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| Kind Healthy Snacks | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Snack Foods |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Founder | Daniel Lubetzky |
| Fate | Acquired by Mars in 2020 |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
| Products | Snack Bars, Granola Bars, Granola |
| Revenue | US$5.0 billion |
| Parent | Mars, Incorporated |
| Website | www |
Kind LLC (doing business as Kind Healthy Snacks), stylized as KIND, is an American snack food company based in New York City. It was founded in 2004 by Daniel Lubetzky. [1] Since 2020, it has been a subsidiary of Mars Inc.
Daniel Lubetzky founded Kind in 2004. [2] [3] The company earned about $1 million dollars in revenue their first year.
In 2008, private equity firm VMG Partners invested in Kind. [4] The investment enabled the company to scale its sampling efforts to get more people to try Kind bars. When VMG got involved, Kind bars were only sold in 20,000 locations and Lubetzky's sampling budget was $800. [5] By 2009, that budget was $800,000 and offering free samples became a large part of the Kind marketing plan. [4] In 2014, Lubetzky bought all of VMG's shares. [6]
Today, Kind Bars are sold at more than 150,000 stores in the US. [7] In 2014, they sold over 458 million bars and granola pouches, almost doubling 2013's sales. [8] The company now has about five hundred employees. [1]
Kind acquired North Carolina–based Creative Snacks in October 2019. [9]
In February 2020, Kind launched an expansion into frozen bars, refrigerated nut-butter bars, and chocolate clusters. [9] In December 2020, Kind acquired snack bar company Nature's Bakery. [10]
Through the KIND Movement, Kind aims to create a thriving community of people who choose kindness and make kindness a state of mind. In the spirit of this movement, in 2009, Kind launched Do the Kind Thing, an evolving platform that empowers people to turn KIND acts into support for causes. [11] The Kind Movement includes Kind acts, #kindawesome cards, and Kind Causes. To date, Kind has performed, facilitated and celebrated over 1 million Kind acts and has been recognized by Time magazine as a "New Way to Make a Difference". [12]
In 2017, Mars purchased a minority stake in Kind. The deal valued the company at over $4 billion. That same year, sales reached $718.9 million. [13]
In November 2020, Mars announced that it would increase its minority position to full ownership, in a deal worth $5 billion. [14] [15] [16]
Kind currently offers eight lines: Kind Fruit & Nut, Kind Plus, Kind Nuts & Spices, Kind Healthy Grains Bars, Kind Healthy Grains Clusters, Strong & Kind, Kind Breakfast, Pressed by Kind, and Kind Frozen.[ citation needed ]
In 2008, they launched Kind Plus, a line of whole nut and fruit bars with fiber and antioxidants.[ citation needed ]
In 2010, they launched smaller portioned, 100 calorie-range Kind minis.[ citation needed ] In 2011, they launched a line of Kind Healthy Grains Clusters granola, made from a blend of five grains.[ citation needed ] In 2012, Kind brought in Kind Nuts & Spices, made with whole nuts flavored with spices that contain 5g of sugar or less per bar.[ citation needed ] In 2013, Kind launched a line of Kind Healthy Grains granola bars. [17] In 2014, Kind launched its first savory snack line, Strong & Kind, which has 10 grams of soy-and-whey free protein. [18] Kind Breakfast was launched in 2016.[ citation needed ]
In 2016, Kind announced an extension to their nuts and spices and fruit and nut lines, to now include Dark Chocolate Almond & Mint. [19]
In non-English speaking countries, the brand is marketed as BE-KIND. [20]
The Hershey Company, often called just Hershey or Hershey's, is an American multinational confectionery company headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is also home to Hersheypark and Hershey's Chocolate World. The Hershey Company is one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world; it also manufactures baked products, such as cookies and cakes, and sells beverages like milkshakes, as well as other products. The Hershey Company was founded by Milton S. Hershey in 1894 as the Hershey Chocolate Company, originally established as a subsidiary of his Lancaster Caramel Company. The Hershey Trust Company owns a minority stake but retains a majority of the voting power within the company.
A chocolate bar is a confection containing chocolate, which may also contain layerings or mixtures that include nuts, fruit, caramel, nougat, and wafers. A flat, easily breakable, chocolate bar is also called a tablet. In some varieties of English and food labeling standards, the term chocolate bar is reserved for bars of solid chocolate, with candy bar used for products with additional ingredients.
