Ethical rating for Dave’s Killer Bread snacks

I found a plethora of Dave’s Killer Bread products at the Grocery Outlet lately. I’ve been familiar with Dave’s Killer Bread for years – sliced organic bread made with a wide variety of whole grains and seeds. However, the snack products are new so I decided to try out a few of them. I picked up two kinds of protein bars ($2.49 for a box of four at the Grocery Outlet) and two bags of “snack bites” ($2.99 for a 7.2 oz. bag containing seven servings).

Dave's Killer Bread snack bites and protein bars. A loaf of Dave's Killer Bread is pictured on the left, while three kinds each of snack bites and protein bars are pictured on the right. — You may be familiar with sliced bread from Dave’s Killer bread, on the left, but the snack bites and protein bars are new.

I’ll focus on the two that I liked the best – the toasted garlic snack bites and the blueberry almond butter protein bars. The snack bites are really good for something to snack on with drinks or while making dinner – just the right amount of garlic and salt, with a nutty texture. The protein bars are great too – it’s surprisingly hard to find energy bars that are both healthy and tasty and I feel that they’re usually a compromise. The blueberry almond butter bars have a great dense, chewy texture – kind of like a concentrated version of wholegrain bread with added blueberry flavor.

It makes sense that Dave’s Killer Bread has branched out to these products as it fits with the company’s expertise – making healthy baked products from whole grains and seeds. Overall, they fit the bill on both nutrition and taste fronts and I will definitely get more on my next trip to the GO.

Dave’s Killer snacks – ingredients and nutrition facts

These ingredient lists are hella long, but not in a bad way as they are based on organic grains, seeds, and nuts. They are pretty nutrient dense, as you’d expect from the ingredients. It would be nice to see a longer nutrition facts panel as I expect that there are probably decent quantities of quite a few vitamins and minerals not show in the image below.

Two Dave's Killer Bread snack products are pictured, next to their Nutrition Facts information panel: blueberry almond butter protein bars and toasted garlic snack bites.
1 protein bar (54 g) provides 12 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 4 g fiber, 10 g sugars, and 10 g protein. A 28 g serving of the snack bites provides 8 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 2 g fiber, 2 g sugars, and 3 g protein.

If I was to change one thing, it would be to ditch the palm oil in the protein bars and just stick with canola or coconut oil. The palm oil adds saturated fats (less healthy than the medium chain fatty acids in coconut oil or the unsaturated fats in canola) and also compromises on ethics.

Blueberry almond butter organic protein bars: Organic rolled oats, organic hemp protein powder, organic brown rice syrup, organic palm oil*, organic brown sugar (organic cane sugar, organic molasses), water, organic vegetable oil (organic sunflower oil and/or organic expeller pressed canola oil), organic rice protein, organic almond butter, organic sweetened dried blueberries (organic blueberries, organic cane sugar, organic rice flour, organic sunflower oil), organic tapioca syrup, organic sunflower kernels, organic agave fiber (inulin), organic pea protein, organic whole wheat flour, contains less than 2% of each of the following: organic tapioca flour, organic malt extract, organic quinoa, organic chia seeds, organic oat bran, organic oat fiber, sea salt, organic blueberry juice concentrate, organic canola lecithin, baking soda, organic natural flavors, natural flavors, enzymes, organic mixed tocopherols (vitamin e) added for freshness.

Toasted Garlic snack bites: Organic Rolled Oats, Organic Expeller Pressed Canola Oil, Organic Dry Roasted Almonds, Organic Pumpkin Seeds, Organic Cashews, Organic Crisp Brown Rice (Organic Brown Rice Flour, Organic Cane Sugar, Sea Salt, Organic Molasses), Water, Organic Brown Rice Syrup, Organic Tapioca Syrup, Organic Sorghum Flakes, Organic Quinoa Flakes, Organic Malt Extract, Organic Sunflower Kernels, Organic Potato Starch, Contains Less Than 2% Of Each Of The Following: Sea Salt, Organic Whole Oat Flour, Organic Poppy Seeds, Organic Chia Seeds, Organic Powdered Dried Cane Syrup, Organic Garlic Powder, Organic Onion Powder, Organic Natural Flavors, Natural Flavor, Organic Yeast Extract, Organic Spices, Organic Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E) Added For Freshness.

