Prayer Leads Man To His Roots

By COLlive reporter

Jonathan Grin, a close friend and supporter of Chabad of S. Paulo, credits the success of his company to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, after a visit to pray at the Ohel in Cambria Heights, Queens.

The 31-year-old entrepreneur from S. Paulo, Brazil, is the founder and CEO of Roots To Go, a natural potato chip company based in Brazil.

Grin wasn’t always interested in potato chips, having studied for his law degree at Northwestern University in Chicago and practicing law for a few years at a top law firm in New York.

Still unsure if this was the career he wanted for life, Grin traveled to Singapore to meet with a friend, a tech millionaire, to ask for advice. The friend advised him to get an education in the field before he could think of going in to business in the tech industry.

At this point, Grin decided to visit the Rebbe’s Ohel in Queens to pray for a blessing. “I still didn’t know what to do – should I remain in New York at the law firm or go back home to Brazil and work in a law firm there, or begin my education in hi-tech,” he says. “I prayed to the Rebbe for some kind of guidance.”

2 days later, he says, Phelipe Dorf, a Lubavitch friend of his, called.

“He said he’s taking a trip to the city of Lubavitch in Russia, and stopping for one night in New York,” Grin recounts. “He asked if we could meet up while he was in New York.”

The meeting was an answer to his prayer, Grin says, when Dorf offered him to partner in his new potato chip company. “I felt like this was an answer to me from the Rebbe, telling me what to do,” he says.

The company, Roots To Go, is the first of its kind in Brazil, and produces veggie snacks from potatoes, sweet potatoes, yucca and other vegetables.

Their product is being sold across Brazil in major supermarket chains, and is now imported to the United States.

“When I recently visited Crown Heights, I was so proud to see our products on the shelves in many stores,” says Grin.

“I am so happy now doing this, I feel like I am doing good for others every day with our products. When I was a lawyer, I wasn’t always in the position to make others happy. With my products, I feel like I am making the world a happier place.”