“We started the company to save our family.” – Bill Keith

I love a good business story. If you can’t tell from my articles, I am a huge fan of capitalism. No other system does such a great job of giving opportunity while bringing out and rewarding the best in those who participate in the system.

I believe that capitalism is the greatest tool we have to make a positive difference in our world. I also believe that capitalism gets a bad rap when the biggest headlines are about capitalism gone wrong.

Capitalism, like the American political system, is far from perfect, but they are both the best choices we have.

So, I love a story about capitalism gone right. Let me tell you the story behind “The Perfect Bar.”

The story starts with Bud Keith – a contemporary of Jack LaLanne who made his living for some time selling LaLanne’s juice machines. Apparently, Bud was not afraid of a little risk or large families. 

Bud and his wife, Barbara, were well on their way to having 13 children when Bud decided to quit his job working for LaLanne and make his living on the road.

The Keiths packed up their seven kids (at the time) into their 1982 Dodge RV and hit the road so Bud could make a living giving lectures on healthy living while selling health-food supplements.

Then Bud fell ill with cancer at the age of 57. By 2005, Bud’s health required the family to stop traveling. They were two months behind on their mortgage, with a mountain of medical bills and nine kids under the age of 18.

The older kids knew they had to help, so Bill – the oldest at 22, dropped out of college to save the family by selling the health-food bar that his father had created to feed his growing family on the road. Bill was joined by Leigh, age 19, Amyas, 18, and Charisse, 17.

The business needed capital, so they convinced their mom to sell the family’s bed and breakfast to invest in a candy-wrapping machine and inventory. They had every dime invested in the business. So Bill hit the road pitching their bars to natural food and grocery stores up and down the West Coast.

Bill was having little success. Their “Perfect Bar” needed to be refrigerated to stay fresh. That was a huge hurdle. The refrigerated section of grocery stores is highly competitive, and people are not used to buying their snack bars there.

The company’s fortunes took a brighter turn when Bill met a Whole Foods store manager at an arts festival who loved the bars and decided to give them a shot at her store. Bill had no money for a hotel so he lived in his car for a month and showered at the gym so he could be the in-store salesman.

Perfect Bars racked up $20,000 of sales that month – more than they had sold in the past six months. That success got Perfect Bars into 10 more Whole Food Stores. That success led to a deal with Costco and a private equity investment to help the fledgling company grow.

In June 2019, Oreo-owner Mondelez acquired a majority stake in Perfect Snacks for an undisclosed sum. Mondelez stated that Bill, Leigh, Charisse and the rest of the management team will continue to run the business out of its San Diego headquarters. 

Perfect Snacks had sales of $70 million per year with double-digit growth when the acquisition occurred.

Bud Keith passed away in 2009 but I cannot imagine how proud he was of his kids for putting their lives on hold to come back and save the family.