In the gleaming aisles of Costco, among the towering displays and endless rows of products, you’ll find Schmidt Bros. – a cutlery brand that has revolutionized the premium knife market with its blend of quality and affordability. The journey to those shelves, however, began in a humble basement workshop where two brothers learned the art of craftsmanship from their father. As Jordan and Jared Schmidt celebrate their company’s 15th anniversary, they shared their remarkable journey from that basement to building a cutlery empire that spans over 10,000 retail doors.
The Schmidt brothers’ story begins with their parents – a father who immigrated from Germany at age 28, bringing with him expertise as a mechanic and engineer, and a mother whose family background in restaurants and cooking would shape their future perspective on kitchenware.
Their father’s basement workshop became their first classroom, where hands-on learning was always encouraged.
“Did you guys break into the workshop from time to time?” I asked.
“We definitely received our share of scars on our hands,” Jordan recalls with a laugh. “But I wouldn’t call it breaking in as much as him inviting us in and always wanting to teach us from a young age. We were always with him tinkering in the shop, just learning as much as we could.”
Music played a significant role in the brothers’ upbringing, with both sharing similar tastes shaped by the era they grew up in. “Growing up in the 90s, I couldn’t miss out on Pearl Jam and Nirvana,” Jordan remembers. “That music really impacted me – and it was eye-opening because it was the kind of music that had never been heard before.”
Jared’s musical journey paralleled his brother’s but with his own twist: “I was right there with him in the sense of that 90s era,” he says, adding that he also ventured into heavier territory with bands like Metallica and Pantera. Their sister contributed to the musical potpourri with her love for Motley Crue and the big hair bands of the 80s.
Before founding Schmidt Bros., the siblings took remarkably different paths that would later complement each other perfectly. Jordan pursued an unconventional combination of music and philosophy at the University of Michigan. This unique background would later prove invaluable in brand building.
“As we started creating the brand from inception, it felt like we were building an album,” Jordan explained. “That’s kind of the way that I looked at everything. Nothing can be out of place. The voice and the descriptions of everything must be consistent across the board.”
The philosophy degree, far from being impractical, provided crucial insights into business strategy. “From a business standpoint, who is our audience? What are we trying to communicate to them? How will they perceive what we’re doing?” Jordan reflects on how his academic background influenced their approach to business.
After college, Jordan spent time bartending in New York City, working his way up from bars to high-end establishments. He views this period as his “graduate degree” in understanding people: “You learn so much about people coming from different walks of life, and the conversations that open up are just things that you never thought you would hear or discuss.”
Jared took a more traditional route, majoring in marketing and supply chain management. After graduation, he worked in supply chain and half-joked that he was initially focusing on basic survival. “Like any sort of college grad, my first primary goal was to find a job in order to make a living. And how do you make enough of a living to move out of your parents’ house?”
The brothers’ path to entrepreneurship began when their father started working on housewares projects, bringing his engineering expertise to kitchen product design. Jordan joined first, followed by Jared, and they initially focused on private label design work. However, the 2008 financial crisis would prove to be the catalyst for their own brand.
“The idea for us was: How do we make something that’s great quality, but at an affordable price point?” Jordan explains. “There’s a lot of people that need to eat at home nowadays, many who can’t afford expensive items. Can we make something that will serve their needs while making it a successful business?”
Their father’s industry connections proved invaluable, though not in the way you might expect. “He didn’t have a deep knowledge of housewares,” Jared notes. “He had an opportunity with a project that he got involved in, and he started doing design work, but he was really doing it through a designer’s lens and perhaps not so much from the standpoint of building a business.”
One crucial lesson their father taught them was about the relationship between design and manufacturing. “As a designer to other designers,” Jordan emphasizes, “you have to make sure that you’re not designing out of the reach of your manufacturer, because it’s easy to design anything. It’s difficult to design something that works within certain machines that are being held within a single factory.”
The brothers spent six months developing roughly 80 SKUs before making their debut at the International Housewares Show. Their approach was revolutionary – not just in their products, but in their presentation.
“One of the things that we did was create our booth as this huge butcher shop,” Jordan recalls. “At that time, the booths were just normal booths. People were just displaying products. As soon as we set up the butcher shop decor, people were magnetically drawn to it.”
