Incubator Spotlight- Bkind Vending

By Dana Burton

Jason Schwartz and Michelle Obama travel together. They know we cannot reverse childhood obesity by words alone. Schwartz is making a career out of putting into action that simple mission. His Bkind Vending is changing the choices children have for snacking in local schools from pork rinds to kashi bars and organically produced milk.  Kids are eating it up.

Schwartz has a long association with good foods. Early in his career, he ran a coffee house that specialized in dishes with the freshest of fruits, vegetable and dairy. Good eating begins with good choices for us to see and consider. Bkind follows that belief. PG County Schools as well as a host of private schools in Metro Washington know that. Along with convenience stores, sports facilities and vending companies, they put Bkind natural and organically grown products, ranging from veggie chips to organic ice cream, in front of their customers. Jason Schwartz is choosy about the products he adds to the line, too. A new product must meet the USDA’s criteria for organic. The maker must have environmentally sound practices and use ethical business methods.

Jason Schwartz operates out of the Bethesda Green Business Incubator, where a clutch of “green” businesses including Honest Tea have found that success does come from coupling “people” and “planet” with profit. Although vending might strike one as a low-tech business, Schwartz makes his marketing dollars go far using new vehicles such as social media. Schwartz sees that opinion shapers and recommenders in his partners’ customer bases get to sample new snack food ideas he finds. These hyper-influencers can create groundswells of interest in products much like the ones Malcolm Gladwell described in his book, The Tipping Point.  Jason Schwartz hopes these tools can power his Bkind Vending to regional and national success so that “healthy” eating is synonymous with “convenient.”

Bkind Vending
info@bkindvending.com
301-246-0146
www.bkindvending.com
Contact: Jason Schwartz