How To Be WellnStrong

83: Creating the Healthiest and Tastiest Protein Bar on the Planet | Jake & Rachel Beaudry

• Jacqueline Genova • Episode 83

Share episode

If you’ve struggled with finding high protein bars that actually taste good, you are going to really appreciate this episode. Join me as I sit down with Jake & Rachel Beaudry, the founders of Rawr Organics, as we discuss their journey in creating what I think is one of the tastiest, healthiest protein bars on the planet. Rawr Organics was born out of the pain point in that it was hard to find high protein bars that actually tasted good and didn't have fillers, binders, fake sweeteners or dairy. The bars range from 18-20 grams of protein and come in tasty flavors from cookie dough and birthday cake to lemon poppy and dark chocolate raspberry. Jake and Rachel are not only incredible entrepreneurs, but they are mission-minded, with beautiful hearts and a strong desire to help people.


Suggested Resources:

Send me a text!

If you’re looking for a high protein, low sugar bar made with real food, and organic ingredients, you NEED to try Rawr Bars. Gluten-and dairy free, these bars come in a variety of tasty flavors from cookie dough to dark chocolate raspberry to birthday cake,  plus their bars range from 18-20g protein.

Right now, you can use the code “wellnstrong” for a special discount on your order!

Join the WellnStrong mailing list for exclusive content here!

Want more of The How To Be WellnStrong Podcast? Subscribe to the YouTube channel.


Follow Jacqueline:


*Unedited Transcript*
===

Jacqueline: [00:00:00] but Anyway, Jake, I was telling Rachel before you jumped on, I feel like I'm sitting in the presence of greatness because I am literally your biggest fan. Uh, when I, when I discovered your bars, I, okay. became obsessed. , I have a monthly subscription. I have a whole box sitting in my fridge.

I tell all my friends about it. But, um, I'm just, I'm so excited to sit down and talk with you guys because I'm probably most passionate, about your bars in terms of any like wellness product that I consume on a, on a daily basis.

Jake & Rachel: thank you. I'm curious. Aw,


Jacqueline: Honestly, I think someone mentioned you guys, I think it was through social media. Someone was just like, Oh, like I've been, you know, this isn't like my pre run workout bar. And I, I checked you guys out and I was like, I love these flavors. They look really interesting. And I bought a box and I've been hooked ever since.

and that, that was like two or so years ago. So I've

Jake & Rachel: awesome. How long have you been doing your podcast?

Jacqueline: been doing my podcast. It'll be two years in May. So I started, uh, I [00:01:00] started Well and Strong as a blog in 2020. and then felt Called to start a podcast. Yeah. Two years ago. Um, and I actually left my full time job. In December, I was like, you know what, I'm 29.

I currently don't have a family. Now's the time to maybe, you know, just try well and strong full time. , so it's been a journey, as I'm sure you both know, but I'm still trying to find a groove and a work rhythm, uh, which has been a challenge, especially when you wear, you know, all of the hats. Um. But I'm just taking a day at a time.

Jake & Rachel: Yeah. We we, we were like 30 when we started R Bar, weren't we? Yeah. I mean, yeah, something like that. Um, 31. I was 31. You were 30? Yeah. And we came from the investment industry as well, so. 

Jacqueline: That leads Jake into my first question. I'm, yeah, I'm so curious of what both of your backgrounds are and yeah, how you found yourself in this space. And I think it's so funny because most of the folks I've spoken with in the wellness space have no type of medical background whatsoever, right?

It's a completely separate field. [00:02:00] You know, they find themselves in the space either due to one of their own personal health issues or a family member. So, yeah, curious how you guys, uh, got into the space,

Jake & Rachel: Yeah. So I mean, I can start. So mine definitely came from my health journey. So um, ever since I was little, I had hypoglycemia. So I'd like faint if I didn't, if I blood sugar got low and it wasn't like I didn't get tested and diagnosed till maybe I was in my early twenties where they, you know, they tested my blood and diagnosed it as reactive hypoglycemia.

So like my pancreas would overproduce insulin. So if I didn't watch how I was eating, like if I was eating too high glycemic of foods, um, not my meals weren't balanced with protein and I was eating just like straight carbs, um, and my insulin was elevated, then I could have You know, that can turn into insulin resistance and then type 2 diabetes, um, and so I had always been really like [00:03:00] active and never noticed any issues with my health when I was younger.

Other than like, I got hungry and passed out, but in general, it wasn't like an issue. And then in my early twenties, I started to have just like a lot of health issues, whether it was like, I felt like some adrenal fatigue and so I got into health, but I didn't know Like, uh, eating low glycemic, eating a balanced diet, I'd like, start to learn about ingredients, but I would eat like, oh, this couscous has protein in it, so I'd have like a bowl of couscous with no protein, and I thought I was getting like what I needed, and All of a sudden my, I just, my symptoms started to get like really bad.

I went from feeling like I could, you know, do anything because I had a lot of energy to I had like intense fatigue. I would go walk like half a mile and I'd get tingling fingers and lightheaded and my legs felt weak all the time, shortness of breath, like all of these symptoms that We're like [00:04:00] really scary at the time because I had never like experienced anything like that and So I initially went to the clinic and I knew like I had a history of hyperglycemia And so I kind of mentioned that and told them what the symptoms and they said, oh you're just getting low blood sugar So why don't you?

Uh, make sure you get some, like, sugar when you start to feel like that. And, so I was like, okay, and I had, I had, like, trail mix. I'd pick out, like, the cranberries and the, uh, dark chocolate chips, and I would just, like, take straight sugar and carbs if I started to feel, like, lightheaded. And that just kept, obviously, making it worse, because that wasn't, like, the solution.

And thankfully, I had a friend who was really into health, and he started to research for me. And he was like, Hey, you need to look at this article from this like doctor who is like, uh, he's an MD, but he's also like on the holistic side. And he had this huge long article about how like those symptoms are insulin resistance and the.[00:05:00] 

The key to reversing that is to actually shock your system by eating everything low glycemic, uh, reducing your carbs and like cutting out obviously all processed sugars and carbs. And so as soon as I started doing that, immediately I felt relief. And it, it did take months to like fully reverse. That like led me into even diving deeper into like health.

