PowerBar


PowerBar, Inc. is an American maker of energy bars and other related products including sports drinks, gels, and the Pria bars targeted at women.

History

The PowerBar company was founded by Brian Maxwell, a Canadian athlete and entrepreneur, along with Jennifer Biddulph and Mike McCollum. They started in Maxwell's kitchen, where they formulated the recipe using the knowledge of Jennifer Biddulph, a nutritionist. The two would eventually marry. They used $55,000 in cash to launch the company in 1986 in Berkeley, California. This was the first "energy bar" for use during competition by endurance athletes, such as ultra marathoners, and cyclists. They eventually acquired a headquarters building in downtown Berkeley.
The company eventually reached $150 million in sales before being purchased by Nestlé in 2000 for $375 million. In February 2007, PowerBar moved its headquarters from Berkeley, California to the Nestlé headquarters in Glendale, California. With the move came the hiring of an entirely new marketing team.
On February 3, 2014, Post Holdings announced it had reached an agreement to acquire PowerBar, Musashi and related worldwide assets from Nestlé. After the transfer to Post, PowerBar discontinued the manufacture of their PowerGel, Energy Blast and Perform Powder lines in North America. In 2019, PowerGel Original, PowerGel Hydro, PowerGel Shots, IsoActive, and RecoveryMax were re-introduced in the US Market. https://sport.powerbar.com