Nick Green: The Membership Model Maverick
Healthy food has long carried a healthy markup. Nick Green built Thrive Market on the premise that it didn’t have to. Over the past decade, he’s taken the warehouse club membership model and reimagined it for the natural products consumer, creating an online marketplace that now serves 1.7 million members with organic and sustainable products at prices designed to compete with conventional grocery. In the process, Green has helped create a new path for better-for-you brands to reach consumers, while proving that mission and margin can co-exist. Thrive has been profitable for three consecutive years, even as it continues to provide free memberships to low-income families, teachers, veterans, first responders and students. That’s a balancing act few mission-driven companies have been able to sustain. As subscription commerce continues to gain momentum – with the global snack box subscription market alone projected to more than double over the next decade – Green’s model looks increasingly ahead of its time.