Okay so I'll be honest, I never sat down one day and said "we are going to build a B2B empire." That's not how any of this works, at least not for us. What actually happened was more like we kept saying yes to the right people, kept showing up with the right product, and one day I looked around and realized we were supplying some of the biggest names in food and retail with our Chalk Ink® Markers. And I was like… huh. Okay. Let's talk about that.

Because here's the thing about B2B at this scale. One relationship with the right chain doesn't mean one location. It means hundreds. Sometimes thousands. The ripple effect of getting your product into a national brand is something that's genuinely hard to wrap your head around until you're living it. And we are living it.

Starbucks Has Been With Us for Years and It Just Keeps Growing

Starbucks is one of those relationships we don't take for granted because we've been in it long enough to know how rare it is. They've been a Chalk Ink® client for 25 years, and what's happening now is that the baristas who use our markers every single day are the ones driving the next chapter. They know our product. They love our product. And right now they're pushing to get new colors and color packs added through their purchaser.

That's the kind of thing that doesn't happen with a product people are just tolerating. When the people actually doing the work advocate for you from the inside, that's when you know you've built something real. We're excited about where this relationship is headed and we'll keep showing up for it the same way we always have.

The Dream List: Brands We're Ready For Right Now

Every now and then, I catch myself staring at a menu board inside a Chipotle or a Domino's or a Subway, and my brain just starts going. I can see exactly what their chalk art situation could be doing, what colors would land hardest, what a well-executed board would do for the vibe of the whole space. It's honestly a compulsion.

So yes, we have a dream client list. And it includes names like Domino's, Subway, Chipotle, and Dutch Brothers, to name a few. What we bring to those conversations isn't just a marker in a box. It's a creative perspective on what their signage could actually be doing for their brand. We've seen firsthand what happens when a team goes from generic printed signs to hand-done boards that feel alive — customers notice, they photograph it, they feel something about the space that they didn't feel before. That's not a small thing. That's brand experience, and it starts with the right tools in the right hands.

If you work at any of these brands and you've ever thought "our boards could be doing more," you're right. And when you reach out to us you're not going to get a canned response with a pricing sheet. You're going to get us actually thinking about your brand and what's possible.

McDonald's: A Relationship in the Making

Speaking of dream clients, McDonald's is one we're actively working on. We now have a contact there we're building a relationship with, and the fit makes a lot of sense. Our 15 millimeter smiley face yellow  is practically made for their brand — it's the color that reads clearest on dark surfaces, and the tip style delivers that hand-done warmth that makes a massive corporation feel a little human and approachable. Nothing to announce just yet, but the door is open, and we're walking through it.

The Staples Relationship and Why It Matters for B2B Buyers

Here's a practical piece of news that matters if you're on the procurement side of things. We are launching a major relationship with Staples Business, and what that means is that B2B buyers now have two ways to get Chalk Ink® into their locations. You can come directly to us, which we love, or you can go through Staples Business and work through that channel.

For procurement teams, this is a big deal. Approved vendor lists are real, purchasing structures are real, and Staples Business is already living on a lot of those lists. So if your organization is set up to buy through them, we can make that work seamlessly. We've gotten pretty good at making the logistics side of B2B not a headache, because we know that's what actually determines whether a relationship works at scale.

Let's Talk

We can get you the quantity you need. We can work on the price point that makes sense for your operation. We distribute directly or through Staples Business, depending on what works better for your purchasing structure.

We also do retail because that's where Chalk Ink® started, and it will always be part of what we do. But the B2B side is where a lot of our energy is right now, and honestly, looking back at how we got here — just kept saying yes, kept showing up, kept making a product people actually wanted to fight for from the inside — I don't think it was an accident at all. I think it was the plan, we just didn't know it yet.

If you want to talk shop, find us. We're not hard to reach, and we are absolutely ready for what comes next.

You can always drop us a line with any questions, comments, or ideas you have by filling out our Contact Us Form. Make sure to also follow us on our social pages, where we post all types of content:

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