So I, I went, um, pretty like strict on my diet for like quite a while. Um,

Jacqueline: What did that look like, Jake?

Jake & Rachel: yeah, so I did two things I went like so everything I studied the glycemic index and so everything had to be like a low glycemic meal, like a low glycemic load. And so I was just and I had to have protein with every meal. So I could I wouldn't do any carbs by itself.

So I would do like chicken with like in a small portion of either like a low [00:06:00] glycemic grain like. Or medium to low, like, uh, quinoa or long grain brown rice or beans, um, and then sweet potatoes I would do, which, you know, you cook them can be a little bit higher glycemic, but, um, and yeah, and so then I, but I also started to get really into like the micronutrients.

So I was growing wheatgrass and sprouting and 

making like I love that.

smoothies every day and my green smoothies were heavy on the greens. With just a teeny bit of like through, um,

Jacqueline: Was this before you met Rachel

Jake & Rachel: yeah, yeah, it so he was like already on this journey prior to like 10 when this happened and, um, yeah, and so basically, like, I went from probably like.

Because I had really elevated levels of insulin, they said, and it was my cells. So part of the reason I was getting those symptoms is my cells weren't receiving the insulin [00:07:00] and I wasn't getting the sugar in my muscles and so that's why I was having all these weird symptoms and feeling really messed up.

And so, like, doing that big switch to that, that diet, um, and it was like all whole foods diet too, nothing processed, um. It started to reverse and then slowly like I felt like I could start exercising and like I felt more stable. I wouldn't get like lightheaded and, um, and I was able to, you know, after probably when when we met like a few years later.

I could loosen up a little bit with my diet, a little bit, you know, and because basically now I don't have to be quite as strict. I, I am, you know, eating healthy, but I can, I can have more of like a cheat meal, but for a while it, till my body aired itself. So that was kind of like, I was forced into it and think I'm, I'm looking back, like, you know, I'm thankful that I, I found out about, you know, eating healthy and, uh, [00:08:00] and, you know, reversing those things through diet and not having to go the medical route, but.

Yeah, that's just a little bit about kind of what led me.

Jacqueline: What a journey. Jake, have you ever used, um, I mean, now they're like so popular, everyone's using them, but continuous glucose monitors, like when you 

were in your 

Jake & Rachel: I, for a while I did the finger pricking. Um, but I, I've been thinking about adding that, 'cause we've had, we have some customers that will tell us they use it with our bar, you know, they stay stable and, 

Jacqueline: Yeah, I did. I, um, I mean, I, I use one for the first time a few years ago, but I like to do it every so often just to see how my body's changing, but I had a levels, uh, CGM in, um, like two weeks ago. And one of the things I tested were your bars and. I just was, you know, amazed. I mean, I was expecting it to like be fine anyway, but it was cool to see the confirmation that it didn't spike my blood sugar, which is really, really awesome.

So yeah, highly encourage people. I mean, everyone's different. You know, there are certain things that tend to spike one's blood [00:09:00] sugar over another person's. Like I'm super sensitive to sweet potatoes, for example. So I'll try to like mitigate the spike by adding coconut oil to it. Or, you know, like you highlighted earlier, like pairing protein.

Um, but it's a really helpful tool I've found.

Jake & Rachel: Yeah. I've been thinking about getting, I just want, yeah, just to make sure, you know, my diet is keeping me stable. I mean, uh, I, I'm really sensitive to like feeling the reaction if I get spiked. So usually I'll, I'll get like, I'll get really tired.

So I'm blood sugar spiked. I'll tired and crash and then feel hungry after kind of thing.

But, yeah. But it'd be good to know, you know, so

Jacqueline: So interesting. Yeah. Insulin resistance is so common nowadays. Sadly, you know, mostly from our diet. So it's just, yeah, the more we can create awareness and education around it, uh, is really important. And Rachel, now, how did you, I mean, obviously you met Jake. So what was the progression of like the creation of, of this company?

Jake & Rachel: yeah, [00:10:00] um, I can share a little of my own health journey too before we jump in

because it's funny how we got together there. So when I first started dating Jake, I was, um, really into fitness. I've always been like athletic. I was a distance runner in high school and college. And through a back injury, I got into bodybuilding to try to like build and repair the muscles. And that's when I started uncovering the importance of like macronutrients. So Jake over here is really into the micro, um, when we met and I was really into the macro. So I was super focused on getting enough protein and just, um, like, you know, based on my training, certain amount of carbs and fats and stuff like that.

So. I read labels, but not for the right reasons. Like I was always looking at the nutrition facts and not always the ingredients where he was looking at the ingredients, not the nutrition facts. Um, and my brain was kind of like a calculator when I met Jake, because I had tracked my meals for all the training.

And so when we started dating. I was [00:11:00] sponsored by a protein bar at the time, and the only reason I chose this particular bar to consume on a daily, um, basis was the fact that I was sensitive to gluten. And back in like 2011, 12, 13, it was like the only gluten free bar. Now there's probably a ton of different gluten free bars.

So I was eating this bar on a daily basis. You know, I kind of noticed after a few months, I wasn't feeling great from it. And I was making the correlation that I'd be sloshy and bloated from it. And then when I was dating him, he was like, this bar is trash. He's like, you need to like, first season ingredients.

And so I did a deep dive and that's when I was like, okay, I can't eat this bar anymore. And at the same time, um, I was in a season where I wasn't doing like shows anymore. I was just lifting for the sake of like enjoying working out. And I had gone two years without a period. And I thought it was weird because I wasn't training hard, I wasn't doing intense cardio.

Um, and so he referred me [00:12:00] to his naturopathic doctor. where they did what's called EDS testing. There's a lot of different ways you can test people, but she used a, um, source called EDS testing. And she went through all of my nervous system, endocrine system, just everything one by one. It was probably hour and a half to two hours long.

