Claire Goldwitz: Helping People Lead Happier Lives through Better Nutrition

Ladderworks is a publishing platform of diverse picture books and online curriculum with the mission to empower over a million kids to become social entrepreneurs. Our current series features interviews by our interplanetary journalist Spiffy with inspiring Social Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Builders, and Changemakers who are advancing the UN SDGs. 

Spiffy here! I’m back with the scoop on the entrepreneurial leaders of Planet Earth. As the only interplanetary journalist stationed on this blue planet, I’m thrilled to present this galactic exclusive with Claire Goldwitz, the co-founder and CEO of Square Fare. Let’s see what she is doing to make a positive impact in the world. 

Spiffy: Thanks for joining me, Claire! Tell me, what challenge are you addressing through your startup?

Claire: Glad to be with you, Spiffy! Square Fare's mission is to help people lead happier lives through better nutrition. Eating healthy is crucial both for your physical and also mental health. About one in five deaths globally is associated with poor diet. We know that eating healthy every single day can be a lot of work. Square Fare makes it easy by working with nutritionists to figure out what your ideal diet should be and then by working with chefs to get you meals tailored to your needs.

Spiffy: What motivated you to tackle this challenge?

Claire: I grew up in France, where there is a cultural focus on good nutrition, high-quality ingredients, and tasty cuisine. Moving to the US, I realized this food education was lacking. I also noticed that, while many people try to eat well, there is a lot of conflicting and false information related to nutrition. So, I decided to build a company to help educate people individually and get them food that would be tastier and better than current alternatives.

Spiffy: How are you and your team working towards a more equitable world?

Claire: Today, there is deep nutritional inequality across socioeconomic status. Wealthier populations tend to eat better than poorer ones. As we grow, our product will become widely accessible, both from a distribution and a price standpoint, so that putting healthy food on the table is no longer a guess, a chore, an eyebrow-raising expense, or something considered less fun and appealing than, say, eating fast food.

Spiffy: Tell me about a recent organizational milestone or initiative. What impact does that make on your community?

Claire: We recently started working directly with registered dietitians, and their feedback was instant. They all said they’d been looking for a service like ours for years. This has been hugely validating for our product but also helps set a bar for our audience in evaluating the types of services they choose to buy for their nutrition.

Spiffy: Please share an experience when you faced failure and didn't give up. What did you learn from it?

Claire: The entrepreneurial journey is not an easy one. I had originally tested a few other concepts related to healthy eating, and those were not successful for a variety of reasons: cost, usability, etc. But I learned from each one of these iterations, and they’ve helped shape what Square Fare does today. Failure is important, because it teaches you what doesn’t work. It should be part of every product development process.

Spiffy: Is there anything else you would love to tell our audience?

Claire: You ingest food at least three times per day. Food can have healing properties and help alleviate—if not heal entirely—certain health conditions. My hope is that, over time, we will help minimize the use of medicine in favor of thoughtful nutrition. 

 Spiffy: Thanks for speaking with me today, Claire—it’s been an honor!

Claire Goldwitz is the co-founder and CEO of Square Fare. She received her MBA from Harvard Business School and her BA from Wellesley College. She has worked in corporate settings around the world and has seen first-hand the adverse effects of poor nutrition due to busy lives. (First published on the Ladderworks website on February 8, 2023.)

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect those of Ladderworks LLC.

© 2023 Ladderworks LLC. Edited by George Romar. Spiffy’s illustration by Shreyas Navare. For the Ladderworks digital curriculum to help K-3 kids advance the UN SDGs, visit Spiffy's Launchpad: Creative Entrepreneurship Workshops for K-3 Kids and their caregivers here.