Sitting at a table at Balthazar in downtown Manhattan, Peter Rahal spears a piece of smoked salmon on his plate and ignores the nearby toast. The 38-year-old cofounder of nutrition bar brand RxBar thinks about protein constantly—and not just for his own health. Rahal has been dreaming of creating a new bar the day he and his cofounder, Jared Smith, sold RxBar to Kellogg’s for $600 million in 2017. Rahal made that dream a reality in September when he launched David—or, so he calls it, “the final protein bar.”
Having made a (pretax) $300 million from his 50% share of the RxBar sale, Rahal led David’s $10 million seed round this year with an investment of $6 million. Named after Michelangelo’s 16th century masterpiece, David claims to be the most protein-dense bar in existence and is backed by high-profile physicians and health podcasters Peter Attia (who is also a minority investor) and Andrew Huberman. With 28 grams of protein and just 150 calories, the compact snack currently comes in four flavors and sells exclusively direct-to-consumer for $3.25 per bar.
“I've been in the nutrition bar space for 20 years, through all the changes—from Atkins to keto to paleo to fasting to carnivore to whatever,” Rahal says, still ignoring his toast. “But there are two consistent things that have driven the category: The desire for muscle gain and fat loss. So, the question was, how do we design a product that delivers those two things?”
Peter Rahal’s new David bar was designed for the Ozempic generation. A portrait of a hungry entrepreneur.
Read the full story on Forbes:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonemelvin/2024/12/05/peter-rahal-david-protein-bar-interview-rxbar-600-million/
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Peter Rahal, the co-founder of RXBAR, returns with David, a revolutionary protein bar whose namesake is Michelangelo's iconic sculpture. Combining 28 grams of protein, zero grams of sugar, and only 150 calories, David sets a new benchmark in the protein bar industry. Backed by high-profile physic
Having made a (pretax) $300 million from his 50% share of the RxBar sale, Rahal led David’s $10 million seed round this year with an investment of $6 million. Named after Michelangelo’s 16th century masterpiece, David claims to be the most protein-dense bar in existence and is backed by high-profile physicians and health podcasters Peter Attia (who is also a minority investor) and Andrew Huberman. With 28 grams of protein and just 150 calories, the compact snack currently comes in four flavors and sells exclusively direct-to-consumer for $3.25 per bar.
“I've been in the nutrition bar space for 20 years, through all the changes—from Atkins to keto to paleo to fasting to carnivore to whatever,” Rahal says, still ignoring his toast. “But there are two consistent things that have driven the category: The desire for muscle gain and fat loss. So, the question was, how do we design a product that delivers those two things?”
Peter Rahal’s new David bar was designed for the Ozempic generation. A portrait of a hungry entrepreneur.
Read the full story on Forbes:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonemelvin/2024/12/05/peter-rahal-david-protein-bar-interview-rxbar-600-million/
Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
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Peter Rahal, the co-founder of RXBAR, returns with David, a revolutionary protein bar whose namesake is Michelangelo's iconic sculpture. Combining 28 grams of protein, zero grams of sugar, and only 150 calories, David sets a new benchmark in the protein bar industry. Backed by high-profile physic
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00I think when you look at a brand you want to inspire you, a good art you should feel
00:08our namesake is after Michelangelo's masterpiece, David.
00:13When you look at all the meaning that is in the sculpture of David and when it takes really
00:18the idea of like sculpting something perfect, there's sort of like two values that come
00:21from that, which is around intelligence and discipline.
00:24We find those values are the same values we have with when it came to designing the product.
00:29If you've ever been there in person, it's like this magnificent, it has this aura and
00:32it's awe-inspiring.
00:33And so when you see a brand, you want it to stand for something.
00:37And I think there's no better symbol of that than David and what it takes to sculpt something.
00:43Peter Rahal, the 38-year-old co-founder of nutrition bar brand RX Bar, thinks about protein
00:48constantly and not just for his own health.
00:51Rahal has been dreaming of creating a new bar since the day he and his co-founder Jared
00:55Smith sold RX Bar to Kellogg's for $600 million in 2017.
