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How Burger King’s ex-chairman grew a $10 million organic food business

Sweet Earth Natural Foods, founded by husband-and-wife team Brian and Kelly Swette, has scored high-profile deals with Target and Whole Foods. Read More

When veteran consumer products marketer Brian Swette turned entrepreneur four years ago, building an organic, vegetarian food business was the farthest thing from his mind.

Maybe a boutique hotel or a restaurant, thought Swette (pronounced “sweetie”), a 60-year-old former PepsiCo executive, eBay COO and Burger King chairman. Some more advisory positions, perhaps.

But nothing seemed quite right, until his wife and business partner, Kelly, and his vegetarian daughter planted the seed for Sweet Earth Natural Foods.

“It was an environmental epiphany,” he said.

Just three years later, the Pacific Grove, Calif., company has blossomed into a $10 million business. The organic food purveyor recently recorded its first $900,000 month.

Sweet Earth’s frozen burritos and veggie burgers are sold nationally by Target and almost as widely by Whole Foods. The company has become a champion of seitan, an alternative source of wheat-based protein with roots in sixth century China. And last year, its plant-based “Benevolent Bacon” was voted best new product by readers of a frozen-food trade journal.

Switching gears

Sweet Earth was founded in part as a reaction to the heavy environmental impact caused by meat production —  something Brian Swette understands intimately, given his 11-year-long stint on fast-food giant Burger King’s board.

But the Swettes are equally focused on satiating the appetites of millennials who crave unique ingredients, as well as complex and global ingredients that can be traced to specific sources.

Technically speaking, Kelly shapes product development and merchandising — a natural fit given her background at Calvin Klein. Brian spearheads sales and operations, which include a 35,000-square-foot facility in the coastal farm belt between Santa Cruz and Monterey.

“As much as we are driving the sustainability piece, our primary message is that we make great food,” Brian Swette said. “If you position your food as mainstream, you can attract the mainstream consumer.”

Close to half of U.S. consumers with children younger than 18 are ”very familiar” with the organics movement, compared with 27 percent just six years ago, according to figures released in early march by the Organic Trade Association. More than 80 percent buy at least some organic products.

While the trade group hasn’t calculated figures for 2014, annual sales of organic products grew 12 percent in 2013 to $35.1 billion.

Cost concerns

One reason Sweet Earth’s visibility at Target is so important: Perhaps the biggest enduring obstacles for scaling the organics movement has been the cost premium.

Customers will pay slightly more for organic products versus non-organic alternatives, Swette said. That’s partly because of the real expenses still associated with sourcing fruits and vegetables that are free of genetically modified organisms, and certifying that status independently with the Non-GMO Project.

The company works with more than 220 ingredients, which makes this an extremely complex process.

“We need to ensure we know where everything comes from, but the cost for us to do this is immense,” Swette said. “It makes innovation harder.”

Does Swette’s food industry resume help open doors for Sweet Earth? Perhaps, but the company’s knack for creating foods that are quick to prepare and healthy to eat is what seals deals.

“They like to see that someone can reinvent themselves — that someone can do something at a later stage of life,” Swette said.

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