Trail mix is a type of snack mix, typically a combination of granola, dried fruit, nuts, and sometimes candy, developed as a food to be taken along on hikes. Trail mix is a popular snack food for hikes, because it is lightweight, easy to store, and nutritious, providing a quick energy boost from the carbohydrates in the dried fruit or granola, and sustained energy from fat nuts.
Mars Inc. is an American multinational manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products and a provider of animal care services, with US$45 billion in annual sales in 2022; that year Forbes ranked the company as the fourth-largest privately held company in the United States. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, the company is entirely owned by the Mars family. Mars operates in four business segments around the world: Mars Wrigley Confectionery, Petcare, Food, and MARS Edge, the company's life sciences division.
Mars, commonly known as Mars bar, is the name of two varieties of chocolate bar produced by Mars, Incorporated. It was first manufactured in 1932 in Slough, England by Forrest Mars Sr. The bar consists of caramel and nougat coated with milk chocolate.
Snickers is a chocolate bar consisting of nougat topped with caramel and peanuts, all encased in milk chocolate. The bars are made by the American company Mars Inc. The annual global sales of Snickers is over $380 million, and it is widely considered the bestselling candy bar in the world.
Planters Nut & Chocolate Company is an American snack food company now owned by Hormel Foods. Planters is best known for its processed nuts and for the Mr. Peanut icon that symbolizes them. Mr. Peanut was created by grade schooler Antonio Gentile for a 1916 contest to design the company's brand icon. The design was modified by a commercial artist and has continued to change over the years.
Granola is a food consisting of rolled oats, nuts, seeds, honey or other sweeteners such as brown sugar, and sometimes puffed rice, that is usually baked until crisp, toasted and golden brown. The mixture is stirred while baking to avoid burning and to maintain a loose breakfast cereal consistency. Dried fruit, such as raisins and dates, and confections such as chocolate are sometimes added. Granola is often eaten in combination with yogurt, honey, fresh fruit, milk or other forms of cereal. It also serves as a topping for various pastries, desserts or ice cream. Muesli is similar to granola, except that it is traditionally neither sweetened nor baked.
Ferrero International SpA, more commonly known as Ferrero Group or simply Ferrero, is an Italian multinational company with headquarters in Alba. Ferrero is a manufacturer of branded chocolate and confectionery products, and the second biggest chocolate producer and confectionery company in the world. Ferrero SpA is a private company owned by the Ferrero family and has been described as "one of the world's most secretive firms".
Post Consumer Brands, LLC is an American consumer packaged goods food manufacturer headquartered in Lakeville, Minnesota.
McKee Foods Corporation is a privately held and family-owned American snack food and granola manufacturer headquartered in Collegedale, Tennessee. The corporation is the maker of Drake's Cakes, Fieldstone Bakery snacks and cereal, Little Debbie snacks, and Sunbelt Bakery granola and cereal. The company also formerly operated Heartland Brands.
Mornflake is a British brand of oat and oat-based breakfast cereals launched in 1941 in Crewe, Cheshire.
Kudos was a milk chocolate granola cereal bar produced by Mars, Incorporated.
Brynwood Partners is an American private equity investment firm focused on leveraged buyout and other control investments.
Daniel Lubetzky is an American billionaire businessman, philanthropist, author, and founder and executive chairman of snack company Kind LLC.
Eat Natural is a cereal bar, toasted muesli and granola maker founded in 1997 in Epping, Essex. In 2005, a journalist said they were "the fastest growing cereal brand in the UK", with between 70,000 and 100,000 bars produced daily, which were distributed to 13 countries. The company now produces nearly 100 million bars a year at its 'Makery' in Halstead, Essex, and exports to 37 countries worldwide.
The Quaker Oats Company, known as Quaker, is an American food conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. As Quaker Mill Company, the company was founded in 1877 in Ravenna, Ohio. In 1881, Henry Crowell bought the company and launched a national advertising campaign for Quaker Oats.
Post Holdings, Inc. is an American consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in St Louis, Missouri with businesses operating in the center-of-the-store, refrigerated, foodservice, and food ingredient categories. Its Post Consumer Brands business manufactures, markets, and sells both branded and private label products, mainly breakfast cereals. Its Michael Foods Group business supplies value-added egg products and refrigerated potato products to the foodservice and food ingredient channels. Through its Post Refrigerated Retail business, Post offers potato, egg, sausage, and cheese refrigerated side dishes products. Post participates in the private brand food category through its investment in 8th Avenue Food & Provisions, a leading, private brand centric, consumer products holding company.
A snack is a small portion of food generally eaten between meals. A snack is often less than 200 calories, but this can vary. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at home.
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