Say hello to
our founders.

Starling, formerly BLSH Delivery, was founded in 2020 by Sarah and Kate Brown, two sisters who go together like PB & J.

Food has always held a special place in Sarah and Kate’s lives. Growing up they spent more weekends than they can count with their grandparents learning how to make chocolate treats and decorating sugar cookies. These days, Sarah enjoys cooking for friends and discovering the world’s cultures through regional cuisines, and Kate, super-mom of two, carries a keen ability for baking, always bringing her latest recipes to family occasions.

For the Brown sisters, food isn’t just a necessity, it’s a thoughtful way to connect with friends, family, and community.

We spread love for good food.

Our story

In 2020, during the height of pandemic lockdowns and as many small businesses shifted to the realities of running online stores, Sarah and Kate noticed an unfortunate truth: at the time, it was actually more convenient to buy from big name online marketplaces, than the local shops in their Toronto, Ontario neighbourhoods. After seeing one too many shops shut their doors for good, the Brown sisters decided it was time to find a way to help.

BLSH Delivery: Buy local, stay home

BLSH began as a movement to support local businesses – an affordable on-demand home delivery service for Toronto's local shops. We set out to deliver retail goods of all kinds, but our first customer was a gluten, nut, and sugar-free home baker who needed their chocolatey brownies delivered. At the time, we thought it was bizarre they'd reach out to us (because everyone knows of a four-letter delivery service we assumed could do that job). Then, every week, more and more bakers contacted us. We had to ask why.

Finding our groove

It turns out the food delivery revolution of the past decade was not a revolution for bakers and other specialty food artisans. In fact, it completely passed them by. No service was offering what these talented food creators needed: a thoughtful and affordable scheduled delivery service with professional drivers that could get fragile food creations to foodie fans safely, on-time, and while they're fresh. That's when we had our ‘aha!’ moment.

Local delivery for bakers and other specialty food artisans

We realized we had exactly what it would take to make such a service a reality: a fleet of exceptional drivers and hard-earned logistical know-how. That’s when we leaned in and focused our efforts on creating our B2B and B2C specialty food delivery service for Toronto and Southern Ontario. From the ground up, we thoughtfully designed our unique local delivery service to handle the complex requirements of highly perishable, fragile, and temperature-controlled foods. Our bread and butter became helping artisans spread the love for good food, giving them back the time to focus on what they do best.

In the summer of 2023, we transitioned from BLSH Delivery to Starling Innovations Inc. (or Starling for short). This new brand identity was our way of conveying an enduring pledge to amplify the success and growth of our artisan partners, going beyond our roots as a local specialty food delivery service.