Kind LLC (

doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...

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. Since 2020, it has been a subsidiary of

Mars Inc Mars, Incorporated (doing business as Mars Inc.) is an American multinational corporation, multinational manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products and a provider of Animal welfare, animal care services founded on June 23 ...

History

Daniel Lubetzky founded Kind in 2004. The company earned about $1 million dollars in revenue their first year. In 2008,

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

firm VMG Partners invested in Kind. 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. By 2009, that budget was $800,000 and offering free samples became a large part of the Kind marketing plan. In 2014, Lubetzky bought all of VMG's shares. Today, Kind Bars are sold at more than 150,000 stores in the US. In 2014, they sold over 458 million bars and granola pouches, almost doubling 2013's sales. The company now has about five hundred employees. Kind acquired North Carolina–based Creative Snacks in October 2019. In February 2020, Kind launched an expansion into frozen bars, refrigerated nut-butter bars, and chocolate clusters. In December 2020, Kind acquired snack bar company Nature's Bakery.

Kind movement

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. 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".

Mars ownership

In 2017,

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

purchased a minority stake in Kind. The deal valued the company at over $4 billion. That same year, sales reached $718.9 million. In November 2020, Mars announced that it would increase its minority position to full ownership, in a deal worth $5 billion.

Products

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. In 2008, they launched Kind Plus, a line of whole nut and fruit bars with

fiber Fiber (spelled fibre in British English; from ) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often inco ...

and

antioxidants Antioxidants are Chemical compound, compounds that inhibit Redox, oxidation, a chemical reaction that can produce Radical (chemistry), free radicals. Autoxidation leads to degradation of organic compounds, including living matter. Antioxidants ...

. In 2010, they launched smaller portioned, 100 calorie-range Kind minis. In 2011, they launched a line of Kind Healthy Grains Clusters

granola 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 b ...

, made from a blend of five grains. In 2012, Kind brought in Kind Nuts & Spices, made with whole nuts flavored with spices that contain 5g of sugar or less per bar. In 2013, Kind launched a line of Kind Healthy Grains granola bars. In 2014, Kind launched its first savory snack line, Strong & Kind, which has 10 grams of soy-and-whey free protein. Kind Breakfast was launched in 2016. In 2016, Kind announced an extension to their nuts and spices and fruit and nut lines, to now include Dark Chocolate Almond & Mint. In May 2025, Kind announced changes to its packaging, releasing recyclable packaging for a single Kind bar flavor to select Whole Foods locations. In non-English speaking countries, the brand is marketed as BE-KIND.

Controversies

In 2015, the Federal

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...

(FDA) called out Kind for labeling four of their snack bars with the word, "healthy" and incorporating a ''plus'' in the design. According to the FDA, in order to be considered ''healthy'', a snack food must contain 1 gram or less of saturated fat. Furthermore, a ''plus'' must indicate that a snack bar contains 10 percent more nutrients than a bar designated by the FDA as representative of the snack bar category. In response to a letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the company issued a statement on its website indicating that it would revise the labeling of the specified four product flavors. Additionally, the company announced that it is conducting a comprehensive review of its entire product line to ensure that all labels comply with FDA regulations. In a separate communication with ''NPR'', company representative Cohen stated that nuts—central ingredients in many of the company’s snack bars and a key factor in their popularity—contain healthful fats that surpass the saturated fat limits permitted under the FDA's current standards.

References

External links

* {{Mars brands 2004 establishments in New York City Snack food manufacturers of the United States Food and drink companies established in 2004 American companies established in 2004 Food manufacturers based in New York City Mars, Incorporated 2020 mergers and acquisitions