And I didn't tell her anything about myself. And at one point she looks to me and she goes, okay, have you been eating a lot of egg whites and tossing out the yolks and like common diet and bodybuilding? It's like, Chicken, rice, egg whites, and then you just eat greens because they instill this fear of like carrots and things that might have sugar in it.

So I was just eating like spinach, broccoli, asparagus, stuff like that. And I was like, yeah, I have been tossing out the yolks. And she's like, also, have you been eating a lot of greens, but not like a variety of vegetables and like a lot of color? And I was like, yeah, I basically just eat green vegetables.

And she's like, okay, you're super [00:13:00] deficient in sulfur. add the yolks back in, start eating onion and garlic. And then, um, I want you to take a garlic capsule, which was literally just like freeze dried garlic. And she's like, take that every day and let me know how are you doing in a month. And I kid you not within 30 days, I got my period back and it's been pretty regular ever since.

And this was like 11,

Jacqueline: That's wild.

Jake & Rachel: 12 years ago now. And 

Jacqueline: Wow. 

Jake & Rachel: that was really a huge aha moment for me where I was like, okay. I could eat the right things, but if they're not like organic, non GMO, and I'm not getting a wide variety of these whole foods, it's really not doing me a lot of good. I switched to organic foods at the time because I was on a budget, so I was just eating like conventional chicken and conventional beef and having out all those different things.

And you even notice when I switched to organic, I had way less inflammation. Like I, I was [00:14:00] pretty lean and pretty muscular, but I always felt like I had like just water weight. And once I started eating like organic, I truly noticed that like my body just shed like excess bloating and inflammation. Like I was clearly being inflamed from the different additives and toxins that were in my food.

So that was all kind of like me and Jake coming together and having our own ha has, like, because he was eating not enough protein and not enough calories, and I was like, for a guy of your height and weight, you're just not getting enough. And so I taught him about macronutrients, he taught me about micro.

And because I threw out the bar I was eating I didn't have a bar anymore. And that's kind of the journey that led us to RarBar which was a complete accident. And I had a bar that I'd get sometimes that kind of hit. The, you know, the things that I wanted, but it didn't taste that great. So, so she was like dirt.

She wasn't really so like the brownie one. I felt like I was eating like grass. I don't know what to explain.

Jacqueline: [00:15:00] Yeah. Well, I, that, I mean, that really resonates with me because I too, Rachel, am gluten intolerant and I found that out like, I don't know, in college, But since, I mean, prior organics. I was not a fan of any of the gluten free bars that I would see. And also too, like, they're packed with so many extra additives that are really not great or like, they'll use like whey protein isolate and just things that I don't necessarily want to consume.

Um, but yeah, I mean, how did you guys actually like come up with the, like, cause like you're not chefs per se, like I'm just trying to think like, how did they even start doing this? Like the creation of these.

Jake & Rachel: So it's kind of a funny story. Um, I just made a list of ingredients. Once I, you know, got into health, did a bunch of research, was feeling a lot better, seeing a lot of change in my body. I just sat down one day and I was like, Okay. I need like a bar I can bring to work just even in a Ziploc for me and Jake.

He made a list of ingredients that I liked, ran it by him. And a lot of them we [00:16:00] already used in different ways. Like, I'm like, okay, I know I'm cool with coconut oil. I know that I do well with peat protein. Like we just would have a plain unflavored one at home. We would just drink it, not for taste. Um, and then I was like, I know flaxseed.

I like that. I agree with that. I like the omegas in it. So we just made like a list and then. This is where I like the nerdy side comes out because I had all these like calculations in my head from tracking macros for so long I did like calculations of what I would need of each ingredient to get high enough protein because I was like I don't want to just be like a 10 gram bar like that was one of the issues I had with bars on the market is.

A lot of times the cleaner ones were like high protein, but only 10 grams. And for me, I just wouldn't feel stable. I wouldn't feel satisfied. Yeah, I'd get spiked. So it, that was one of the things that we really needed for me. Like we needed it to be dairy free and gluten free for her. And obviously she wanted the macros there, but I needed it to have a [00:17:00] balance between sugar and protein so that I didn't get spiked.

Because like a lot of the protein bars out there, I would feel hungry like right away because it just wasn't stable enough. The glycemic probably was probably spiking me, so. So yeah, I just kind of ran some calculations and came up with like a prototype, which It was not anywhere as good as it is today because we would put,

We 

would put water in it, um, to like bind it together, which like then when we eventually went to like work with a food scientist, she like laughed at us and she's like, Oh my gosh, guys, your bar won't last like a week with water and we'll mold and ferment.

Um, but like, hey, we would eat it within like a day. We would make it and eat it within 24 hours. So we didn't know any better. But it's pretty funny looking back. That's how it started. 

Jacqueline: That's wild. When you say food scientist, so, so you hired someone to basically like create this bar with all the ingredients that you.

Jake & Rachel: We created [00:18:00] it, but to get like shelf life testing and water level testing to like, you know, food manufacturing license, they need to know that you tested like the water activity level, because if it's to be considered like a safe like package product, it can't be over a certain amount of like water activity.

Yeah, it was more like we had the bar developed based on like. What we finalized and the taste we like, and then we, we went and got it tested. And we had told her how we had used to use water after that. We weren't using water anymore at that point. But well, at that point we weren't using water because I think I had already had a communication with her.

Oh, she was like, before you submit your samples, you need to swap that out. And that's why coconut oil is in the bar.

Jacqueline: Okay. Yeah. I'm sure that was a learning experience because there is a lot about product formulation and whatnot, but kudos to you both. And when you were first like creating these, who was like your ideal. First customer.[00:19:00] 

Jake & Rachel: Um, I would definitely say like when we were creating, we were kind of thinking of like business professionals, like people in, you know, everyday life that had busy lifestyles,

um, that cared about ingredients or even like the stay at home mom that cares about the ingredients, like really people that read the labels.

Um, that was, you know, initially the first target market. So when we launched, we picked a farmer's market, um, In Minneapolis area, but it's kind of like where the suburbs meet Minneapolis. And it's definitely more of like a more affluent area where people are really in the health. So like we, like a health minor, like a lot of 

co ops, like to the 

mark. 

