Lenka Bars Founders: Steven Rasovsky and Lenka Rasovsky of Lenka Bar

Steven Rasovsky the co-founder of Lenka Bars speaks positively about his mother, Lenka, the Lenka Bars founder. At the age of 23, Lenka left the Czechoslovakia in search of a safer home in the United States. The Lenka Bars founder started her immigrant life in food services and eventually launched a pre-packed sandwich business in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. Young Steven helped make tuna salad, meatballs, and Italian hoagies.

One day, the Lenka Bars founder baked a batch of muffins that were a big hit with the family. Seeing an opportunity, but not wanting to sell a product needing preservatives, they turned to making Granola Bars, giving birth to Lenka Bar. These handmade granola bars, crafted in small batches using simple, all-natural ingredients, are perfect for a quick snack or as a topping for oatmeal or yogurt. Steven grew in the company to grow every aspect of the business, from cooking to packaging and deliveries. He transformed an old building in York, Pennsylvania into a FDA food production facility and secured wholesale accounts in New York City cafes.

Today, Steven, Lenka, and their team produce 3,500 bars daily, selling to 500 cafes and gourmet markets nationwide. Farm2Me is proud to partner with entrepreneurs like the Lenka Bars’ founders, who shares their mission to make life better. Farm2Me offers Lenka Bars' Peanut Butter and Sea Salt and Nuts & Berries varieties in their Grab & Go menu. Steven highlights that these bars were created to be beautiful, delicious, and made with real ingredients, showcasing the Lenka Bars founder's dedication to quality and community. The Lenka Bars founder has truly built a brand that resonates with those seeking wholesome, tasty snacks. The journey of the Lenka Bars founder is a testament to hard work and entrepreneurial spirit. The partnership between Farm2Me and the Lenka Bars founder exemplifies a shared commitment to excellence — helping 50,000 cafes around the country to find Lenka Bars and 34,000+ other emerging food & bev brands.

    

At Saxbys, we love partnering with hard-working entrepreneurs who are dedicated to serving their communities. Lenka’s focus on Handmade Joy and our mission to Make Life Better go hand-in-hand. We couldn't have dreamed up a partner (or a product) we feel better about carrying in our cafes. That’s why we’ve added the Peanut Butter and Sea Salt and Nuts & Berries Lenka Bars to our Grab & Go menu.

We sat down with Steven to learn more about how Lenka came to life:

So … Lenka Bar actually started with a batch of muffins?

My mom was playing around with muffins and they were really delicious. I mean, they were really, really good. The problem with muffins is shelf life. It’s really difficult to have them shelf stable for more than a couple days unless you use preservatives. So we made granola bars instead. We wanted to offer something that looked beautiful, tasted awesome, and was made with real ingredients.

How did you get Lenka Bar off the ground?

We started in our kitchen for the better part of a year. Then, we moved production into this little basement room behind the garage with one tiny little window. Looking back, I can't believe we made bars down there. Then we bootstrapped our production facility. It was a really old building. If you hit the wood floors with a hammer a plume of dust would come up — letting us know there was a lot of work ahead of us. So my dad, mom, brother, and I laid tiles, installed washable walls, and transformed it into a food-grade facility. Each time we had some more money, we could make an improvement. We put every penny back into the business.

You began gaining traction in convenience stores and gas stations across Maryland and New Jersey, which meant quite a bit of driving for you.

We had a Scion xB, this little box of a car. We’d fill it with granola bars, bottom out the suspension, and they’d send me out on a 14-hour delivery route to 20 stores. Oh and I had just gotten my driver’s license. 

   

How did you find new customers in the midst of the recession when people were cutting back on purchases?

There wasn’t a whole lot of extra capital to spend on a handmade bar. It was hard to convince a store owner why they should spend money on our bar rather than another snack. So we spent time knocking on doors and cold calling. As soon as they tried it, they bought it because it tasted so great.

Why partner with Saxbys?

For us, it’s all about family values. We care about our people and our community. I was really attracted by how the Saxbys team is so invested in company culture and values. When I learned the values of Saxbys — namely “we are a community serving a community” — I knew this partnership was a perfect fit. 

Are you seeing that today’s consumers are more interested in smaller, independent food producers like yourselves? 

People are becoming more conscious of what they’re putting in their bodies. They don’t want just a sugar rush from something that has zero substance. Our bars aren't the healthiest thing but they taste damn good. And they’re a lot better for you than a cookie or donut. People are voting with their dollars. People are learning the stories behind the products they’re buying. They want to feel connected to something authentic. At our company, there’s a human being behind every bar. We put a lot of love into these bars and you can taste the difference when you eat them.