ARTIK is a story of big dreams accompanied by constant efforts. A story of mistakes evolving towards successes. But most of all, ARTIK is the story of the hard-working days of each person who wants to fulfill ends in life while keeping a clean, orderly and pleasant home.
Our vision is to change your attitude towards cleaning.
Who are we?
We are brothers. “We” also includes Toby, our faithful chocolate lab. Daniel is a business mind, Tomas is an engineer. And Toby is the official shredder . We like to work hard, and we like to work with a purpose: to honor God in everything we do.
How did we start?
Like many entrepreneurial stories ours started in the garage, where we began to mix and develop products about 9 years ago.
Our first finished product was an All-Purpose Cleaner formulated by a PhD Chemical Engineer (whom still works with us). During the following years we fine-tuned our formula many times and we researched fragrances to create unique scents in order to make cleaning even more enjoyable. Each iteration was followed by countless trials and consumer surveys until we accomplished a product superior to anything else in the shelves.
Our mind set aspired to “The best or nothing”. Before approving a formula or fragrance, it must had earned #1 on a series of blind tests and blind smellings. After making sure our product was at its best quality and approval from customers, we started selling in local groceries and mom-and-pop stores. We received so much positive feedback, which encouraged us to press on although we were far from making any profit. But it was totally worth it: After a few months selling, we noticed ARTIK already had many hardcore fans!
It’s not that easy…
During our first sales to a supermarket chain, the store manager listened to our pitch while sitting at a table in the receiving bay. The table was so dirty that after we cleaned it he said: “I didn’t know this table was white!”. That got us a deal, however, growth meant that we had to overcome other obstacles and hustles. For example, during our first large scale production, the factory colored the products incorrectly, so we decided to scrap the whole batch and re-mix it ourselves. On the right, you will find Tomas mixing a new batch, which cost us almost all our savings. And on another occasion, the sprayers for our 9 Oz trial-sized cleaner did not arrive on time but we were reluctant to deliver an order late. We decided to use the sprayers for the 23 Oz unit and cut the length of the dip tube in our garage so they could fit in the 9 Oz size. We built a machine during the weekend to cut more than 8,000 dip tubes in only a couple of days to accomplish the delivery on time. Below, on the left, you can see the machine in operation.
There are many more stories we could tell you about our journey with ARTIK and they would all show that perseverance and effort do pay off. The 9 Oz unit we delivered on time lead to our first sales on a major national retailer while the uncompromised quality of our products met the expectations of our customers (and still does!).
In 2013, we received the Best New Product of the Year Award from Progressive Grocers, being the only cleaner to receive it. In 2014, we received the Certification for the OECD310 Biodegradability Standard for our All-Purpose Cleaner. In 2018 we received a certification from the EPA’s Safer Choice program for All-Purpose Cleaner. We are currently expanding our product line and expanding sales within the USA and South America.