KIND Snacks Founder Daniel Lubetzky Announces Investment In Protein Chips Company Quevos On Shark Tank

KIND Snacks founder Daniel Lubetzky has announced on Shark Tank that he’s investing in egg white protein snacks company Quevos through his own family office Equilibra.

The billionaire businessman, who sold his nutrition bar company to the confectionery market incumbent Mars & Wrigley in a reported $5 billion deal last year, notes how Quevos has experienced stellar growth in recent years like no other in the category.

During the 2019-2020 period alone, Quevos grew 400% in sales and expanded from 250 to 1100 retailers despite pandemic-induced challenges in brick-and-mortar stores that have made it difficult for many emerging brands to gain visibility.

The secret sauce to Quevos’ success is its mainstream appeal in the broad marketplace rather than adopting a targeted distribution strategy with niche products, Lubetzky believes. 

“There’s no reason why these chips should not be everywhere,” he told me. “While we have seen evidence that grocers are moving towards reducing number of SKUs to focus on stocking top-selling staples, we are seeing that highly innovative and differentiated products like Quevos are bucking the trend, and managing to increase distribution.

Lubetzky added how Quevos’ omni-channel strategy has also enabled it to better penetrate the market as the product is currently available online via Amazon

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, as well as through national retailers, including Wegmans and Vitamin Shoppe

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.

“It is undeniable that more and more consumption will be moving online,” he explained, “brick-and-mortar retailers continue to be an important part of consumers’ lives and to serve as a key anchor for any product with mainstream appeal.”

All-natural ingredients and bold flavors

Childhood friends Zack Scheier and Nick Hamburger co-created Quevos in 2017 when the former, who’s a type 1 diabetic, was looking for a low-carb snack , and was inspired by the crispy leftovers of an egg white omelette. 

The duo later turned this idea into a crunchy and boldly flavored chip that comes in four different flavors — Sweet Barbeque, Cheddar, Quevos Rancheros, and Sour Cream & Onion — after experimenting various formulas for two years, though they remain secretive about their production process. 

“All I can say is the product is made through a dehydration process,” Schreier previously told me when Quevos was preparing for its Whole Foods

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launch in 2019.

In addition to egg whites, the products are reportedly made from all-natural ingredients, including pea protein, avocado oil and chia seeds, and each bag provides around 10 grams of protein and six grams of fiber. Quevos’ keto line has only two grams of net carbs per bag.

The business took off immediately after Quevos took the crown during a previous venture competition hosted by the University of Chicago, joined Kraft Heinz’s Springboard incubator, and later raised $71,786 — more than seven times the original target — via a Kickstarter campaign.

Part of that funding has gone into Quevos’s earlier rebrand to a more colorful packaging from its original white and simple design to better stand out on shelves.

Building core business foundation

Upon investing in Quevos, Lubetzky said he will apply his knowledge and experience of building KIND, and insights from Equilibra’s other portfolio companies, including Ellenos and Gimmie Snacks, to helping grow the brand.

Lubetzky notes how his investment firm can support entrepreneurs without the constraints of aggressive exit timelines.

“We know that success looks different for every entrepreneur and tailor our approach accordingly,” he wrote me via email. 

“At Equilibra, we are building a family of entrepreneurs who share many of the same values like entrepreneurial grit and creativity balanced with kindness, authenticity, integrity, and a long-term orientation.”

However, Lubetzky cautions that capitalizing on short-term consumer trends could hamper Quevos’ business progress, and should rather focus on strengthening their foundation — egg whites.

“Quevos has certain product SKUs that qualify as keto,” he said. “I have advised Nick and Zach to be wary of building a brand on fads, which can leave you with a shaky foundation.

“I think they see potential, as I do, for Quevos to grow enormously, but right now their focus needs to be on building what they have and not spreading too thin.”