00:59Rahal made that dream a reality in September when he launched David, or as he calls it,
01:04the final protein bar.
01:06David claims to be the most protein-dense bar in existence and is backed by high-profile
01:10physicians Peter Atiyah, who is also a minority investor, and Andrew Huberman.
01:16So David is made of 28 grams of protein, 150 calories and zero grams of sugar, 75% of its
01:22calories coming from protein, which is the market leader.
01:26The benefit is getting the most protein with as little other things as possible.
01:32So it benefits a wide range of people, people looking for a meal replacement, people looking
01:36for a snack on the go.
01:39If you want a really efficient snack that is really value-dense, the most protein possible,
01:44you can't get a better product.
01:51Rahal took the opportunity to create a new product in October 2022, once his five-year
01:56non-compete agreement with Kellogg's expired.
01:59He spent a year developing David with his co-founder, Zach Reynon.
02:03Prior to David, I was running a low-carb cookie business called Ray's.
02:08I met Peter through an investor who connected us.
02:13Peter thinks a lot about high-level company direction and strategy, and I think a lot
02:20about how to achieve that strategy in the most effective and efficient way.
02:25It's really fun to work with someone who is not afraid to challenge what you typically
02:32see out in the market or the way that people typically do things.
02:36If you aren't going to do things that others are uncomfortable with, you're probably not
02:43going to build anything great.
02:45With $300 million from his share of the Rx Bar Sale, Rahal led David's $10 million seed
02:50round with an investment of $6 million.
02:52Rahal's second act now resembles the early years of Rx Bar.
02:56With David in motion, he moved to New York in 2023 to build the business.
03:00We're building this company with the same values, so we're really laser-focused on the
03:03customer, the product.
03:05And it turns out if you do those things right, everything works out.
03:08When you're a first-time entrepreneur, you cannot fail, right?
03:11And so you just overdo everything.
03:14If you get the product right and get product-to-market fit right, your margin for error is just much
03:19larger.
03:22The protein bar industry is growing, but it's becoming murkier to define as more companies
03:27start injecting protein into pre-existing products.
03:30The world's biggest candy conglomerate, Mars, started putting protein into Snickers bars
03:34in 2023.
03:36And in 2021, General Mills created protein bars from their popular cereal brands, Cinnamon
03:41Toast Crunch and Golden Grims.
03:43Although Kind Bars never touted itself as a protein-based snack, the company caught
03:47onto the wave, releasing its first protein-forward line of bars in 2018.
03:53From the very beginning, Peter and I got together and said, hey, what is missing from the protein
03:59bar space?
04:00And what we saw was a highly saturated market, but not really a competitive one.
04:07And by that, we meant there are a lot of products out there, but not a lot of products that
04:12really deliver on the goal of what a protein bar should be.
04:16That was one of the biggest challenges, how do you jam as much protein in something, making
04:21it machinable, and then making it delicious?
04:24It's super hard to do, actually.
04:26The current iteration of David includes milk protein isolate, collagen, and whey protein,
04:31and is held together with substances like allulose and polydextrose.
04:35It's a far cry from RxBar, which used easy-to-pronounce ingredients, like eggs, and whose slogan
04:39was no BS.
04:41When we look at the core tenets of a healthy diet, we see really three that ring true.
04:48No matter what sort of diet tribe you may belong to, the science behind eating sufficient
04:56amounts of protein, not consuming too many calories, and minimizing blood sugar spikes
05:02kind of reign true.
05:04David was designed from the very beginning to be the best bar possible on these three
05:09metrics.
05:10In this business, you can't do it alone, and so you have to have really good suppliers,
05:15good partners, all down the value chain.
05:18So for us to scale, you have to lay a really good foundation of people you work with.
05:23And so for the next three, six months, that's our priority, is laying down the supply chain
05:27and foundation to scale a great business and great product.
05:31As we prove out the product and get bigger, we hope to expand those conversations.
05:36Based on revenues earned since launching David in September, Rahal expects to make
05:40$33 million for the company's first year, nearly $31 million more than RxBarMaid in
05:46its first year.