This Bar Saves Lives has actually saved about 8,000 so far, according to the granola bar company’s own count. And a new distribution deal with Starbucks could help even more.

Embracing a “one-for-one” charity model, This Bar donates a nutritional pack to a malnourished child abroad every time one of its gluten-free, fair-trade bars is purchased in the United States. The products recently hit the shelves of every Starbucks store in California, having previously been sold at Whole Foods and Target locations, as well as boutique hotels.

The new partnership doubles the number of retail locations where This Bar’s products are available, bringing the total to 4,000.

“We don’t have the deep pockets that these bigger companies have, but we have this clear and direct impact and mission,” said Chief Executive Ryan Devlin, who founded the Culver City firm in 2013.

While This Bar is one of the first granola bar companies to embrace the donation-driven business model, similar businesses in other industries, such as Toms Shoes of Santa Monica and eyeglasses maker Warby Parker, have been doing it for years.

Devlin, an actor, came up with the idea for This Bar after taking a humanitarian trip to Liberia, where he witnessed doctors distributing packs of nutrient-rich paste called Plumpy’Nut – a blend of peanuts, milk powder, and micronutrients that doesn’t need to be refrigerated or mixed with water. For every This Bar sold, Plumpy’Nut’s nonprofit manufacturer, Edesia, distributes one packet through a partner to children in Haiti, Mexico, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, among others.

More than 1.2 million of This Bar’s products, which cost $3 each, have been sold to date, with revenue doubling year over year for the first three years, according to Devlin. This Bar projects revenue of $10 million next year.

– Hayley Fox