Our MISSION is to make it easy and tasty
TO EAT MORE BEANS
From how our ingredients are grown to how we impact the health of our customers, Better Bean Co is bettering the food system – one bean at a time.
Tasty food requires high-quality ingredients. Our ingredients come from organic or sustainable farms as they grow better flavor. Our recipes are naturally delicious, not relying solely on sodium, fat and sugar – or worse, chemical additives.
We use nutrient-rich ingredients that promote healthy lifestyles, never artificial flavors, colors or preservatives. We ship our products in BPA-free packaging to ensure they stay clean and healthy for our customers.
We support our regional farming community and source ingredients as close to production as possible. This helps us minimize the impact and cost of transporting ingredients long distances.
We became Benefit-Corporation certified because we’re dedicated to building a values-based business. We create a spiritually and financially rewarding work environment for employees. We strive for long-term relationships with suppliers, distributors and business partners. We prefer to do business with small, family-owned businesses to strengthen our communities.
We believe in sharing our love of beans and all their health benefits. Through our online, social media and event marketing we educate stakeholders and consumers about healthy eating, sustainable food cultivation and the nutrition, history and preparation of beans.
Our beans are fairly priced so that bean lovers can regularly enjoy our beans. We strive to make Better Beans accessible to everyone, changing lives for the better permanently!
We hold all these values in balance.
Created by Keith Kullberg and cultivated by the whole family – Rocio, Hannah and Brooke. As a young college student at Oregon State, Keith developed an original recipe for refried red beans. So deliciously nutritious, his beans became a weekly family favorite. While Keith loved taking a full weekend day to cook his refried red beans for the coming week, he always begrudged the fact that he couldn’t buy a tasty, ready-to-eat bean at the grocery store.
In 2009, while on a hike, inspiration struck Keith. “Everyone loves my beans.” He dove into bringing his delicious beans to market.
For Keith, canning his beans was just not an option. Inspired by fresh salsa and pasta, Keith put his beans in a tub and sold them fresh in the refrigerated section. In 2010, Kullber-Rios family launched Better Beans in local stores and Portland area farmers markets; the community agreed: fresh beans were better.
Now sold nationwide, our family strives to realize their vision of bringing easy, tasty, healthy beans to everyone.
Following her father’s footsteps, Hannah Kullberg, became a bean advocate and began to play a bigger role in the company in 2011. The “Bean Queen,” as she’s known, brought the knowledge she gained from studying food systems at Vassar College to help Better Bean advance its sustainability mission.
Hannah helped usher the company through non-GMO verification and advocated on the local food policy council. She believes deeply in the power of business to make positive change. More recently, she gave birth to the next generation of bean believers, a baby boy named West – grown to a 10-pound birth weight on hundreds of tubs of Better Bean (a pregnant Bean Queen couldn’t get enough). Continuing the bean-loving tradition, West already has a favorite Better Bean: Cuban Black Beans, of course.
Only a team of bean lovers could bring you Better Beans. It’s our goal to make it easy for you to enjoy beans every day. Everything we do is to bring back beans to the center of the table.
Founder & President
Keith has more than 20 years under his belt as a CEO and entrepreneur. In 2009, he followed a hunch from his inner food geek to sink his teeth into a culinary love: beans. With the help of his daughters, a trusty cast-iron skillet and a kick of chili, he turned his healthy obsession into The Better Bean Company – providing fresh, refrigerated, uncanned beans to stores nationwide.
Harvard Business School Owner/President Management Program, Oregon State University (BA)
Keith is a talented pianist and composes his own songs as a way to unwind.
Skillet Refried Red Beans, Tuscan White Beans.
corn tacos and his new favorite pasta fagioli with white beans & pesto
Cofounder, Marketing
Southwest Pintos are her favorite.
She likes them with Colombian Arepas and Calentados.
Production Manager
Pablo and his brother Raul finish out the long Better Bean cook days as a key member of the “night shift”. Completed a 1-year lean manufacturing program and brings that expertise to the job.
“Ask my wife” he says. He loves playing with his two boys.
Uncanny Black Beans
As a dip with corn chips