How did you get into the savoury protein bar business?

Our philosophy is very simple: a protein bar made with real protein!

Our route into snack manufacture was quite unusual in that Luke & I are passionate ‘ultra’ marathon runners who love being part of the great outdoors participating in extreme events around the globe.

As any endurance runner will tell you, it’s imperative that you have the right food to fuel these adventures and yet today’s functional snack shelves are awash with products that trade in sugar, empty calories and synthetic nasties; the absolute antithesis of what healthy means!  

It was midway through one particularly gruelling run in the mountains that we peered inside our ruck sacks to be confronted with a couple of odd-coloured sachets of electric blue gloop with the appetite appeal  of shower gel and a faddy, excessively processed date infused bar that professed to be back-to-basics, natural goodness but was anything but!

To our way of thinking there are three ‘hot’ of the moment food trends: low sugar, high protein and all-natural ingredient decks.  We wanted a ‘savoury leaning’ range that ticked all of these boxes and tasted amazing, an authentic savoury pick-me-up as opposed to a cynical Mars bar cloaked in insincere ‘healthier living’ platitudes.

What gives you confidence that you’ve unearthed a new/untapped snacking opportunity?

A healthy break from the ‘sweet stuff’ resonates so loudly with everyone we talk to.  Our vision is simple and to the point, on-the-go bars made from all-natural ingredients where best-in-class British bred/grass fed-beef headlines.  Bars assembled with a small number of hard-working ingredients as opposed to any ambiguous/overtly processed ‘chemistry set’ components.

We’ve never thought of ourselves as the next big food trend because in truth we’re part of the oldest food trend on the planet (paleo) where people revert to common sense and eating just the right balance of prime, quality meat, vegetables and fruit.

N.B. some of these date-based/granola bars contain between 15-20g of sugar.

In a world where vegan, vegetarian and low calorie arguments are being trumpeted louder than ever, it’s important that someone shows meat in the right sustainably sourced and healthy light.

It’s worth noting that meat snacks are the 2nd fastest growing snack category in the UK after popcorn.  In America the meat bar market will be worth in excess of $600m by 2021 and with a number of chewy, mass-produced US meat offerings limbering up to invade our shores, it’s time for a home-grown/premium tier bar to make some noise.

What were you doing pre Prime Bar?
Both of us were in fulfilling careers that we loved and yet both of us couldn’t shake a nagging suspicion that our passions could be more tightly entwined with how we spent our days. Together we had a fixation with good nutrition and healthy (not faddy) diets and we loved running in ultra marathons together. Upon identifying the big problem with the current nutrition options and not seeing any solutions coming from the big players, we decided we had a duty to bring real food solutions to the endurance sports arena!

Moments of anxiety?

Production certainly wasn’t as easy as we first imagined! Because we needed to assemble a completely new manufacturing process to achieve our goals, we had to dig deep into Luke’s food science and manufacturing learnings to find a solution.  We worked our way through 4 different manufacturers until we arrived at a place where we were happy because there were more than a few ‘less than satisfying’ sampling sessions early doors!

When that first ‘proper’ batch rumbled down the line it was a truly momentous occasion!

We thought we’d started pretty swiftly out of the blocks with ‘early wins’ across a number of endurance, camping/outdoorsy and sports outlets and yet the penny finally dropped that without mainstream retail volumes it was going to be a long slog to a satisfying bottom line.

This was the opportune moment the Sainsbury’s Future Brands team stepped in to take a peek at our savoury snacking vision.  Over the course of some intensive store trials we learnt more about our brand than we could ever have hoped.  We learned that whilst essentially we were onto something really special there were small ‘easy win’ tweaks, (recipes, flavours, brand messaging and packaging….) that could turn something pretty good into something amazingly good!  We took a deep breath and got to work!

December listings into M&S, Selfridges and Ocado would suggest that taking a few steps backwards was the perfect solution to long-term progression.  We’re now a brand with ‘real’ potential and traction and that’s before we start cranking up our chats with healthy wholesalers, gym providers and high-end vending.

Outdoorsy types, sports enthusiasts and gym goers will invariably always be our heartland, however plans are already afoot to take on the ‘all-noise’ Pepperami with something that marries superior taste with mainstream appeal.

Best advice you’d pass on?

I think this quote is a good one to consider in challenging times when running a business. 

“We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one." Confucius

It motivates me to keep spending my time doing interesting things rather than rushing back to security, but at the same time not take life too seriously, seeing perspective when you get too tied up by some problem or overly angered by some issue with your business!