Spreading Joy with Culturally Relevant School Food at Red Rabbit with Rhys Powell
Rhys Powell is Founder & CEO of Red Rabbit, America's largest black-owned K-12 school food company.
Rhys reveals how the Red Rabbit brand has evolved to stand for racial justice through food justice, by celebrating culturally relevant food in school cafeterias.
We talk about how the Red Rabbit brand has evolved - from living its values, to being very specific in language and purpose - to stand for racial justice through food justice. Rhys shares the emotional impact that school food has on students, and how Red Rabbit brings dignity and joy to students by affirming their cultural identity and sense of self through familiar food favorites.
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4. Rhys Powell of Red Rabbit - Spreading Joy with Culturally Relevant School Food (60:00)
4.1 What Matters Most in Life & Career (2:07)
4.2 What We Love about Ben & Jerry's (3:26)
4.3 How a Bad Brand Experience Impacts Emotion & Desire (3:14)
4.4 Red Rabbit's Brand Evolution Rooted in Social Justice (3:51)
4.5 What Brand Purpose is All About (3:11)
4.6 The Impact of School Food on Inclusion & Affirmation (3:10)
4.7 Why Brand Leaders Should Not Ignore the Emotional Insights (1:29)
4.8 Creating a Brand People Connect to Emotionally (1:51)
Here are some fun facts about Rhys…
Rhys Powell is the Founder and CEO of Red Rabbit, the country’s largest Black-owned K-12 school food management company. As an entrepreneur and social justice advocate, Rhys is committed to uplifting communities of color by serving delicious, thoughtful, familiar food to kids in urban schools throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.
Recognized on Crain’s 40 Under 40 List, and named one of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs by the Builders and Innovators Summit, Rhys is frequently asked to speak or comment on the social justice movement happening in the country today. The New York Times, Black Enterprise Magazine, and Crain’s New York Business have all asked for his expert insight on the state of school food and the entrepreneurial drive behind Red Rabbit. Rhys has spoken in front of many groups such as the B-Corp Summit, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Summit, Aspen Leaders Business Action Forum, Columbia University, and Harvard University.
Under Rhys' leadership, Red Rabbit has developed a scalable for-profit model that addresses both childhood nutrition and inequity in urban schools. Rhys has raised multiple investment rounds led by impact investors Kapor Capital and Serious Change LP and has built a diverse leadership team with 75% women executives, and a Board that is 65% POC. Red Rabbit became an early B-Corp and maintains memberships in the Social Venture Network and the School Nutrition Association. Prior to launching Red Rabbit, Rhys was an equity trader at Carlin Financial Group (acquired by Royal Bank of Canada). He is a graduate of MIT, with a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering.
Rhys is proud to be a part of the grand tradition of Black Americans that have pledged their lives and careers to help America form itself into a better, more just society. He is a Bahamian American and lives in Harlem with his wife and two children.
“Brands should exist to make people’s lives better.”
“If you want to create a brand that people emotionally connect to, you have to tap into some part of their being and their sense self.”
Rhys is Sparking Brand Desire with Emotional Insight.
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