Forbes Indonesia - July 2019

68 | FORBES INDONESIA JULY 2019

ENTREPRENEURS

FORBES INDONESIA

THE KEITHS

As their father lay dying, the 13 Keith siblings

took his recipe for a snack no one could

sell—a refrigerated protein bar—and built it

into a $300 million startup.

Bittersweet

Success

PHOTOGRAPH BY TIM PANNELL FOR FORBES

L

eigh Keith is taking her time

flattening a mound of pea-

nut butter, honey, cranber-

ries and chocolate chips

with a wooden rolling pin, before

cutting it into 4-inch rectangles. She

used to do this at race speed, when she

and her siblings worked through the

night to fill orders for their peanut-

butter bars 14 years ago, when they

were starting Perfect Snacks. “We

didn’t even have the recipe written

down,” the 33-year-old says, her wavy

hair—blond, like nearly all the Keiths—

fastened securely by a hair net. “We

started out with a whole lot of ambi-

tion. The harder we worked, the more

BY CHLOE SORVINO

Food Fighters - From left: Leigh, Zane,

Bill, Heather and Charisse Keith in their

San Diego headquarters’ kitchen.