Jacqueline: target. Yeah.

Jake & Rachel: So,

Jacqueline: So interesting. And how did you decide on, on the flavors?

Jake & Rachel: um, I think that was just like personal preference. Like always love almond butter and peanut butter. So we only launched in two flavors. It was our dark chocolate almond and dark chocolate peanut butter. And we just knew what would kind of progress from there. But we just started with [00:20:00] like two staple flavors.

Jacqueline: My favorite is the raspberry chocolate, like my go to. Um, and then the,

Jake & Rachel: Yeah.

Jacqueline: and the cake, the cake one is my favorite, is a cake batter or whatever. I have a new friend and I, I brought him a bar, and he was just like, what is this?

This is amazing. I was like, you have to try all these different flavors. So I'd be going every so often to like bring him bits of like the other ones. I'm like, you have to try these, but they're just, yeah, they're unreal. I love having like, I'll have half of one. I have to like restrict myself because I have no self control with them.

So I literally have them in my fridge and I will like cut them and be like half a bar before my run, like half a bar later. Um, But they're, they're just amazing. So kudos to you both. Um, and can you highlight too, so you already mentioned Rachel, like some of the benefits, like it's dairy free, it's gluten free, what other ingredients, or even just, you know, benefits of the bars themselves, do you want to like emphasize for, for listeners?

Jake & Rachel: Well, something exciting that we have not announced yet is, um, we just went through the kosher certification [00:21:00] process and so, um, basically just waiting for the final certificate to hit our desk here, but in a couple of weeks we'll get to announce that to customers, which will be fun. Um, but yeah, gluten free, dairy free, soy free, non GMO.

Um, the majority of ingredients are organic. There's a few that aren't just because like almond butter is three times the price. Um, we 

Jacqueline: Yep. 

Jake & Rachel: want to have like a 4 bar customers like we're

trying to get as affordable as possible. Um, with the, with the goal of eventually we want to have the last remaining ingredients that we, that are organic, we want to switch those over as we're able to.

And that's where, so we use like our ingredients and suppliers, they hold the organic certification, but now we're, we're going to go through the process soon to like get ours officially certified. The flavors that, yeah.

Jacqueline: Yeah. That's exciting. I know. You'll go to Whole Foods and it'll be like 28 for a little thing of organic almond butter. I'm like, some things you just can't, you know.[00:22:00] 

Jake & Rachel: and then I would say low glycemic. Yeah, which is I was for some people that might not be as important for me it really is and then I'd say easily digestible because so like previously Because like for me when I would get really hungry My digestion was a little bit sensitive on what I would eat on an empty stomach because I could like get stomach aches like when I was little I'd get a horrible stomach aches and I don't know if it was tied to the Hypoglycemia, but, um, so I can be like really hungry on an empty stomach and eat our bar, even two of them, and I don't get any like digestive issues and it holds me over.

And we've, we've had a lot of customers reach out who have struggled with like, even like IBS or different digestive issues. And they'll say, you know, these are the first bars we found that like, agree with like our digestion. And you know, that's not going to be the case for everybody. Some people might react to something because they, they have like, analogy, but, um, but yeah, so that, that's, I think a strong point is [00:23:00] when, when I compare and eat other bars, I feel it feels easier on my system to digest.

I think a lot too is because we're not using, um, artificial sweeteners of any kind. We're not using like a lot of the fibers you see, like tapioca fiber, um, like cassava fiber. Like there's a lot of different like fillers. In bars that are advertised as healthy that I mean are questionable and I think they can upset your gut.

Um, and then one thing that's kind of fun about the bars is when we were developing it, I felt like it wasn't ready and perfect to launch. So I was spending a lot of time praying and one night in a dream I heard the word molasses. And, um, so I started researching molasses and I ended up putting a small amount into the bar and it's super, um, mineral dense.

And really rich in iron and so a lot of the bars, um, are like 25 to 28 percent of your daily iron intake because of the most, this depends on the flavor you get somewhere higher in the [00:24:00] iron because the molasses varies per flavor, but I thought that was kind of fun that like there's a lot of minerals and they're like more nutrient dense because of the molasses and then the coconut nectar.

So like our two sweeteners.

Jacqueline: Yeah. No, absolutely. Rachel, you mentioned fillers. What are maybe like Two or three of the top, , fillers to avoid, 

Jake & Rachel: a really common one is like corn fiber. Like you'll see that in like the bars that are It's isomaltylglycerate. I can't remember how to say it.

It's 

Jacqueline: pronounce it. Yeah.

Jake & Rachel: or they might just straight up say corn fiber. Um, I mean, a lot of the fillers and binders are like in their pure form, like organic non gmoan corn.

Not like bad, right? But in order to get it to be a binding ingredient in a food product, the level of processing and chemicals used to turn it into a syrup is what makes it bad. Yeah. Cause a lot of, so the, [00:25:00] there's fibers that they'll be on the nutrition label as a fiber. Yeah. Like shakery root fiber is most often comes in a syrup form.

Um, tapioca fiber, so it depends, it can come in syrup form. Um, so, so there's two, there's tapioca syrup, which is more of like a sweetener, but then there's tapioca fiber, which can be in syrup form. And like, if you look at the nutrition label of these, they'll be equal carbs and equal fiber. So like all those bars, you'll see they have a little bit higher carbs, but then they'll have really high fiber.

So the net carbs is what they'll, you know, advertise it as like a low net carb, like three net carb, because. For example, it might have 10 grams of sugar, but 7 grams of fiber, so you subtract the fiber. 10 grams of carbs. Yes. 10 grams of carbs, or it'll come from maybe a sugar, and you subtract the fiber, and you get 3 net carbs.

So you can say like it's keto, it's low carb, but really you're [00:26:00] consuming this um, highly processed fiber, and sometimes your body doesn't know what it is, it's kind of an identified source, and it will process it as a sugar.

Yeah, so it doesn't always process all of it as, as fibrosic and, and so, and, and some, again, everyone's body's different, like, some people might do well and are okay on those things, but like, personally, we don't, like, I can tell when I eat something that has like a really elevated level of fibrosis.