The booth caught the attention of the Williams-Sonoma group, leading to their first major retail partnership with West Elm, which was then launching into kitchen products. “They said they loved what we were doing and were interested in discussing a partnership,’” Jared remembers.
The brothers vividly remember their first significant sales, which came after receiving coverage in Food & Wine magazine. “We got this influx of orders on the website,” Jared recalls, “and remember it distinctly because it was Jordan, me, our fiancées at the time, and our father packing orders and shipping them out of our garage out of the small stock that we had.”
The moment was both overwhelming and exciting. “My biggest memory outside of that photo that Jared’s talking about is watching our wives pack things up,” Jordan adds with a smile. “That was great.”
The Schmidt Brothers brought a fresh perspective to an industry steeped in tradition. “We broke the mold of how things always were. Including how the knife blocks looked and what materials were used to make knives,” Jordan explained. “
All of their knives are made with 100% German stainless steel. The magnetic blocks look more like an art piece in the kitchen rather than cutlery taking up precious real estate.
One of their most significant innovations was the magnetic knife block, which they pioneered. “We were the first to market with it and now we’re the OG of it. Now you see it offered by other brands with different variations,” Jared proudly noted.
Their approach to retail partnerships has been both strategic and nuanced. “Our secret sauce is being able to identify the differences of the needs of each of those consumers and the specific design of those needs,” Jared explains. They’ve mastered the art of maintaining quality while adapting designs for different market segments.
The journey wasn’t always smooth. “Some partners that we are with today took three, four years to become partners,” Jared revealed. “Getting your foot in the door was just getting said no a lot.” But persistence and confidence in their vision paid off. “We had to break that mold to many of our retail partners and re-educate the buyers that there was another path to quality and affordable cutlery.
Today, with a lean team, maintaining the right company culture is crucial. When hiring, they look for specific qualities. “It is about being able to wear multiple hats,” Jordan explains, “to be able to take things on, learn new things all while leveraging their existing skill set.”
The brothers credit their father with some of their most important business philosophies. “Sleep on it,” became a mantra passed down from their father, emphasizing the importance of patience in decision-making. “I think that’s an important thing to instill in the kids today,” Jared reflects, “as the world has shifted to just this constant on-demand when it comes to work and cell phones and responding to people right away.”
Another key philosophy they learned was “it is what it is” – accepting what you can’t control while maintaining forward momentum. “Sometimes I’ll take a pause and say to myself, ‘it is what it is,’ meaning I don’t have control over the situation right now,” Jordan explains. “It’s going to work its way out one way or the other, but I got to just go with the flow here.”
Their father, who passed away about a decade ago, was able to witness the early success of the business. Though not typically expressive with words, his pride was evident in other ways. “He wasn’t a man of so many words, but you kind of knew exactly what he was saying to you, regardless of not having those words – where you could see it in his eyes or just the way that he put his hand on your shoulder,” Jordan remembers.
As they celebrate their 15th anniversary, the Schmidt brothers are both reflective and forward-looking. “Fifteen years is like, wow,” Jordan reflects. “First off, it’s really until somebody says it to you when you start registering how long 15 years is.” The milestone has made him realize how far they’ve come: “Within the industry, whether it’s going to sales meetings or going to factories, I feel like I am talking to the younger generation now versus the other way around.”
“We started by hacking our way to our first order,” Jared adds. “Then getting our first large order with a retail partner. Suddenly, 15 years down the road, we’re in over 10,000 retail stores. It’s just a remarkable testament to just a lot of hard work and support around us.”
Their story isn’t one of overnight success but rather a testament to the power of perseverance, innovation, and family values. Their journey from a basement workshop to nationwide retail success proves that with the right blend of innovation, determination, and family values, it’s possible to carve out your own space in even the most established markets.
As they look to the future, they remain committed to their original mission: making premium cutlery accessible to all while honoring their family’s legacy of craftsmanship and quality. Their success story serves as an inspiration to entrepreneurs everywhere, showing that with patience, persistence, and a clear vision, it’s possible to build something truly remarkable.
“Never close doors behind you,” Jared advises, sharing one of their key business philosophies. “You never know how relationships are going to come back around to you or people you interact with later in life.” It’s this kind of wisdom, combined with their innovative spirit and commitment to quality, that continues to drive the brothers forward as they write the next chapter in their remarkable story.
Click here to listen to the full interview with Jared and Jordan Schmidt