Bold Bean Co

A UK premium jarred-bean brand on a mission to make people obsessed with beans, sold in supermarkets and online.

About Bold Bean Co

Bold Bean Co sells premium beans and pulses in recyclable glass jars, slow-cooked with just a pinch of salt. Its range includes Queen Butter Beans, Queen Chickpeas, organic white beans and chickpeas, red kidney and black beans, and the Queen Carlin Pea. On its website it also sells baked beans, bundles, a build-your-own box, subscriptions and a cookbook called Bold Beans. The brand is certified as a B Corp.

Its mission, in its own words, is to get the world obsessed with beans, and in the Startups 100 profile its aim is to be the brand that made the world love beans. It promotes beans as a healthy, sustainable and non-ultra-processed alternative to meat, and says it keeps looking for new sustainable beans and legumes to bring to market. In 2024 it launched the Queen Carlin Pea, described as the UK's first British-grown jarred bean, nationally at Waitrose.

Bold Bean Co was founded in 2021 by Amelia Christie-Miller and Ed Whelpton. Amelia says she started out disliking beans until she tried heirloom butter beans straight from a jar in Spain. She had worked at a food sustainability start-up and used the British Library's Business and IP Centre to research the market before launching. FEBE lists the company as London-based. The beans are sold across the UK in retailers including Waitrose, Sainsbury's, M&S, Booths, Ocado, Selfridges and Planet Organic.

The company calls its team bean obsessives, and its tone is playful and bold. It was ranked 38th in the 2024 Startups 100 index, up from 86th the year before, and says the beans are sold in recyclable glass jars, with recipe ideas it calls beanspo shared with about 70,000 followers on TikTok and Instagram. It has won Great Taste Awards and The Grocer's Start-up of the Year, and has climbed the Startups 100 index, where it picked up a marketing award. Its jars carry recipe ideas and a cookbook, so food writing and recipe testing are part of the brand too. The people behind a food brand like this work in product development, sourcing, supply chain, retail sales, brand and social media, design and customer service.

We did not find a staff count or a formal list of values beyond the mission. Check the Bold Bean Co website and social channels to see how the team describes itself and who it is looking to hire.

What they do

• {'desc': 'Slow-cooked beans in jars, from butter beans to chickpeas.', 'title': 'Jarred beans and pulses'}
• {'desc': 'Bundles, build-your-own box, cookbook and subscriptions.', 'title': 'Online shop'}
• {'desc': 'Sold through UK grocers and specialist food shops.', 'title': 'Supermarket range'}

Key facts

• Founded 2021 by Amelia Christie-Miller and Ed Whelpton
• B Corp certified (own site)
• Queen Carlin Pea launched at Waitrose in 2024 as the first British-grown jarred bean (own site)
• Won Great Taste Awards and The Grocer Start-up of the Year (own site)
• London-based per the FEBE Growth 100 listing

Website: boldbeanco.com