Some of those fiber sources, um, so it's hard to narrow it down to like top three because there are so many and they're like the Research on them is so limited because a lot of what we're putting in our food these days has only been in use for 10 15 20 years, so there's not a lot of Data yet. There's just a lot of short term data 

Um, but like, some things that make me a little on the leery side is like Xylitol, sucralose, I'm not a huge fan of Stevia, like anytime it's zero calories and 

Jacqueline: Yeah. 

Jake & Rachel: I'm just like eh, it's

Jacqueline: was just going to ask you both what your thoughts are on monk [00:27:00] fruit, um, because that obviously is like all the rage right now and I know there's obviously been a shift. Yeah. And there's been a shift in, you know, monk fruit with erythritol because, you know, research has come out that that's really not super great.

So we see a lot of products or brands rather like shifting to monk fruit with allulose. But to your point, right, like sure it may not spike blood sugar, but there's not too much research on it. Yeah. So. 

I guess just, yeah, I mean, you're not a fan of stevia, but I mean, is that, does that apply to monk fruit as well?

Jake & Rachel: Smung fur is one that I'm kind of in the beginning stages of researching right now, but there is not much research on it. Um, like the fact that Same with allulose. It's kind of more new in its research. So I know it comes from like a fruit and obviously eating something in its natural state, like the way God designed it's best.

Um, but what I want to look into is how it's processed and made into sweeteners that it is used today. Um, but there's really not a lot of data on it, which is interesting. Um, I always hesitant to like [00:28:00] make something staple in my life when I know it's zero calories, just because

Jacqueline: Right.

Jake & Rachel: the original state that most food comes in.

Um, but in my beginning stages, I haven't found much so far. I will, I'll just say that. Yeah.

Jacqueline: That's interesting. Keep me posted on your research because I am

curious, uh, what you find.

Jake & Rachel: Because some, you know, some, some things, the processing, it depends how it's processed. Sometimes it's. You're taking something out that's beneficial and the processing, we're not using harmful chemicals.

Um, high heat isn't altering that ingredient to make it unstable in your body. Um, you know, some processing's okay, I guess is what I'm saying. And, um, so it's just whether or not that's the case or not. So I think

Jacqueline: that makes sense. One thing I did want to just tell you both that I really, really appreciate are the Bible verses on each package, of the bars. Whose idea was that?

Jake & Rachel: was your idea. Yeah. I mean, we were, I was, I loved it, but [00:29:00] I didn't think, yeah, I think you thought of it. And I thought it'd be fun to have a different one for each flavor,

because You know, every day is different. You're going through different things. And so I was hoping that it might hit whatever someone's going through or whatever season they're in, just not having the same script on every flavor.

And so like a fun one is, um, like a more Valentine's day flavor, strawberry of Corinthians 13, which is the chaplain love. So it's just kind of fun. We

Jacqueline: I'm Christian as well. And, you know, one thing I really try to do is just share the gospel through whatever I'm doing with Well and Strong, right? Be that podcast conversations or illustrations on my Instagram. So I think it's just a really. Beautiful way to integrate your faith, into your product and, you know, share with, with non-believers or people who don't know God.

So I think that's really beautiful.

Jake & Rachel: used to be a lot better about bringing over the product when we shipped it. Um, now it's just easy to get like busy, right? But um,

get back to the basics. We used to just pray when we'd bring all the shipments to the Pope's office that, you know, people would find a [00:30:00] scripture and that it would impact them and that people that are looking and seeking for truth would find it.

So.

Jacqueline: I love that. That's so beautiful. Do you guys have any plans to, um, are you're not in any retail stores correct. Or are you

Jake & Rachel: Well, not any like large national chains other than South radical bulls. They are a smoothie shop that's franchised over the past couple of years and they maybe have like 80 locations. They don't they're not all locations sell our bars but they use our uh dark chocolate peanut butter bar as a topping like we.

It's like a, comes in like a chunk, like we cut it up into chunks and um, so it's like a primary topping they use. Um, other than that, we're in maybe a hundred, maybe 200, yeah. Like mom, pop shops, gyms, cafes, local like holistic clinics, a lot of chiropractic and holistic clinics. Um, so, but this coming year, so like right now we're, um, like we're building a new facility because we're welcome on our [00:31:00] space that we're releasing and.

So by the end of the year, hopefully we're in that and we're like automating our production. So we're like creating the capacity so that we can try to, you know, approach Whole Foods and Target and get in co ops. So that's kind of the next phase is hopefully being in, uh, more available in stores. So like right now, everything is handy from start to finish.

Um, I just recently pulled myself out of the kitchen a few months ago cause we have a baby and once he started to crawl, I was like, okay. We can't see him, but the 1st, like 6 years of business, like basically made start to finish with the team and did a lot of the heavy lifting and carry a lot of the load there.

And, um, just with the process as is, it would be so hard to. meet the demands of grocery stores right now.

Jacqueline: I was just thinking that.

Jake & Rachel: Yeah. So we're trying, trying to kind of like say a little hush hush until like Jake [00:32:00] said, we're fully on me, but it has been something like we invested in a machine a couple of years ago and we've been working on figuring it out and kind of like doing very minor tweaks to the recipes to make them able to extrude and sometime and hopefully spring of this year.

We'll be able to make that large transition, but that will probably be like one of the bigger projects. There's a longer process for us because a lot of bars will add in, that's the primary purpose of those fiber sources is to bind the bar without, they'll either have higher sugar because they add extra sweetener or they'll lower the protein.

So there's like a few levers you can pull to make. a bar bind more so that it's like you can't you can automate and one of them is you decrease the protein up the sugar a little bit or add more if you want to see the protein 

higher. And without upping the sugar, then you have to use like one of those fiber syrups.

And we wanted to, you know, avoid taking those [00:33:00] routes. And so it's been a lot of like tweaking and testing, but we, yeah, we're, we're to the point where we figured it out where it works and we'll, you know, we'll maybe not at the level of like what some bars will be able to do in terms of production, because I think part of the reason they'll Add, you know, a fiber binder that's a syrup is because then it really binds like extremely well, and then they can pass more.

