Bite into a Bruks Bar and you won’t go back. 6 questions with Brooke.
I love specialty foods. Raw, vegan, no sugar and anything with dairy, soy and gluten removed… give it here. It’s not that I have a medical need to avoid any of those ingredients and I certainly don’t eat that way all the time, but when I do I’m usually pretty pleased with life. So when presented with a croissant or a gluten-, dairy-, soy-, egg-, and refined sugar-free whole foods bar to go with my coffee, I’m probably going with the bar unless I’m hungover, thanks. And that’s precisely how I discovered my very first brüks bar one afternoon at Smelly Cat Coffee. Now I’m obsessed.
What started as one couple’s personal quest to create a bar to meet their own dietary restrictions and high nutritional standards has exploded into a full-blown business in less than two years with brüks bars being sold online and in more than 40 retail locations throughout the greater Charlotte metro.
The first time I met Brooke, the founder and namesake, she was handing out samples at an event and I rambled on about how perfect the bars are, not knowing at the time that she was not only the creator but was also hand chopping, mixing and grinding every single bar by hand with her fiance and business partner Sean.
A photo posted by bruks bars, Inc. (@bruksbars) on Dec 18, 2014 at 5:02pm PST
Today they’ve hired their first employee to help meet growing demand as the business expands and (I hope) to give them some breathing room to allocate some of those bar-making hours to planning their upcoming wedding.
A few weeks ago I met up with Brooke and grilled her on everything from what differentiates brüks bars in an already saturated and highly competitive health bar market to just how far she and Sean are willing to scale the company. Could brüks bars be on a path like the wildly popular LARABAR (which sold to General Mills in 2008 after hitting $30 million in revenue)? Or will it remain a local handmade item? Right now, nothing is out of the realm of possibility but the couple is aiming big as they gear up to audition for Shark Tank, ABC’s addictive investment funding competition for entrepreneurs, for the second time later this year. But one thing is certain, they won’t do anything that sacrifices the quality, flavor and integrity their loyal customers in Charlotte have come to expect.
Here are 6 questions I had for Brooke over a couple almond milk lattes, of course…
What was the catalyst for the creation of brüks bars?
Sean (my partner and fiance) has food intolerances to gluten, dairy, soy and egg – making it really difficult for him to find healthy snacks that fit within his diet. We are both passionate about healthy cooking/baking, good food and fitness, so when we were having trouble finding Sean nutrient dense (i.e. super filling with good calories), great tasting, diet-friendly snacks, while he was in graduate school, playing around with recipes of our own seemed natural.
When did you decide to escalate the product into a full-blown business?
We came up with the recipe for our ‘Original’ bars and fell in love with the taste, texture and ingredients, but had no intention of selling them. It wasn’t until we shared them with colleagues that we realized other people liked them too. We made them for ourselves for 9 months before we “officially” (think bake sale style packaging) sold a batch. Our colleagues immediately started requesting to buy batches from us and were the first ones to make us feel like we really had a business worth starting… and that’s when the light bulb turned on. A couple months later, we were moving to Charlotte and jumped in headfirst to start the business in August 2013.
What differentiates brüks bars from other bars on the market?
First and foremost, the taste. Our bars are made with real food ingredients and people really can taste the difference. We chop, grind, and mix it all by hand. We are also completely gluten, dairy, soy and egg-free (with two completely vegan flavors). It’s really difficult to find bars free from all of those allergens that actually taste good. Finally, our ingredients are of premium quality – we don’t use cheap syrups or fillers as substitutes to real food.
Why is Charlotte an awesome place to start and run a business?
Charlotte is a phenomenal place to start and run a business. The community is welcoming, warm and full of drive. The entrepreneurial network here is wonderful, with a ton of resources to help inspire, organize and grow small businesses. Plus, Charlotte is growing and there’s a sense that its best days are ahead. We feel privileged to be apart of such a collaborative and supportive community. Not to mention, the city shares our passion for fitness, the great outdoors, good food, and a love of supporting local businesses. We couldn’t imagine a better city to call our home.
You just recently hired your first employee. How does that feel as an owner to see the business grow and to put your product in someone else’s hands?
I don’t think there’s a better feeling in the world than to feel our business growing. We are humbled by the feedback and support we’ve received from our customers here in Charlotte, and now venturing beyond. When even just one person tells us how much they love our bars and to keep doing what we’re doing… it pays huge dividends. We truly do this for those people, because in so many ways, we are those people! We were the couple searching for something to snack on that we could feel good about eating, and love eating, at the same time. To give that to others is the ultimate goal. Healthy CAN and DOES taste good! We are so often involved in the day to day grind of running a business that seeing things from someone else’s perspective (even if she’s working with us) helps inspire us to keep going and keep improving. Hiring our first employee was huge for us, especially because she was the perfect addition to our passionate team!
How far do you want to see brüks bars go? How can the people of Charlotte help you get there?
We are shooting for the stars here. We want to grow the business to have a national presence, sustainably and without compromising our values as a business and as people. We want to be more than a bar business someday and be able to contribute to the push for a healthier next generation through the real food movement. We envision this business being about a whole lot more than just selling bars– education, service, community development, etc. We want to build a business that we are proud to run and our community is proud to support by focusing on our team and customers. Charlotteans can help us by spreading the word! We are only a year and half old after all, crawling but ready to run! Sharing this post with their friends and family who can order online, and supporting local by trying a bar at one of our Charlotte retail partners.
This story was originally published March 9, 2015 at 12:54 AM with the headline "Bite into a Bruks Bar and you won’t go back. 6 questions with Brooke.."