Peter Rahal and his childhood friend, Jared Smith, spent $10,000 to start RXBAR Opens a New Window. , a protein bar company known for its clean ingredients and simple packaging, in 2012.
“The question was for us as a consumer, why are all the protein bars, you know, cutting corners,” co-founder Rahal said during an interview on FOX Business’ “Making Money with Charles Payne Opens a New Window. .” “Why isn’t there a natural one? Why isn’t there a better for you one with clean ingredients? And we just couldn’t find one.”
The best friends set up shop at Rahal’s parents’ kitchen, moving on to their basement and eventually renting a small kitchen space to make their first protein bar.
“Selling one bar that turned up 100 bars then turned to 300 bars then later, truckloads of bars,” he said.
In 2017, the entrepreneurs sold the Chicago-based protein bar company to Kellogg for $600 million.
“For us now, we have Kellogg behind our back, looking to grow even faster,” Rahal said.
“So often the entrepreneur, the ones who are agile and can react fast often are able to serve the customer and fill that demand faster,” Rahal said.
After designing the first product label using Microsoft’s PowerPoint, RXBAR created a minimal ingredient list as part of their packaging to emphasize the company’s focus on product integrity and transparency.
The company set such a high standard for quality from the beginning, not even his mother’s job was safe.
“She couldn’t put the labels on right, so she had to go,” Rahal said with a laugh.
