– Could you introduce about YouBar ?
Anthony：YouBar is a custom-made nutrition bars brand in Los Angeles, mainly for retail clients. YouBar was launched in 2006 after the mother-and-son founders, Ava Bise and I, began creating custom protein bars at home to meet our taste, health and allergy needs.
Since launched 2006 to now, YouBar has grown to 30 employees, has shipped as many as 10,000 custom bars in a day.
– What brought you to start YouBar?
Anthony：It was the winter of 2006. I had just graduated from USC with a business degree and while figuring out what to do next, I started teaching snowboarding with my mom, who has been teaching since 1998. On our long drives to and from work at the mountain, one of our favorite topics of discussion was nutrition.
We are both extremely health-conscious. But, there was one food discussion that we kept coming back to, not because we enjoyed it but because it annoyed both of us. As snowboard instructors, stopping to eat lunch was never something we wanted to do.Either we were teaching or we were boarding. So, like a lot of athletes, we liked to eat pocket-portable energy bars for lunch.
The problem was that all the energy bas on the shelves back then had something wrong with them. They had things like high-fructose corn syrup, preservatives and lots of ingredients we did not want.
Why had not anyone made the “perfect bar”?
We started talking about what that would be, and immediately realized the problem. Our “perfect bars” were different as could be. I wanted higher protein and higher fat, my mom wanted moderate protein and less sugar. Flavors was also a point of contention. I hate peanut butter, but my mom loves it.
So, we gave upon the idea of a single “perfect bar” and started hand-making our “own perfect bars” from scratch. Mine was packed with fresh dates and raw almonds. My mom’s had peanut butter, cocoa powder and whey protein. Within a few weeks of ditching my mass-produced bars, something really cool happened. That was I felt better.
I hadn’t realized I’d felt bad before, but getting rid of the foods I knew didn’t agree with me made an enormous difference. I shaved 20 minutes off my marathon time, I landed a jump 180 in the snowboard park for the first time and my stamina skyrocketed. After six hours of teaching, I was able to free-ride for another 3 hours. I wasn’t trying to lose weight, but I dropped 20 pounds. My mom was feeling just as great. So, one day on our way down from the mountain, we finally had the conversation that had been obvious for months. “There is such a thing as the perfect bar,” I said. “I know,” she replied. “It’s just different for everyone.”
I said to my mother, “Let’s launch a nutrition bar company”, and she replied, “Yes, if we can allow everyone to customize their bars just like the one we make and eat at home.” Then, we started YouBar as the first company that allows customers to create own energy bars. “A Nutrition Bar Created by You, for You.” And the rest is history.
– Could you share your startup episode when YouBar launched in 2006?
Anthony：In 2006, when YouBar was launched. Employees are only My mother and I. Just 2 people, so we did Everything to drive YouBar.
– How and where came up the brand name “YouBar”? and if there any hidden messages or meanings in YouBar’s logo, could you share?
Anthony：There is no secret message behind the name “YouBar” . YouBar means just You, for you, and Bar for bars!
– What was the hardest incident and what did learn from that?
Anthony：When I first started YouBar, consumers weren’t very accustomed to customizing their food products, and so it was a really big job to explain to consumers the value in being able to design their own nutrition bars. We had to educate consumers about the benefits of choosing their own ingredients, their own nutrition facts, and their own taste profile.”
But that was almost ten years ago and we were dealing with an older generation of consumers — the baby boomers. Today, the generation with the biggest buying power in the United States are the Millennials (those born between 1978 and 2000), and they don’t just understand customizing — they expect it in everything they do!
They have their own custom radio stations thanks to Pandora, their own custom news feeds thanks to Facebook, their own custom shoes thanks to NikeiD, their own custom candy thanks to MyM&M’s and their own custom energy bars thanks to us!
– After “CUSTOM NATION” published, time flies 3 years. Is there any changes you feel before publish and after publish?
Anthony：When the book was coming out in 2012, what I felt was like “Everyone started speaking about customization.!”
Then, I was invited to MIT, UC Berkeley, USC. Everyone wants to hear about “YouBar and Customization.”
– About the book “CUSTOM NATION”, every chapter is so impressive and significant to understand what is going on mass-customization. Where is the best part as author ?
Anthony：Every chapter is significant but, I would say the existence of “the Millennial” in 21st century. They expect “CUSTOMIZING”.
They are customizing outfits, size like “Zazzle” and “Cafepress”. they customize shoes NIKEiD, custom news feed Facebook, custom radio “Pandora”. And now, Millennials are the largest population as a generation.every year their buying power gets more and more powerful.
– From your eyes, what is good for customers to customize something?
Anthony： To design and order what the customer really want.
– Can we place an order YouBar from Japan?
Anthony：Unfortunately, we do not ship our nutrition bars internationally (only in the United States), so unless you have an US address, (such as through a company shipito.com) we cannot send any bars.
– What kind of person loves YouBar?
Anthony：I would say “Food-conscious person”. For instance, for customers who want to lose weight, for athletes, for person who train. About Celebrities, we delivered YouBar to TLC, Fergie, jabbawockeez, En Vogue, and Randy Jackson.
– After you received call from Paypal on February 2008, published Great book “CUSTOM NATION” in 2012, you and YouBar’s story seems unstoppable. How do you feel for the past years?
Anthony：February in 2008, we had “exploded!”. We got into New York Times, ABC, NBC, Fox, Good Morning America, Daily Candy on the same week. We had thousands e-mails, thousands orders. If you order the box of bars at that time, it would be taking “3 month” till receive it!
– In next year 2016, it is going to be 10th anniversary for YouBar. Could you share your “2015 year’s passion” and “vision for 2016”?
Anthony：
My passion in 2015 to continue making custom nutrition bars
for more and more people.
I believe that everyone should have their own “brand” of energy bars.
People are unique, and their diets should be too!My vision for 2016 is that YouBar continues to grow.
This summer, We are moving into a new,
larger facility because we have outgrown our current location.
I look forward to being established in this new location
by the first quarter of 2016.
