In this Founder Feature, host Caitlin Bricker sits down with Mackenzie Muth and Nolan Spencer, co-founders of HOL Health Club, makers of the first and only bone broth protein bar - with 20 grams of protein and no protein powder.
Mackenzie and Nolan met in an accounting class at Indiana University and are now married co-founders. Both spent six years in investment banking on Wall Street before starting HOL - Mackenzie in consulting and then at Lazard's consumer group, where she worked on the Siete Foods sale to PepsiCo, and Nolan in technology investment banking. It was the public backlash to the Siete deal that pushed them to leave finance and build a "better-for-you" brand designed to scale without ever selling out. They ditched their jobs, bought an RV, adopted two golden retrievers, and hit the road to sell HOL bars in person across the country.
Caitlin, Mackenzie, and Nolan dig into what the Siete sale revealed about the better-for-you category, why they built their bar around bone broth instead of protein powder, the surprising R&D process that led to a real-food formula, and what it's actually like to run a fast-growing CPG brand out of an RV - from 0 to over 200 retail doors in a matter of months.
Listen in as they discuss:
- What the public reaction to the Siete Foods/PepsiCo sale taught Mackenzie about consumer trust in "better-for-you" brands
- Why they chose bone broth as their protein source instead of pea, soy, or whey powder
- The gut, joint, and skin benefits of bone broth - and why traditional protein powders didn't work for Mackenzie's body
- Their first bone broth bar prototype ("complete sandpaper") and how they landed on a real-food formula instead
- Why they rejected the "no sugar, artificial flavors, still tons of protein" trend in favor of whole-food ingredients
- Going from 0 retail doors in January to over 200 doors and 90 demos in 90 days
- Why being founders on the ground, personally running demos, has driven so much of their retail growth
- The upside and identity adjustment of running a CPG company while living nomadically in an RV
- Their strategy of focusing on natural and independent retailers before pursuing larger conventional chains
- Where they see HOL Health Club - and themselves - in five years
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- Episode music by Super Fantastics
