The Food Studies program, along with Falk College, is pleased to welcome Seth Goldman, co-founder and TeaEO of Honest Tea— the mission-driven entrepreneur who Beverage World magazine just placed at the top of its “50 Disruptors in the Beverage Industry” list. Goldman is the featured speaker at the Christy Lecture Series in Nutrition presented by Falk College April 13, 10:15-11:30am, 312 Lyman Hall.
Goldman’s presentation is entitled, “Scaling an Authentic Brand While Keeping it Honest” and will highlight how he co-founded the company out of his home in 1998 with Barry Nalebuff of the Yale School of Management. Scaling a mission-driven enterprise requires many ingredients including resilience, determination, transparency and loyal partners. Goldman will share how those ingredients along with his entrepreneurial vision and commitment to innovation continue to guide the company to new levels of growth.
Honest Tea, which creates organic fair trade beverages using less sugar, was acquired by Coca-Cola in 2011. Under Goldman’s leadership, the company has expanded into over 100,000 outlets across the U.S. The company continues to deepen its relationships with Fair Trade-certified suppliers in India, Paraguay, China, and South Africa, and create innovative partnerships with organizations such as IndoSole, FoodCorps and National Parks Foundation. In 2014, Seth was recognized by the United States Healthful Food Council with a REAL Food Innovator Award for helping change the food landscape by providing options that are healthier for both the body and the planet. Honest Tea was also recently named as one of Greater Washington’s Healthiest Employers of 2014 by the Washington Business Journal.
Goldman is the author of Mission in a Bottle: The Honest Guide to Doing Business Differently – and Succeeding, an accessible business book told in comic form that presents the story of how the co-founders of Honest Tea built their mission-driven business. With many failures and some success, the audience will gain entrepreneurial insights and advice about the importance of passion, perseverance, and creative problem-solving.
The Christy Lecture Series is made possible by a gift from nutrition alumna Joan Christy ’78, G’81.