What Drives Social Entrepreneur Daniel Lubetzky, Founder And CEO Of Kind Snacks
Kind Snacks' founder and CEO Daniel Lubetzky in New York City. Photo: Nina Roberts
Published in Forbes on November 27, 2017
The Kind snack bars packaged in clear, colorful wrappers are sold in twelve countries; across the U.S. they're ubiquitous, found in supermarkets, drugstore chains and independent gourmet markets. Kind Snacks launched in 2004, today offering more than 70 varieties of bars made with all types of nuts, grains or seeds; flavored with bits of berries, fruits, honey or chocolate. Kind has surpassed $1 billion in retail—no small feat considering today’s snack bar market is ultra-saturated.
Daniel Lubetzky is Kind Snacks' founder and CEO. He created the line of snack bars for people like himself, those who skip meals due to hectic lifestyles and need a tasty, nourishing snack. “The number one ingredient in everything we make,” Lubetzky proudly states in his office on the edges of Manhattan’s garment district, “is something nutritionally rich.”
The brand name Kind might seem like a random choice, but it was very deliberate and carries deep meaning for Lubetzky.
Lubetzky’s father was a Holocaust survivor. “He was born in Riga, Latvia, but was raised in Lithuania to the age of nine,” says Lubetzky. At age 11, Lubetzky continues, his father and his family were forced into ghettos followed by concentration camps. “He was liberated at the age of 15 and a half,” pauses Lubetzky who chokes up, “from Dachau.”
After an extended stay in a sanitarium to regain his health, Lubetzky’s father eventually settled in Mexico City as a teenager with relatives, where Lubetzky was born and raised. This harrowing story is told in devastating detail on the pages of Lubetzky’s moving book, Do The Kind Thing, published two years ago. In the chapter titled “Empathy” Lubetzky stresses the kindness his father, Roman Lubetzky, had exhibited throughout his life, despite experiencing the atrocities of the Holocaust. “His life taught me that that kindness and empathy are the foundations on which humanity will stand or fall,” Lubetzky wrote of his father.
The family immigrated to San Antonio, Texas, when Lubetzky was 16 years old because of his father’s business and a surge of anti-Semitism in Mexico at the time.
The younger Lubetzky had a natural interest and aptitude for business. As a kid he performed magic shows as “The Great HouDani” at birthday parties, weddings and bar mitzvahs, selling candy at marked up prices. In college he started a lucrative watch company. His college thesis paper focused on solving the Arab-Israeli conflict—a subject he’d been obsessed with since age 12—through business. “The fundamental idea,” recounts Lubetzky, “to use business as a force for bringing people together, shattering stereotypes and mending relations.” At the time, the term social entrepreneurship didn’t exist.
But Lubetzky pushed his business ideas aside and went to Stanford Law School with the aim of fixing the world’s ails by becoming a career diplomat. “Along the way,” explains Lubetzky, “I was disenchanted with how bureaucracy and government were not actually changing the paradigm and that the private sector might be more effective in doing so.”
After law school Lubetzky launched PeaceWorks in the early 1990s, the company behind Meditalia, which makes tapenades, sundried tomato spreads and pesto. “Made in cooperation between Palestinians, Israelis, Jordanians, Egyptians, Turks," explains Lubetzky, pointing to a several jars on his bookshelves, "using business to bring neighbors together.” The other product line is Bali Spice, which makes sauces like peanut satay in Indonesia employing Christian, Buddhist and Muslim workers. PeaceWorks is “plodding along,” according to Lubetzky, “it sells in its entire year less than Kind sells in one hour.”
Kind Snacks’ social mission is found through the multiple initiatives and non-profits created by Lubetzky, all geared to facilitate dialogue, promote understanding, empathy and emotional intelligence. Empatico connects classrooms all over the globe via video for joint lessons; Kind Schools Challenge with Harvard's Making Caring Common, invites students to share their ideas how to build kinder school communities.
December 3, 2017 Editorial Update: Several days ago on November 29, the global company Mars known for M&M's and Snickers bars among other treats, announced it's buying a portion of Kind Snacks. Lubetzky remains Kind Snack’s majority shareholder and will continue to operate in out of Kind's New York City headquarters.
Nina Roberts: How did Kind’s social mission evolve?
Daniel Lubetzky: Kind has gone through many iterations as it deepens its social impact. When you’re selling a million dollars a year the impact you can have is very different than when you are selling over a billion dollars a year. Scale has allowed us to do things we never thought possible.
Roberts: Such as?
Lubetzky: Feed The Truth, Pop Your Bubble, Kind People, so many things. Most important is elevating kindness in the discourse as one of the most cherished attributes in society that we should want our children to be strong in. Emotional intelligence is a very important skill set, not just to be happier but also to succeed professionally.
Roberts: Do you think the general public believes that a for-profit business could have a social mission to benefit the greater good?
Lubetzky: We are at the beginning of it. I see how much has changed from the early 1990s, this language didn’t exist, let alone this field. You did it, but you didn’t know that you were a social entrepreneur!
I think it’s going to be the cost of entry for doing business in the coming years; people are going to expect more from the entities that impact their lives.
The power of the individual, market forces and the private sector permeate our lives. With that power comes responsibility to address huge challenges. Climate change cannot be solved by governments alone. Xenophobia, hatred and intolerance—more business leaders have to play a role in trying to be positive leaders, civic leaders.
Roberts: What is your perspective on doing business in the U.S. as a social entrepreneur who is also an immigrant?
Lubetzky: I’ve lived and traveled through dozens of countries and I do not take for granted one second what we have in this country. The rule of law, democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of expression—we cannot take them for granted. They do not exist willy-nilly across the world; they are very rare.
I’m indebted, making sure that I help invest in giving back and ensuring that this incredible, precious example to the world remains a beacon.
It’s a very critical time, both in the United States and globally, to stand up against extremism and against lack of listening, understanding, respect and tolerance. And forge critical listening skills.
Roberts: Do you have advice for social entrepreneurs just starting out?
Lubetzky: The DNA of your business has to have a social purpose. It’s not like, “Alright, we’re going to make this and then donate money.” It’s about how you build the business model. It has to be authentic. If it’s just a way to satiate, to check that box, there will be a backlash; people will not like the brand. It’s better for you to not do it.
This Q&A has been edited and condensed for clarity.