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Chicago-based RXBar sells to Kellogg for $600M
- joshmn 9y agoTucked me behind a paywall. Mirror: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-kellogg-buys-rxbar-20171006-story.html http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-kellogg-buys-r...
- tdburn 9y agoHad no idea they had grown so fast! I wonder if Quest nutrition will have a similar exit?
- sceew 9y agoIf this leads to lower price while keeping quality constant, sign me up.
- jaksmit 9y agoQuestNutrition does multiples more revenue than RXBar. Hundreds of millions in revenue (over $400m): https://mixergy.com/interviews/quest-nutrition-with-tom-bilyeu/ https://mixergy.com/interviews/quest-nutrition-with-tom-bily...
- mizzack 9y agoQuest's ingredient changes and spotty QC have lost me, especially since the Kirkland protein bars are a clone for half the price. Wish Kirkland would have more flavors, though...
- aakilfernandes 9y agoI notice these bars every time I see them in the store. Its amazing how big a difference package design can make.
- codinghorror 9y agoyeah that's the standout to me, "we changed our packaging and started winning". Not a market I'd like to be selling in..
- ovao 9y agoThe packaging always draws comments from cashiers when I buy them. People seem to respond well to the idea of a simple ‘ingredient list’ right on the front.
- combatentropy 9y agoOn the package are the words, "No B.S." This makes me think of poop in it (despite the word No) and I don't buy it.
- freedomben 9y agoAvailable on Amazon (search for rxbar). Had not heard of these but definitely going to try them. That ingredients list is amazing.
- evel 9y agoThanks! I'll definitely give it a try :)
- teej 9y ago6x revenue seems like a really high valuation, right? There's a physical product distributed via retail, we aren't talking tech margins. What's the value to Kellogg's? My only guess is that Nutra Grain bars are being destroyed by Kind and their contemporaries. They need to compete in the category because they get some sort of incremental value when they own a number of different grocery departments. And their internal product development team just isn't very good.
- dguaraglia 9y agoBrand recognition + brand decoupling? Brand recognition would allow them to push new products using the same brand (which people trust to be "no BS, healthy food"). Brand decoupling could disassociate their "healthy" line of products from the rest of the crud they produce (outside of their bran cereal, most of Kellogg's stuff is laden with sugar and chemicals.) Also, AFAIK RxBar is sold just in the US.
- jaksmit 9y ago6x revenue has been a standard multiple for other exits in the health foods space. Including things like Epic Protein Bars, which was bought by General Mills.
- ehllo 9y ago"Super-/Functional-/Trend Food" is a huge market to play in and Kellogg's needs more and better marketshare. If you look at the IR-Site, you can see that Kellogg's is already in the process to renovate the Company and also many of their Products... and that "Trend Food" is an important theme for the Company. http://investor.kelloggs.com/investor-presentations#past-presentations http://investor.kelloggs.com/investor-presentations#past-pre...
- huac 9y agoI tried a bunch of these because a. the packaging is great, and b. my office stocks them. I desperately wanted to like them, but they're really not that good. The ingredients are good but the macros are nothing special, and they are just so hard to eat. The consistency is terrible and it feels like the only health benefit you get is the workout you're giving your jaw, whilst trying to swallow it down.
- dguaraglia 9y agoMy take on RxBars: "glue has never tasted this good." They are an OK snack, but - as you say - I feel like I need to brush my teeth immediately after I'm done eating one.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- 762236 9y agoI was making my own energy bars with similar ingredients until these came along. Well worth the cost.
- amirmansour 9y agoHear, hear. The packaging enticed my GF, so she bought a couple to try. I wanted to like it because I liked premise of showing the ingredients right in the front. But boy oh boy was it hard to chew, and taste was nothing worthwhile. RXBars have great packaging and marketing, but the bars are meh at best from my experience.
- adamgray 9y agoI really liked the chocolate sea salt ones. The rest are kinda meh.
- SoMuchToGrok 9y agoDid you buy them off Amazon? I find that RXBars from Amazon have typically been sitting in a warehouse for many months at a time and are often stale. Every bar I've bought in-person at a traditional grocery store has been significantly fresher and has a much nicer consistency.
- Dwolb 9y agoContext in this quote: > Cereal sales have declined for years, and Kellogg's snack-bar business also has performed badly—with its once-strong Special K brand losing its allure with consumers Kellogg’s doesn’t know how to build a business anymore and needs to go out and buy fresh young businesses like RXBar. This purchase doesn’t just give Kellogg’s a new product to sell, it’ll probably help teach an old dog new tricks.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- Maarten88 9y agoSpecial K cornflakes contains more fat and sugar than plain cornflakes, as well as powdered iron, and is then marketed as more healthy. Pure propaganda. No wonder they are loosing allure. Kellogg's is a brand that I try to absolutely avoid, ever since I became aware of their misleading marketing. Never had an RXBar, but now that Kellogg's owns it, I probably never will. I can even see from the picture that the No B.S. is a lie: what is in that "chocolate chip": lots of fat and sugar to begin with. What more?
