Bardo comes from the Bosnian word ‘dobar’ meaning ‘good’.
Our vision at Bardo is to use powerful and healing ingredients from nature to help people find balance in their daily lives. Using traditional plants and wholefoods, we make delicious snacks that improve people’s emotional and physical wellbeing.
Hi, my name is Lili and I am the founder of Bardo.
I’m a British Bosnian and moved to the UK from Sarajevo as a refugee from the war in 1992. I was one of the lucky ones, but the move still meant huge changes for my family. Living in a very different environment and circumstances, we continued to keep alive the knowledge we had grown up with in Bosnia and which had been passed down through generations: using powerful, natural plants to help with everything from runny noses and bruises, to sleeplessness and the uncertainties of starting a new life.
I’ve lived in London ever since, worked in the city and had a family. I’ve always considered myself a bit of an ‘urban herbalist’, developing my knowledge of plants and their properties, and making my own remedies for common colds, stressful days and the moments when we all feel a bit down. From this inherited knowledge Bardo was eventually born.
zdravo
Lili was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She didn’t always dream of making snacks for a living. But she always liked eating them. And making her brother pose for pictures.
1992
Lili’s happy childhood is suddenly shattered by a brutal aggression on her home country. Lili and her family flee the war in Sarajevo and eventually arrive in London, via Macedonia and Croatia. The UK grants Lili’s grateful family asylum.
early noughties
Lili graduates from university in the UK and later heads to business school in America. She continues to maintain her ties with Bosnia, and thoughts of starting a business in Sarajevo start to percolate in her mind.
tweens and teens
While getting invaluable business education as a management consultant, Lili spends her spare time keeping notes on traditional remedies and cooking them up at home. Her (sometimes reluctant) friends and family are frequent recipients of jars of potions and preserves.
2018
Lili decides now is the time to make her healthy snack company a reality. She applies for, and receives, a grant from the USAID Diaspora Invest programme to help get the business off the ground. She sets up an artisanal factory in Sarajevo and, with Nela’s help, makes the first range of unprocessed fruit and nut bars.
Bardo is born. Bardo comes from the Bosnian word for good, ‘dobar’. It is Lili’s third British-Bosnian baby!
2019
Bardo goes national in Bosnia and Herzegovina with a listing in all major grocery chains. Lili starts planning Bardo’s expansion and exhibits at regional trade shows before COVID-19 forces the world into a standstill.
2020
Lili and Nela take advantage of the disruption brought on by the pandemic to strengthen Bardo’s capabilities. Bardo’s manufacturing plant in Sarajevo becomes ISO 22000:2018 certified (which is a pretty big deal) and means Lili can tackle more ambitious growth plans.
2021
Lili decides to bring Bardo to the UK and starts working on a new range of Bardo snacks. The pandemic uncovered the link between emotional wellbeing and physical health, and Lili sees a great opportunity to reinvent snacks into a convenient source of powerful plant compounds and minerals that strengthen brain and body health. Bardo good mood food is born.
2022
Bardo embarks on its UK journey by winning a Nourish award with its Bardo Calm botanical bites. We’ve always thought they were great, but now the experts officially agree with us too. We’re very happy (and a tiny bit relieved) that our botanical-inspired recipes are meeting with a taste approval!
2023
Bardo gets its first stockists in London and heads to the Natural & Organic Products Europe trade show to launch the Bardo Good Mood Food range. Bardo snacks become the first food product made in Bosnia and Herzegovina to launch on Amazon UK.