Dandy Blend is a delicious dandelion-based coffee alternative.
Dandy Blend, Created by the “King of Dandelions”
Dandy Blend is a caffeine-free coffee alternative that was started by the “King of Dandelions” – botanist Dr. Peter Gail in 1994. Our herbal, dandelion-based beverage has a smell and even taste comparable to coffee. It’s the perfect swap for an afternoon cup of joe, and a great tool for people looking to reduce or eliminate their caffeine intake without sacrificing flavor. The goal of Dandy Blend is to offer the best tasting, high quality coffee alternative available at an affordable price.
Dandy Blend has continued to be a family-run business for just shy of 30 years now. You can find us online and in select specialty stores, alternative medicine offices, and coffee shops across Canada and the U.S. Our beloved product is also available around the world through iHerb.com. If traveling the word you may be tickled to see it on coffee house shelves in Hong Kong or boutique markets in France. Dandy Blend is instant and soluble, so you can make it quickly and easily in hot or cold water, milk, or any liquid base of your choice. It also can be easily incorporated into recipes like desserts, baked goods, and even cocktails. Dandelion root has long been hailed for its various health benefits and we’re proud to feature it as one of Dandy Blend’s ingredients. We have two main blends – an original blend and an organic blend. Our headquarters are in Ohio and our ingredients are harvested and packaged in Poland, where they have strict non-GMO practices and well-established quality control. With health and Mother Earth as the focus of Dr. Gail’s career, Poland was an easy choice for production. We’re passionate about what we do, and we love adding new Dandy Blend fans to our community. Our fans are made up of everyone you could imagine. From men to women, mothers to children and coffee lovers alike, people just love our product.
Why Dr. Peter Gail Created Dandy Blend
The founder of Dandy Blend, Dr. Peter Gail, dedicated his life to studying wild edible plants – particularly dandelions. He poured his endless knowledge into recipes, books, and eventually, Dandy Blend. His passion for plants was part destiny, part passion. Growing up, Dr. Gail’s father had a gentleman’s farm – a farm for pleasure, not profit. After his father’s death, his mother learned about a plant that they could forage called lambsquarters. Dr. Gail and his younger brother went out every morning before school to forage for the plant to supplement their produce so that they could have fresh herbs and vegetables every day.
Dr. Gail went on to get his Ph.D. in botany from Rutgers University in New Jersey and was a professor at Cleveland State University, in Cleveland Ohio for 16 years. During that time, his primary research focus was on how various cultures used backyard weeds for food and medicine. He amassed one of the largest collections of recipes and folklore for wild edible plants in the United States.
Flash forward many years and Dr. Gail was on the hunt for a nutritious, decaffeinated beverage he could drink every day. He was excited to discover a drink while in Canada that claimed to be made out of dandelion root. As an edible plant expert, he was very familiar with using dandelion root as a digestive. He liked it and decided to bring it back for others to try. However, he later learned that the drink wasn’t made with the ingredients it claimed, so Dr. Gail decided to create his own recipe and Dandy Blend was born. What started as a basement business grew to become a wildly popular beverage available in thousands of locations across the U.S. and Canada with shipping available worldwide.
Eventually, the business grew to the point where his son-in-law Dominic, grandson Anthony, and granddaughter Gina joined his team to assist. His daughter, Karin, joined the business full-time after Dr. Gail became sick in 2017. He passed in 2018. The business has grown organically over the years, and has continued to honor Dr. Gail’s legacy.
Today, Dandy Blend is enjoyed in millions of homes. We want to bring joy to the world, one cup of dandelion “coffee” at a time in honor of the late Dr. Gail. We enjoy sponsoring local charity events, with our most recent one being the local town baseball team. We love supporting small businesses, our local community, and farmers around the world who are dedicated to healthy farming practices.
Business Challenges Are Welcomed
We’re not unique in most of the challenges we face as a business. The cost of doing business is growing extraordinarily fast. We’ve had to raise our prices since the pandemic. This was a scary move as an organization, but what we love is that even with growing prices, we remain more cost-effective than competing coffee alternatives, as well as coffee. Our focus is quality. In order to continue to deliver the caliber of product that we do, we’d rather have to raise prices than cut corners on our farming practices or ingredients.
A quirky challenge we’ve had to overcome is that Dandy Blend used to include sugar beet root. The high quality sugar beet root we were getting in the past became unavailable, so we decided to remove it altogether. The flavor is nearly identical, so we weren’t too worried about our customers missing it.
Dandy Blend knows how to have fun
We embrace celebrating when we can. One such example is National Coffee Day which comes around once a year and has become our opportunity to show off how you can enjoy the taste of coffee without the caffeine or other side effects. We take it one step further and use the annual holiday to offer a special shopping deal to our customers that won’t give them the caffeinated jitters.
We do something similar for an annual celebration that has been gaining popularity over the past few years. In lieu of jumping on the trend of the shopping holidays that follow Thanksgiving every year, known as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we stirred in a different direction and introduced The Dandy Days.
The Dandy Days is a four-day special event featuringgifts with purchase, discounts, and other delicious deals that change every year. It’s our way of staying dandy and staying different during a time when we want to shine positive vibes for all to be had.
Dandy Blend is everywhere
With the health and wellness industry continuing to boom every year, we’re seeing more and more customers finding their way to Dandy Blend. Some people find us via encouraging friends who want them to try it, and others are on an intentional journey to reduce their daily caffeine intake. For us, we just love the flavor and everything dandelions represent to our family.
Another exciting opportunity along with the growing interest in nutrition is big brand partnerships. This February, we’ll be teaming up with DaVinci Gourmet at the 2023 Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival presented by Capital One – one of the nation’s premier foodie and beverage events. Dandy Blend acts so similarly to coffee in terms of its preparation, aroma, and flavor that this partnership was a no-brainer. The brand we’re working with has specialty coffee syrups such as vanilla, hazelnut, and lavender that we’re going to showcase in a Dandy Blend Frappé. We’re so excited to team up with this market leader in a lounge pop-up with an “artist’s coffee garden” theme.
Wondering where to buy Dandy Blend? Look no further than our website at DandyBlend.com, or U.S. customers can shop on Amazon and international customers can shop via iHerb. Located in Canada? No problem. Our product is available through Raw Elements Inc. there. Dandy Blend comes in a variety of sizes ranging from single serve pouches up to our popular 2-pound bag. The website also boasts branded merchandise including a hat, sweatshirt, tumbler, tote bag, stickers, and more meaning Dandy Fans can show their support.
Dandy Blend’s Advice
Our best advice would be to stay calm and focused, and expect turbulence. Remember that you only see the good that happens to other brands, including competitors. On the surface, people might think we live a happy-go-lucky, easy life just sharing an herbal coffee blend. While we love what we do, it doesn’t come without challenges.
We’ve had our fair share of obstacles to overcome, and unfortunately, there will always be people who want to bring you down – whether for their own benefit or out of boredom. Don’t pay attention to the trolls. There is a huge market out there, and if your product addresses a problem, then consider yourself a success. Focus on your target audience, the people that love what you do, and the people who want to see you succeed. The more you aim to make those people happy, the more your business will grow. Remember, if you are always spreading peace and happiness (Dr. Gail’s motto) in every business move you make, peace and happiness (and success!) will find you. Good luck!
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