At a higher speed. And, and so we're, we're just trying to, we wanna, you know, be able to scale, but we don't wanna like,

sacrifice integrity of what, why we started the bar. So, so we're basically just using our current ingredients. We're not adding anything and we're just trying to do small little tweaks of levers, 

mostly with add more of nut water.

So

Jacqueline: special. I mean, and honestly, too, even from a marketing, like, perspective, I was just thinking of this. I feel like you guys don't even really have to market in the sense of, like, once someone tries [00:34:00] your bars, It's just spread through word of mouth because you have such an incredible product.

It's like the product speaks for itself, right? And when you have a really good product, like, the hope is that your marketing efforts don't have to be as, perhaps like widespread as some other brands. But, um, to that point too, what advice would you give to aspiring, entrepreneurs in, in the health food space who have an idea for a product, you know, don't know where to start.

Let's say it's like you guys, you know, five, six years ago, What would you tell yourselves at that point in time?

Jake & Rachel: the approach we took, I mean, so have three things. Yeah, I would say. I would recommend this approach. I mean, it's, there's two ways to go. You can, you can get outside investment, you can go big right away, but we personally, we felt the best approach is to get a local following first. So we started with just doing every local event.

We could, we, we had a vision of like growing and being like a national brand. [00:35:00] We've just felt like, well, it's just. focus on like, uh, testing it here first and doing farmer's markets, doing every event we could, and just getting like, um, yeah, just getting a local customer base and just kind of letting it naturally grow from there.

Um, and so we didn't put pressure on ourselves right away to, uh, to go too large in that sense where we just wanted to. Um, kind of like a grassroots

Jacqueline: Yeah.

Jake & Rachel: um, I think that's a good way to start because then you're not, you're, you're keeping control too, if you're not taking the outside investment and you're just kind of like bootstrapping everything and, and, um, um, it's, it's not, I'm not saying it's the right way for everybody, but I think it's.

Uh, it's a good way to go. It's a lot of work, especially if you're keeping the production in house. Yeah. Um,

Jacqueline: Did you guys both do this like full time from the start or were you also balancing other jobs? And at what point 

did you make [00:36:00] so yeah, family members that were like, well, your job was so good and secure. Yeah. We, yeah, I had been in, I was, I had to provide you like seven years and, um, I was at a practice where, you know, the, the owner, she wanted me to start buying equity and eventually take it over. And so it was, so 

Jake & Rachel: this. It was a big transition, but we like, you know, we felt like God was really guiding the whole process and he put this on our heart and we, we just felt like a calling to make this transition.

And, um, and like, we have a mission aspect to like the business that we just felt like this is the direction and there were, so we had purpose, like it really helps if you're making this jump where you feel a calling and a purpose in it. Um, but, um, and it was also our passion, you know, we were really passionate about health.

Like. I definitely enjoyed helping people with their investments and financial planning, but my, my passion was really like in health. And, uh, and so, so yeah, I mean, going all [00:37:00] in, I think it would have been really hard to, because there was a couple of years where we were thinking about doing the bar, but we were still like in our careers and we just realized like it would be really hard because we were so busy with that.

And Um, so we just really felt like God was guiding us to just basically go all in. And

um, so yeah, we did do that. And then, um, like the other thing I'll mention, and I know you have some stuff is that, uh, like when you start something as an entrepreneur, um, like not letting disappointment, um, get you off like the vision, you know, just know that there are going to be setbacks.

There are going to be failures. There's going to be disappointment and you have to like, you know, learn how to like kind of deal with that and not let it because the big thing is if you don't quit you in essentially like it's about consistency, persevering, and just like keeping at [00:38:00] it and what you know for us the initially the growth was a A lot slower than we thought it was going to be.

Cause we were like, Oh, in two years, we'll be in whole foods. And like, we, we didn't realize how long we were so naive though. Yeah. We didn't realize how long it would take. We were like spending 10 hour days making and packaging the product. So then in the evenings we would do like, you know, the financing ordering green social media and marketing.

And so it was

like, was so focused on making. But like, see, we had a team making it from the beginning. We probably could have been Whole Foods Center. Yeah. But we had no idea that like, taking manufacturing in-house would be so consuming. And we were too broke to hire employees, so we had to do it ourselves that we didn't wanna take on investors.

So it's, it's just an interesting thing. . But, so like 

the, I think if, depending on the, the business someone's launching, but if you just stay consistent, you don't give up. A lot of times you hit this. Whether it's three years or five years, you'll hit [00:39:00] this threshold where all of a sudden things will really start going.

So it's, it's just not giving up in that the first couple of years that are, can be a lot harder, you know, kind of getting over that, that threshold.

So 

Jacqueline: Couldn't agree more. 

Jake & Rachel: yeah. 

Jacqueline: I know you have some thoughts.

Jake & Rachel: I would say like business tips for an entrepreneur that's just getting started, I think like the first and foremost. important thing is like hearing from God and having peace.

Um, so like if he's put something in your heart and called you to it, you'll feel peace. You might feel nervous still, right? You might have some fear there, but at the end of the day, you'll know that you're hearing from him. And I think that's the most important thing. I think sometimes people have an aspiration to be an entrepreneur, but they haven't heard from God.

They just. Kind of want to like have a free land schedule and they're like it sounds fun I think hearing from God is like the top top thing because if you know, you've heard clearly from him and you have that piece [00:40:00] whenever it gets hard, you can go back and say, okay, well, God said he'd carry me through this.

This, like, he's in this with me, like, this is his purpose in this season of my life. Instead of just being like, I chose this path. Cause like, when you know, God's in it, you know, that he's not going to let you down. He's not going to let you fail. Like you'll have little failures and you'll have little mistakes, but like, at the end of the day, he's carrying you through.

So that'd be my first tip, um, then Jake did say one of them, which is not to give up. Um, because I mean, there is trials, there is tribulations, and there's times where you're going to question yourself. And if you can just persevere and continue on, like he said, there's going to be a point where the scales tip.

