Why Honest Tea Cofounder Seth Goldman Has Moved On To Mushrooms

Why Honest Tea Cofounder Seth Goldman Has Moved On To Mushrooms

Seth Goldman, founder of Honest Tea and chairman of Beyond Meat, has started a new venture called ... [+] Eat the Change. Their first product: mushroom jerky. In 1998, Seth Goldman and his cofounder, Barry Nalebuff, disrupted the iced tea business with the launch of Honest Tea. The company offered fair-trade, bottled, organic brews with less sugar than other tea brands and a strong social and environmental mission. A decade later, their stunning success didn't go unnoticed: the Coca Cola Company bought a 40% stake in the company for $43 million in 2008, and acquired the rest three years later for an undisclosed sum. Goldman continued to work at Honest Tea after the sale, staying with the business until the end of 2019. Now, Goldman, who is also chairman of plant-based meats pioneer Beyond Meat, is applying his vision and entrepreneurial smarts to a new plant-based snack business. Earlier this year, his Bethesda, Md.-based company, Eat the Change, which he cofounded with restaurateur and chef Spike Mendelsohn, launched its first product line: five flavors of organic mushroom jerky made with imperfect mushrooms that might otherwise go to waste. We spoke recently about why he is taking the entrepreneurial plunge once