Ever since Dirk Christiaen graduated as a pharmacist, he has been making his own food supplements and formulas, mixing ingredients tailored to his patients and customer’s needs. Unsatisfied and disappointed by the available products in his pharmacy, he bought ingredients from all over the world to prepare his own extracts, capsules, teas and tablets and offered tailored solutions to customers far
extending his home town’s customer base. Leaving the pharmaceutical world to pursue new challenges, he continued to mix extracts and ingredients for his children whenever they needed it most. Either during exam periods, during sickness or in the summer to protect the skin and hair, there was always a wide variety of (exotic) supplements and extracts to be found on the Christiaen kitchen table. Although they did often question the random substances they were offered, as all kids would, they always seemed to work. Returning to the pharmacy after 10 years of absence, pharmacist Dirk Christiaen realized not much had changed. Vitamin mixes and food supplements were offered in the same old ways, with the same old formulas. They weren’t dosed high enough to be effective and they were all presented and marketed in a similar, boring way. Much of the patients concerns and issues hadn’t changed either so he still had issues providing his patients with adequate and effective solutions. Old habits returned and by moving to an urban area, full of active and ambitious professionals, looking for fast and effective solutions, he decided to scale up his game. Formulas were developed, based on experiences with the customers he served, using less obvious but more powerful ingredients from all over the world. Not only would the supplements finally be effective, they would also be presented in an attractive way so that the active, ambitious individuals and households, who could use a boost from time to time, could take pleasure and even pride in boosting themselves with one of the Metis supplements. As this is a lot of work for a busy and often distracted, independent pharmacist, his children soon stepped in to help out in structuring the idea, shaping the Metis brand and making it all happen. Their different backgrounds complement each other nicely and the entire bunch is kept together by mother Metis who has been quite successful in managing this bunch for decades. Kitchen table discussions turned into official living room meetings with tea and biscuits and after some ups and downs, some misunderstandings and a lot of delays, the Metis food supplements were finally born.
