still the same band of community-loving food lovers. We’ll continue to listen to feedback as we maintain and improve our specialty food delivery service for artisans. But we want you to know you can expect more to come: we’ve only just gotten started at building the kind of logistics partner small businesses deserve. Over time, you’ll see us introduce new capabilities to grow the reach of our small business partners, helping unlock new potential.
To everyone who has come along with us this far, thank you for joining us on this unexpected journey.
We mean it when we say we would not have gotten here with you. <3
Sarah Brown
Founder & CEO
Starling Innovations Inc.