Hartford Business Journal

14 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JUNE 26, 2023 CEO Charles Coristine in LesserEvil's manufacturing facility at 26 Commerce Drive in Danbury. The facility is operating at capacity, forcing LesserEvil to open another factory in New Milford this year. HBJ PHOTO | ANDREW LARSON Healthy Solution Nearing $100M in annual revenues, CT's LesserEvil expands organic snack foods line, readies new in-state manufacturing plant By Andrew Larson alarson@hartfordbusiness.com C harles Coristine bought Danbury-based LesserEvil in 2011, when it was generating about $800,000 a year in revenue and losing money. The previous owner — a friend of a friend's father— wanted to get rid of it. "It changed hands because it wasn't really succeeding," said Coris- tine, who serves as the company's CEO. "And we had to kind of start all over again." Since then, LesserEvil has become one of the country's largest organic snack foods producers. This year, it's on track to exceed $100 million in revenue, and the business is growing. It will debut a new manufac- turing facility in New Milford by the end of summer. LesserEvil offers a healthy alter- native to unhealthy behaviors like snacking on fried chips. Its products include a flagship organic popcorn with coconut butter, and other innovative creations, like Space Balls (air-puffed, whole grain organic corn balls with avocado oil and Himalayan salt) and Cosmic Rings (whole grain organic corn tossed in avocado oil and organic seasoning). LesserEvil's products are avail- able at grocery stores nationwide, including locally at Whole Foods, Target, Stop & Shop, CVS, Big Y, ShopRite and others. Coristine moved LesserEvil's head- quarters to Danbury in 2013, and has transformed it from a company merely purporting to produce "healthy snacks," to one that actually produces snacks that are healthy, he said. The company employs sustainable practices, including composting its waste, combined with mindful leader- ship of its roughly 250 employees. Lifestyle paradigm shift Before acquiring LesserEvil, Coris- tine left his job on Wall Street, where he worked ruthlessly into the early hours of the night. His high-pressure job, he said, took a toll and led to an unhealthy lifestyle. He sought to reinvent himself. "My body was screaming for me to do something else," Coristine said. "So, I started changing the way I slept. I started meditating because I needed to find some grounding. ... I kind of introduced myself to a bit of a lifestyle paradigm shift. And I really started getting into food and cooking and stuff." Wanting to channel his newfound healthy lifestyle into his work, investing in LesserEvil seemed like a good fit. When he bought the company, it was struggling. He invested money with the help of family and friends. "There were days (when) I would tell them, 'Hey, I think we're turning the corner,' and then two months later, I'd be like, 'I need more money,'" Coristine said. " … It's what every entrepreneur goes through." Coristine said, on average, the company has experienced 50% annual growth since he acquired it. But it wasn't until 2018 that Lesser- Evil became successful enough to raise money from outside investors, he said. Coristine said 2023 will be the first year the company eclipses $100 million in revenue. Just last year, LesserEvil reached the point where it was generating enough to sustain itself without outside funding. As it continues to expand, the company recently raised $19.2 million in venture funding, most of which will not benefit the company directly. Instead, it will be used for purposes like paying secondary shareholders, he said. About $5.5 million is earmarked for LesserEvil's operations, including new products and an expansion that will increase its manufacturing capacity. "We are opening a new factory because we've reached our boiling point under the existing facility," Coristine said. "We just can't stick any more production lines in. We're at eight production lines in the current facility in Danbury." He believes the company's future is in multipacks — large grocery-style bags that contain individual snack- sized bags meant to be consumed in one sitting. Each minibag has about 50 calories worth of snacks. The new 30,000-square-foot New Milford production facility, at 458 Danbury Road, will have lines dedi- cated to multipack production. "We're investing in technology that will allow us to automate that process," Coristine said. "Because currently, we're making the little bags and then people have to take the bags and jam them into another bag, and then seal them. This machinery will actually automate the whole process. It will drop the little bags into a big bag and seal it. So, that's pretty exciting." The new facility involves a roughly $3 million capital investment, including the purchase of new and refurbished equipment. It will have three or four production lines and increase the company's production capacity by about 50%. The expansion will also add about 50 new employees to LesserEvil's current roster of 250 workers. Additionally, LesserEvil is adding a healthy energy bar manufacturing line to its Danbury facility, which will remain in operation. In April 2022, LesserEvil acquired Portland, Maine- based R.E.D.D, which produces nutritious energy bars. Currently, the snack bars are manu- AT A GLANCE Company: LesserEvil Industry: Health snacks Top Executive: Charles Coristine, CEO HQ: 41 Eagle Road, Danbury Website: lesserevil.com

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