And I think that's a beautiful part of the story too. Like when I look at our story, of being in the kitchen for six years before I had a manager take over. And the first two or three years I was in the kitchen alone, like he would be doing finances for our, in the front, I would make all the recipes.

Then he would help me roll [00:41:00] and cup them and we'd pack them together. But like a lot of the recipe part, I was alone. Um, you know, the first two years I was like, Oh, this is so lonely. Like, I can't believe you called us to this. And I would try to use the time to like listen to worship and listen to like, you know, sermons to just kind of build up my spirit.

But now when I look back at that, I'm like, that was such a special time. And God was building something in me, is building a perseverance, building a strength. And I will never regret those years because it built such an appreciation in me that I look back often and I think, Oh my gosh, it used to be just us two.

And then we had one employee for like a year and then the next place and now we have like 27, a blend of part time and full time. But it's like, It was such a slow, painful process to get here that I have so much gratitude, so much thankfulness and God has built like something in me, some character in me that if the journey was easy,

I wouldn't have, you know what I'm saying?

So

Jacqueline: That's incredible.

Jake & Rachel: not giving up [00:42:00] is probably my number two tip. And then three is integrity. Like remembering why you started, don't ever forget why you started and don't ever change why you started. So like if you started because you care about ingredients. Or you, you want to make a global impact for the kingdom or whatever it is.

Um, when you get down the road, if you're wanting to like cut costs or something, you can't, you can't mess with your integrity. If you started because you care about clean ingredients, you have to keep that core there.

Jacqueline: I love that. Yeah, there, there are so many Like similarities in, in both of your stories and in mine too. And just for you both. I started well and strong in 2020, 

but the reason I started it was because my mom, um, was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer in 2018, , after being in remission for 10 years from stage two. And it really started as a means for me to just share the research I was doing for her from like a complementary therapy standpoint. 

Um, but God had [00:43:00] planted, you know, a desire in my heart to help other people through her journey. And It's incredible just to see looking back, like, when God touches something, it grows, right? Like, it is beyond, it is beyond us. And even to this day, when people ask, like, how did you grow your platform so big?

I'm like, I didn't grow it, actually. Like, God did. God is using me. Like, I, I really didn't do any of this. I didn't even have a name in the space, you know, five years ago. And it's just, it's just been so beautiful to see like all that he has done, um, and I love your hearts and your mission. And I think at the end of the day, like your desire is to help people, right?

And these bars are one avenue to do that. But at the end of the day, it's to, you know, bring glory to God and, and share his kingdom. And I think it's just so beautiful. And that's why I'm your biggest fan, not only of your bars, but just of you both. And I just really love what you're doing and I'm excited to continue to watch you both grow.

Jake & Rachel: Thank you. Appreciate that.

Jacqueline: So with [00:44:00] that, , Are there any other new, uh, exciting things on the horizon we can be looking out for?

Jake & Rachel: I thought you might ask, but I'll tell you, be the first to know about something fun. Um, I'm in the final stages of developing a blueberry muffin bar. It'll be 

cash, 

Jacqueline: it.

Jake & Rachel: cash, um, a tiny hint of lemon in it for all those that love that little pop with their, 

um, 

Jacqueline: my gosh.

Jake & Rachel: and hopefully it'll be launched in some time in April, but,

um, but yeah, so that's fun.

And then, you know, when we look down the road, there's some fun things we have in mind. I really want to launch like a mini bar. It may

be like 

Jacqueline: Or 

Jake & Rachel: two thirds the size or three quarters, but just kind of like for kids and obviously I feel like I only want to eat half on my run here.

Jacqueline: people with no self control like me.

Jake & Rachel: But yeah, I think that would be really fun to have like a smaller one for like kids or just [00:45:00] people that aren't wanting the whole bar in one sitting.

Jacqueline: I love that. Well, birthday cake, raspberry dark chocolate, and then this new blueberry one are probably gonna be my top, uh, three favorites then.

Jake & Rachel: And then one other thing that we've had the plan ever since we launched, but we just haven't had the capacity to do it yet, but we're hoping in the next couple of years is we want to develop like a meal replacement bar for hungry kids. 

Um, and so we don't know what that's all going to look like. We have some connections.

Um, in terms of like certain things that maybe would make sense in developing it for, especially for kids that are, uh, need surgery and, but they need their, their, their malnutrition. And so, um, but yeah, so that's a plan in the works. We haven't started anything with that, but that's kind of the other thing is we'll probably eventually figure out how like certain amount of bars are purchased or certain amount of bars are sent.

Because when we. Um, or we launched, [00:46:00] so we launched the bar in 2018 and before we did that, so we left our careers in 2017. Um, but at the end of 2017, we went to Africa for three months and, um, served with an organization there. Um, and that kind of, we had the idea of the meal replacement bar at that before then, but that like we saw like existing, like feeding programs were, cause they had a school, they had a couple of schools that were like actually top in the nation and.

Um, they would provide like one meal a day and we would like play soccer with kids and get to know them and stuff and find out like a lot of them, no breakfast. They just came hungry, they would get lunch and a lot of times they bought a lot of them. Unfortunately, that was like the only meal they were getting that day because they weren't out in an area where like they lived on a farm that could produce food where they would have access to food.

It was like more on the outskirts of a city and like a kind of like a rough, um, like area where it was [00:47:00] like. no electricity, no plumbing,

um, and, you know, not a lot of access to food. And so, um, but yeah, so we just thought, you know, not that this would replace any of the existing things people are doing, like, because a lot of that's more of like a staple meal, like, A lot of beans and rice, um, those meals, but I'd be like to supplement some of that.

So like, okay, here's a bar where there's a breakfast, it could be like a breakfast. So that way, like going into the school day, they have like more, um, so, and then, I mean, that's not just like, that was, we saw how that would work in what we were doing in Africa, but obviously. we'd look to have it, you know, in America or Yeah. 

globally, just wherever we build relationships and connections where it just makes sense for what they're doing.

Um, Oh yeah, that's kind of a thought we have. Um, when we were in Africa [00:48:00] too, another thing we saw that was really common in some of the villages that didn't have access to like electricity, um, some didn't have a well nearby or they had a well that had dried. So they were making these long tracks like this one village we visited.

