mindsweets

Welcome to UniBärsum: 10 years of Buddha Bear & Co.

In October 2010 we brought the “Buddha Bear” onto the market – our first idea for easy thinking! The Buddha bears with birthday cake were soon followed by other bear series, such as the Berlin bears, coastal bears, lucky bears and many more. You can find them all in our online shop!
   
Other product series followed, such as the noble chocolate shaman, the cheerful Lucky series (fruit juice sticks “Sticks”, fruit juice strings “Strings” and the sweet strong licorice) and the reduced-sugar, extremely tasty organic effervescent bear.
   
Many companies also use our items, especially the popular bears as promotional gifts, often with their own logo integrated into the motif card.
   
mind sweets - sweets for the mind?

Mindfulness, loving and respectful interaction with each other, with our environment and with animals are essential values ​​for us. Consequently, all products are organic, vegan and gluten-free*.
   
What does mindsweets stand for?
   
SNACKING - mindful & conscious: with our "sweets for the mind" we want to encourage conscious, mindful eating and consumption in a playful way. On each of our packaging there are instructions for "NaSchthink" for inspiration - a mindfulness meditation with Buddha bears, chocolate shamans, lucky licorice & Co. So the brain gets more than just new energy. It can slow down, switch off, take a break and create space - good conditions for completely new, creative ideas...
VEGAN - Animal welfare & health: we do not use any animal ingredients - all of our products are vegan. They are also gluten and lactose free. Unnecessary additives such as artificial flavors, emulsifiers, etc. we consistently leave it out.

BIO - environmental protection & sustainability: we consistently only trade with BIO-certified products and thus support organic farming. We maintain long-term, fair and trusting relationships with our business partners, suppliers and customers - for a healthy economic and social climate in which everyone can thrive.

SOCIAL - Workshop for the disabled & sponsoring: our Bärchen products are made by hand in a workshop for the disabled in Berlin. The employees can identify well with our products and enjoy them. We also often sponsor our products for a good cause: for social institutions that raise some money with a raffle to finance their next project, for vegan non-profit organizations, for the pensioner who goes to kindergarten as Santa Claus, etc.

Who are you?

We are a small team and based in Berlin-Kreuzberg. In addition to our work for mindsweets, we all volunteer in social or Buddhist organizations. The founder, inventor and mainstay of mindsweets is Arne Schaefer, who teaches meditation as a volunteer Zen teacher in the international Kwan Um Zen School in his free time and is also a trained coach. He loves coming into contact with people and being able to live out his strong creative side at mindsweets: most of the bear and product ideas, images and texts come from him.
   
Is it possible without plastic?

That's what we're trying to do! Our chocolate shamans are e.g.b. shrink-wrapped in cellulose film, which is made from wood and is biodegradable. Gummy bears and fruit gum sticks, on the other hand, have Buddha bears with package acids and water thanks to the fruit juices. This requires different qualities in the packaging so that the taste and sensory properties are not lost (keywords: airtight and waterproof). This is currently only possible to a very limited extent with biodegradable film. We are watching developments with great interest and hope for a breakthrough.

Alternative glass? The production of glass is quite energy-intensive, especially compared to plastic. In addition, transporting heavy glass requires a lot of energy. With a deposit system, the distances are doubled and additional effort is required for cleaning. The energy and price balance for glass packaging for fruit gum is anything but convincing.