Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Jul. 21--COMPANY TAKES BITE OF ENERGY BAR MARKET: Local bicyclist Bob Fritz went from snack bars to energy bars in 1996, creating his Peak Bar out of desperation and disgust.
'I got tired of gagging on all of the other products,' he said. 'Eating an energy bar shouldn't be part of an endurance test.'
Fritz, who co-owned the local lunch shop The Date Bar for 12 years, began to play around in the kitchen to see what he could come up with.
'I didn't want to just go gangbusters before we knew we had it pretty well dialed in,' he said. 'The first thing I did was I took samples to a lot of the friends I knew and handed them out and got feedback. I'd also go for a bike ride and eat one to see if it helped my energy level,' Fritz said.
Then, once he had tweaked the recipe, Fritz started Way Cool Inc. and began distributing the bars in health food and sporting goods stores in Colorado Springs. Less than three years later, the energy bars are being shipped to 25 states.
The bars themselves are different from other energy bars. They are shaped like large cookies and come in four flavors: chocolate chip, super-lean chocolate malt, fruit mania and bodacious peanut chocolate chunk.
Fritz said he is excited about the bar's move toward mainstream consumption, as people have begun to buy them as snacks or meal replacements.
'We want to be one of the largest producers in the marketplace,' Fritz said. 'Our goal is to be a $10 million-plus company.' That goal is not too lofty in a market where consumers spend about $200 million to $300 million a year.
Revenues for Fritz's company are increasing rapidly.
'Last year we did approximately $42,000 in sales, and this year will probably come out to about $200,000 in sales,' Fritz said.
Despite this growth, Fritz said the company has yet to see a profit.
'We have to channel everything back into the business,' he said, pointing to a new horizontal flow-wrapping machine he purchased. The machine wraps about 3,000 bars an hour but cost $15,500.
The company keeps costs down in part by having only two employees: Fritz and his co-owner, brother Brian.
The manufacturing is contracted out locally with Kirchner's Bakery, which purchases the ingredients and bakes 2,000 bars at a time. Bob Fritz oversees the baking and pays a per-bar fee for the work. Brian Fritz set up the business' computers and handles the marketing.
'When I first started, I was only able to bake 15 at a time,' Bob Fritz said, adding that he started the business with a $2,500 cash advance from his credit card.
'I wanted to start out real small so I could assimilate the data and get a feel for how they were selling and what the shelf-life was and also the response from customers,' he said.
One thing that has probably helped to propel the energy bar toward success is the name and the packaging. 'Peak Bar' can stand for Pikes Peak and for peak performance. The company name, Way Cool Inc., came about because it's fun to say.
'We wanted to take ourselves a little less serious,' Bob Fritz said. 'We're serious about what we do, but we want to have fun.'
The bright-colored wrapping, which features Pikes Peak, was intended to make people think of freedom, energy and excitement. He described the company's marketing concept as 'viral' marketing, meaning that people spread the word like a virus.
'Instead of spending $10,000 on a full-page ad, we'll give out 30,000 bars and tell people where they can get them.'
The company also sponsors local events to get its name out. This year, Peak Bar is the sole sponsor of the Triple Crown of Running, which is comprised of+ the Garden of the Gods 10-miler, the Pikes Peak Ascent and the Pikes Peak Marathon.
As sales increase and larger stores show interest in carrying the Peak Bar, Fritz said he has to keep focused.
'Every step's a challenge,' he said.
'All these people say, 'You're in King Soopers, now you can go to the Bahamas and buy your yacht.' But really the work is just beginning.'
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(c) 1998, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