What is Dave’s Killer Bread?

I wasn’t familiar with the story behind Dave’s Killer Bread, other than the drawing of a dude with a guitar on the label. As it turns out, Dave spent a good chunk of his life behind bars.

Dave of Dave’s Killer Bread is Dave Dahl – he grew up working in his family’s bakery, but his struggles with depression and addiction led him to a series of crime, where he ended up serving 15 years in prison. After receiving early release, he came back to the bakery and invented what’s now Dave’s Killer Bread.

Now a big part of the company ethos is to give others a second chance after time in prison.

Second chances at Dave’s Killer Bread

You can read more about the Second Chances program on the Dave’s Killer Bread site – including stories of many of the employees.

At Dave’s Killer Bread, we believe in Second Chance Employment: hiring the best person for the job, regardless of criminal history. Every time you reach for your favorite Dave’s Killer Bread product, you’re supporting a more hopeful future. For nearly 20 years, Dave’s Killer Bread has actively hired people with criminal backgrounds, giving people a second chance to turn their lives around. At our flagship bakery in Oregon and others across the U.S., we’ve made a positive difference in hundreds of lives, families and careers.

Dave sold the company to Flowers Foods – a large US-based bakery, but the second chances program continues.

Our flagship Dave’s Killer Bread bakery in Milwaukie, Ore., is one of our biggest advocates for second chance employment – with nearly 40% of team members hired through the bakery’s second chance initiatives. – Flowers Foods 2023 CSR report.

Ethical rating for Dave’s Killer snacks

I’m scoring Dave’s Killer snacks 4.5/5 Green Stars for social and environmental impact, considering the following:

All Dave’s Killer Bread snack products are vegan, other than two of the snack bars that contain organic honey. Adopting a plant-based diet is the top thing you can do to mitigate climate change, deforestation, animal cruelty, and food scarcity.
All ingredients are organic, avoiding pesticides and other tools of intensive agriculture that are not sustainable.
The main ingredient, oats, has significantly lower carbon, land, and water footprints compared to animal products.
Dave’s Killer Bread was acquired by Flowers Foods in 2015 but with the provision that it will remain an independent subsidiary. Flowers Foods releases a corporate social responsibility (CSR) report that’s fairly quantitative and comprehensive.
One ingredient, palm oil, is not addressed adequately. Flowers Foods CSR report mentions that the palm oil is RSPO-certified but doesn’t say to which of the four different RSPO levels. In any case, RSPO certification is not a good guarantee of environmental responsibility, so I’d rather see Dave’s just drop the ingredient. However, the palm oil is organic (which ensures some level of environmental responsibility) and is not used in that many Dave’s Killer Bread products.
The second chances program makes a real difference, addressing the messed-up prison (and post-prison) situation in the US.

Five snack products from Dave's Killer Bread are pictured - two protein bars flanking three bags of snack bites. Underneath is a graphic showing a Green Stars Rating of 4.5/5 for social and environmental responsibility.

Summary scores (out of 5) for Dave’s Killer snacks:

4.5 gold stars for quality and value
4.5 Green Stars for social and environmental impact

Join the Green Stars Project!

Join the Green Stars Project (GSP) movement by including a Green Stars rating whenever you write a review. I believe this is one of the best ways to hold corporations accountable while sharing our knowledge on ethical issues. For more information, see these articles on the GSP:

Why we need crowdsourced ethical ratings

Green Stars rating criteria

How to decide on an ethical rating, taking the example of a café