- mszkoda 9y agoI haven't had them before but it looks like they do have very limited ingredients, still a lot of sugar, but it seems the sugar is all from dates which has a low glycemic index. Ingredients: Dates, Egg Whites, Almonds, Cashews, Cacao, Sea Salt, Natural Chocolate Flavor Nutrition: 210 Cals @ 9g Fat, 24g Carbs (6g Fiber, 15g Sugar, 3g Other), 12g Protein, 270mg Sodium, 330mg Potassium
- superb_herb 9y agoThey have simple ingredients and taste amazing --- I personally LOVE their chewiness. However, they dates are rather sweet and add a lot of sugar. But RxBars are a way better option than cliff bars or any other monster energy bars out there that are basically corn syrup and whey.
- avip 9y ago"We tell you what’s on the inside on the outside." That's a really nice slogan.
- vvvv 9y agoYou might like this then: "It does exactly what it says on the tin" (often quoted as "does what it says on the tin") was originally an advertising slogan in the United Kingdom, which then became a common idiomatic phrase. It originated in a series of television advertisements by the woodstain and wood-dye manufacturer Ronseal, initiated in 1994[3] and still being broadcast as of 2016. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Does_exactly_what_it_says_on_the_tin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Does_exactly_what_it_says_on_t...
- jonathanjaeger 9y agoI've always looked for a moderately-priced meal replacement bar not filled with additives/sugar/etc. While I do drink Soylent, it's not my favorite thing ever, so I'd rather have something solid too in my arsenal like an RXBar to supplement my regular meals. While the taste isn't anything to write home about, what it really has going for it is that I don't get sick of it like I do the fake tasting protein bars you get in the stores. Favorites: chocolate sea salt, pumpkin spiced, blueberry.
- JoshMnem 9y agoThe mind boggling thing about it is that people pay $2(?) for 10 small nuts and two dates. (Who really needs 3 egg whites at random times in the middle of the day?) Buy nuts and dates in bulk for less than half the price, put a few of them in a small bag in your backpack at the beginning of each day, and the problem is solved.
- adventurer 9y agoPeople who run and work-out believe they need a ton of protein. There's never enough. These bars likely are a bit more expensive than the competitors but are deemed worth it because they are simple, natural ingredients, which might be pretty hard to come by from any of the competitors.
- JoshMnem 9y agoI think that most people need less protein than they believe. Nutrition marketing plays on the idea that if a little bit is good, then more is better -- but sometimes less is better. Apparently, the average person in the US already gets twice as much protein as they need. I'm really skeptical about the nutrition bar industry (and supplements in general). Alternate solution for the eggs: make a lot of hard-boiled eggs. Store them in the refrigerator. Put three of them in the backpack each morning. Or just eat them at breakfast. Including the yolks adds another ~8 grams of protein. It's quick and easy, and frees one's mind from marketing manipulation.
- askafriend 9y agoIf people want to pay for the convenience of a product that doesn't need to be prepared, has a long shelf life, and can be thrown in a purse and survives bumpy rides...then let them. There is real value in this kind of convenience and it shows because people are clearly willing to pay for it. Yes, absolutely you can just boil a bunch of eggs every few days and take them with you in relatively large hardshell containers everywhere....but when you're running to the gym, going to meet a friend, riding public transportation, running from meeting to meeting at work, going to a concert....I mean...you've got to admit that the RXBar starts sounding better than having $2.
- fictionfuture 9y agoDoesn’t look like they raised money either. Guessing the founder just made a clean $500m+ at 31 years old.
- whipoodle 9y agoGood for them, hope they do something helpful with their wealth and the rest of their life.
- jason_slack 9y agoI eat 1-2 these bars every day after working out. I order 10 boxes at a time. I really hope Kellogg doesn't ruin the brand. Yes, they have a weird texture but I actually like them and it beats some other sugar filled snack that is easily accessible anywhere I might be. I carry several of these with me.
- taude 9y agoI think RXBar benefited by being Whole30 compliant, which is a pretty common diet a lot of people are on the bandwagon on these days....
- ddoran 9y agoI was drawn to the bar by the simplicity of the design. Seems I wasn't the only one. RXBar's packaging and design (by design firm Scott & Victor) won a 2017 Inc Magazine Award [1]. As is often the case, the redesign changed the firm's fortunes and was instrumental in getting the product into major retailers. [1] https://www.inc.com/magazine/201706/stephanie-schomer/rxbar-protein-bar-design-awards-2017.html https://www.inc.com/magazine/201706/stephanie-schomer/rxbar-...