After a Cancer Scare, She Bootstrapped a Business From Her Kitchen to 3,500 Walmarts. Here's Her Secret Ingredient for Health — and Success.

Katie Lefkowitz, founder and CEO of "superfood-infused" candy bar company Harken Sweets , was a self-proclaimed "Snickers fanatic" for most of her life. However, when health issues and a colon cancer scare "flipped [her] world upside down," she started considering food as medicine — and experimenting with the concept in her kitchen.

"I wanted to recreate those classic candy bars, but in a way that they were actually healthier for you to eat," Lefkowitz tells Entrepreneur , "and that's exactly why I started Harken."

Lefkowitz was well-positioned to found a better-for-you food brand. After graduating with a bachelor's in the biological basis of human behavior and consumer psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Harvard Business School , she went on to serve as COO, then senior advisor, at Caulipower, the company behind a line of frozen, cauliflower-based products.

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So, in 2022, Lefkowitz rolled that expertise into Harken. She named the company for what it means to "harken back to those good old days when you could enjoy all the candy that you wanted and not feel like total hell afterward," she says.

"We see ourselves as this third wave within chocolate confection, [where] there are functional benefits to candy bars."

According to Lefkowitz, the chocolate confection space has transformed over time, and Harken strives to evolve with it.

"You had classics, like the Snickers of the universe," she explains. "Then it evolved into the more natural version, so maybe they took out the corn syrup , but they didn't really change the nutritionals drastically. And so we see ourselves as this third wave within chocolate confection, [where] there are functional benefits to candy bars."

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Harken Sweets}

Lefkowitz had to try "countless different versions" of the product that would become Harken's standard in her kitchen — incorporating dates to make her ideal bar. "We take the dates [and] macerate them in such a way that it creates that gooey, caramelly texture," Lefkowitz says. "We're not using butter, sugar or the classic caramel ingredients, and you still get that taste and texture."

But Lefkowitz notes that it's one thing to nail the perfect recipe in your home kitchen — and another entirely to replicate it at scale . It was a significant challenge, she admits, but focusing diligently on the product and how to make it across various manufacturing facilities helped Harken overcome it.

Today, Harken offers its plant-based , high-fiber bars in several flavors, retailing for $39.99 for a 12-pack: The Nutty One, The Crunchy One and The Gooey One, all featuring the date caramel.

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"We took this to a number of different retailers, and we brought on Walmart very early on."

Although Harken began with a direct-to-consumer approach, it wasn't long before it caught fire. The company received a flood of positive feedback via email, Lefkowitz says, explaining that people were excited to have a nutritious treat that tastes good — "which is always hard to come by." So, Lefkowitz considered other pathways for growth and expansion.

"I still see retail as a huge focus for all food brands," Lefkowitz says, "so we took this to a number of different retailers, and we brought on Walmart very early on. [It] was our first national retailer."

To this day, Lefkowitz hasn't taken any outside funding, preferring to bootstrap the brand .

"It's unusual for folks in this space," she says. "[But] it's been important to me to make sure that I run the business the way I think it needs to be run in these early stages. That's not to say we won't ever raise money , but I feel good about the position that we're in and [proving] the concept without ever needing to do a classic funding round."

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"Innovation is absolutely core to who we are here at Harken, and [we're] looking to expand into additional products."

Now, Harken is available in 3,500 Walmarts nationwide. The company, which boasts 50 times quarter over quarter growth, also has its products in KeHE, UNFI, ShopRite, Fairway, Gourmet Garage, McCaffrey's, PopUp Grocer and Better Health Markets, and Albertsons and the Fresh Market will stock them soon, Lefkowitz says.

"I've been amazed by the groundswell among the retailers ," Lefkowitz adds. "[It] has shown how there's such a need for a product like this in the checkout aisle."

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Harken Sweets}

Lefkowitz looks forward to Harken's continued growth and innovation — noting there's still a lot of white space in the market.

" Innovation is absolutely core to who we are here at Harken," Lefkowitz says, "and [we're] looking to expand into additional products [and] product lines to continue to give our customers products that match the occasion for which they would love to enjoy a healthier treat."

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"To succeed in this space, it's about putting the nose to the grindstone, really hustling it out every day."

Needless to say, "the power of the date superfood" was not only the secret ingredient for Harken's first healthy treat but also laid the foundation for a growing brand built around the functional benefits Lefkowitz sees as the industry's future.

Lefkowitz encourages aspiring entrepreneurs eyeing the better-for-you food space to experiment in their kitchens and find their own key to success — because "you'd be amazed by what you can do with even a handful of homemade samples." Then, just hit the ground running.

"Get it in front of people as soon as possible," Lefkowitz says. "Start testing, start iterating. And if you feel in your gut you have a winner, it's more likely than not that you do. To succeed in this space, it's about putting the nose to the grindstone, really hustling it out every day door to door, and you can make a huge difference."