The Important Reason This Snack Company Didn't Wait for 'Perfect' EPIC bars had imperfect production in the beginning, but it paid off perfectly.
By Michelle Goodman •
This story appears in the June 2016 issue of Start Up.
Triathletes Taylor Collins and Katie Forrest from Austin, Texas, were tired of grazing on fruit-and-nut bars while training. So the couple decided to develop a low-carb, grass-fed animal-protein snack: the EPIC bar, which they debuted in 2013 at Natural Products Expo West, a leading natural food and products conference.
It turned out that their timing was impeccable; gluten-free and paleo diets had become all the rage. Based on their prototype alone, they snagged a national distribution deal with Whole Foods Market the first day of the conference. Now all the couple had to do was scramble to fill the retailer's order in 90 days.