The moms were going to a river twice a week, and they leave at 2 a. m. because of the heat, carrying a vat on their head, and then carrying it back. And I'm just thinking like A six hour one way. Six hour jaywala.

Jacqueline: Wow.

Jake & Rachel: in a day, but six of it carrying a vat of water back on your head. That was their drinking water because they, they had a river nearby, but you couldn't drink.

It was just for like your clothes, but you couldn't drink it. So that was like the only drinking water they could get. But it wasn't just their drinking. It was like what they washed their dishes and what they bathed, like, you know, damped their body down. Like it was. Um, cooking for cooking. So it was like this little bat, like, and we drink a lot of water and like, we could drink through that and two days without using it [00:49:00] for cooking and cleaning and all the other things.

Um, and so knowing that like dried rice and bean packets are being handed out to these kids, they're having to go home and use their water to prepare it. And then another thing, um, the rice and beans are being sent in shipping containers from America, which. So amazing, so generous that we're doing that, but a lot of it is probably genetically modified

rice. 

It would be so cool someday to like help people become self sustainable because in Africa, most of their food is organic, fresh from the earth, like to be harvesting the rice and beans there locally for themselves, but also to be able to give them like an organic, um, meal replacement snack, like a little agar that is shelf stable in the heat that has Who is that they're used to consuming, that their tummies are used to digesting different plants and herbs. Also, well, man, eventually it'd be awesome. We thought it'd be cool to, like, locally source ingredients and stuff. And like, we have a manufacturing facility there someday where [00:50:00] they're growing the crops, they're harvesting them, they're making the, their own little meal replacement bar so it's like self sustainable and then they're giving to the community.

We know that'd be a really large undertaking, but that's what's in our hearts like long term.

Jacqueline: That's incredible. I know. I'm so glad you brought that up because A, I see the, the map of Africa behind you both and then I also know that 10 percent of proceeds are donated to African children, uh, which is absolutely incredible. So kudos to you both. Um, I can't believe we're almost at the hour. We need to have another episode because I just want to pick your brains on so many other things.

But, um, I do want to be conscious of your time. So with that, where can listeners find you guys? Where can they pick up Aurora Bar? Um, Anything else you might want to share in terms of, you know, folks being able to, to reach out and contact you guys.

Jake & Rachel: Yeah, I'd say like, um, um, Instagram, let's call it, and then our website. So it's raworganics. com, R A W R organics. com. And then our Instagram is at [00:51:00] raworganics. And yeah, we'd love to hear from you. Your new customer and give us a little shout out or send us a DM. We do like to read messages to the team. We do like a monthly prayer meeting and we 

read a bunch 

of customer shout outs at the meeting to just let the team know like the impact they're having.

And it's super fun.

Jacqueline: That's awesome. That's beautiful. Well, I hope to one day meet your team because you both are incredible, so I can only imagine how great your team is, but I'll be sharing the links to everything in the show notes. And my last question for you both, and this is always my favorite one to ask, and that is what does being well and strong mean to you?


Jake & Rachel: Um, so I would say for me personally, first, like being well is. Like my relationship with God, you know having that at the forefront because I've had seasons in my life where I Focus more on being healthy and that's great. And like I feel really healthy because I get my diets really dialed in and I'm Working out and everything.

But if I'm neglecting [00:52:00] like spiritual component like that's you know, I'll start to eventually feel like I just dry up and I don't have the same level of like fulfillment. And so number one is definitely that, like my relationship with God and spending time with him. Um, but then from there, um, like personally, it's just consistency of, of like what I'm eating, what I'm putting in my body and that exercise.

Like, um, like when I feel like I'm fulfilled and connected spiritually, And I'm like, you know, you can feel the difference in your body when you're eating clean versus eating junk. So there's like a, just a lightness you feel and like just you feel good inside. And then if you're like exercising, staying active, like I have those three things staying consistent in my life.

That's like my definition. And it's like a, a feeling you have. You just, you feel really. Um, I don't know, you feel really well rounded and you feel 

really energetic and [00:53:00] light and yeah. So,

Jacqueline: Love that. Yeah.

Jake & Rachel: um, I would say for me, it's quite similar, but I would say like spiritual, physical, and then looking outside of yourself.

And so like, I think your relationship with God has to be the focal point. And I also feel like. And this isn't why we spend time with God and in his presence and getting to know him, but I think the perk of it is I notice people that spend the most time with God, they like exuberate joy or like, like they just even keep like their youthfulness.

It's like, their spirit is so alive that like their skin and their body like shows the health of that relationship with God that's like nourishing you from the inside out. So I think like that relationship with God is number one. And then like your physical health, your physical body, like this, getting enough sleep, drinking enough water, eating well and working out, but then also not being so self focused that you're always like, I need to do this, this, this, and this.

But I think like the component of like [00:54:00] having friendships that you're pouring into having, you know, Relationships that you're giving in and getting the focus off yourself. Yeah. And like at the end of the day and the days I feel the most filled are like the days where you feel like you had a positive impact in someone's life.

Like,

Oh, 

Jacqueline: true. 

Jake & Rachel: I have, you know what I mean?

Jacqueline: So true. No, I love that. I couldn't agree more. I know, and quite honestly, too, I had a conversation not too long ago, and it was about just anxiety. And one of the best ways to stop feeling anxious is to take the focus off yourself, right? Because like the root of anxiety is when we're literally just worrying about like our own circumstances.

So to take the focus off yourself, put it on someone else that you can help, , and of course put it on God. It really just, it's, it's life changing. It really is.

Jake & Rachel: definitely.

Jacqueline: Well, thank you both so much for your time. This has been so much fun. Uh, I can't wait to share this with listeners and yeah, I hope to have you back on again at some point soon.

I'll be waiting Rachel for that, uh, that 

new bar. I'm going to mark it on my calendar. Countdown. [00:55:00] Awesome. Thank you both.

Jake & Rachel: Thanks for having us. We appreciate it.


People on this episode

Head Shot

Jacqueline Genova

Host