70 | FORBES INDONESIA JULY 2019
ENTREPRENEURS
FORBES INDONESIAfather’s ten years of struggles in differ-
ent ventures. “Our backs were against
the wall from day one,” says Leigh.
First order of business: Raise
some working capital. The kids
quickly sold the bed-and-breakfast,
netting $100,000 after taxes. Two
thirds of that went to a used candy-
wrapping machine to package the
bars, the rest toward organic pea-
nuts and honey. “With all of your... finances invested in peanuts and
honey to the very last dollar, you sure
as heck got to figure out how to sell
this bar,” Leigh says.
Next, they specialized. Bud
moved to San Diego, where the fam-
ily was originally from, taking some
of the clan with him. (He would die
of his disease in 2009.) Leigh, Bill,
Amyas and Charisse stayed in Sac-
ramento, sharing a two-bedroom
apartment. Bill went on the road to
pitch their snacks, branded as Per-
fect Bars, to natural-foods stores
and grocery chains up and down the
West Coast. Leigh, Amyas and Cha-
risse stationed themselves at home
to make the products.
Still, by 2006, after a year in the
business, the Keiths had made little
headway, and they had enough cash
left to fund only one more month
of operations. Then, by chance, Bill
met a Whole Foods store manager at
a music-and-art festival in northern
California. She loved it and figured
Whole Foods customers would both
dig the idea of a preservative-free
protein bar and be curious enough to
pick up one from a refrigerated case.
Perfect Snacks got a 30-day trial
at the manager’s Berkeley Whole
Foods. Bill was the in-store pitchman.
With no money for a hotel, he lived
in his car for a month, showering at a
gym. Perfect Snacks sold $20,000 at
that Whole Foods in a month, more
than it had in the past six months
combined—and enough for Whole
Foods to expand Perfect Snacks to ten
more northern California locations.
“That was the match that started the
wildfire,” Bill says.
Revenue hit a million dollars two
years later, and soon a Costco deal
followed. Then sales really took off
after a cash infusion from the 2015
VMG investment allowed Perfect
Snacks to place bigger orders from
contract manufacturers and, in turn,
take larger orders from grocers.
After throwing caution to the
wind to start their business, the
Keiths, who still own the majority
of Perfect Snacks, are now moving
more thoughtfully. They’ve chosen
to concentrate on rolling out PerfectTHE KEITHSKids (portioned for lunch boxes) and
Perfect Bites (tiny cubes in resealable
containers) rather than launching en-
tirely new products. (“They’ve stayed
really focused. A lot of companies like
that get some success and start try-
ing to extend the brand into a million
other things,” says John Foraker, for-
mer CEO of Annie’s, the organic mac
’n’ cheese company.) As the Keiths
project sales reaching $130 million by
the end of 2019, their battles revolve
around finding enough refrigerated
trucks to ship their goods cheap-
ly—the boom in fresh grocery items
has led to a shortage of drivers and
freight prices are surging—and per-
suading grocery stores to give them
better real estate. For now, they’re
largely in dairy cases, and the Keiths
envision their products in little cool-
ers by the registers, the way Red Bull
displays its drinks.
“We have the story, the product
and the people that can really build
this to be a household name and be-
come hopefully an iconic brand for
generations,” Leigh says. “The roll-
ing pins are gone. We’re just getting
started.” F“WE STARTED OUT
WITH A WHOLE LOT
OF AMBITION. THE
HARDER WE WORKED,
THE MORE WE PUT
INTO THE BUSINESS,
THE MORE WE COULD
TRY AND CONTROL
OUR DESTINY.”Bunks Near The Butter - With six kids in six years, the Keiths were crunched for space.
Papa Keith converted kitchen cabinets in their small San Diego home into beds.