Balance Bar, sometimes styled as balance bar, is the

brand name A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create a ...

of a nutritional

energy bar Energy bars are supplemental bars containing cereals, micronutrients, and flavor ingredients intended to supply quick food energy. Because most energy bars contain added protein, carbohydrates, dietary fiber, and other nutrients, they may be ma ...

based on the 40-30-30 dietary principle, that is, a diet containing 40% carbohydrate, 30% protein and 30% dietary fat. The 40-30-30 nutritional philosophy was popularized by Dr.

Barry Sears Barry Sears (born June 6, 1947) is an American biochemist and author best known for creating and promoting the Zone diet, a low-carbohydrate fad diet that is not supported by good medical evidence.Cataldo, Corrine Balog; DeBruyne, Linda Kelly; ...

, a biochemist, and later expounded in his Zone diet books. The product was first released in 1992. Since that time, the product line has expanded to include Balance Bar, Balance Gold, Balance Trail Mix, Balance Plus, Balance CarbWell, Balance Gold Crunch, Balance Outdoor, Balance Organic, Balance 100 Calories, Balance Bare, and 40-30-30 Balance Drink Mix. Balance Bar is a subsidiary of

NBTY The Bountiful Company is an American dietary supplements company. It is owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, which has agreed to sell most of the company's brands to Nestlé during 2021. It was original known as Nature's Bounty, Inc. but changed it ...

Company history

Founding and early years

The Balance Bar Company was founded in 1992 by Thomas Davidson and Richard Lamb. Davidson, Lamb and two other investors acquired rights to a bar based on Sears' zone diet. The company was originally called Bio Foods Inc. and was located in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coa ...

. Balance Bars were originally sold through natural food stores, and were introduced into mainstream stores in 1996.

Kraft acquisition

The company's speedy growth caught the attention of

Kraft Foods The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arra ...

, which purchased the company for $268 million ($19.40 per share) in January 2000 as part of a strategy to expand its product line to natural foods. Earlier that same week, Kraft had announced it would acquire

Boca Burger Boca Burger is a veggie burger produced by Kraft Heinz in Chicago, Illinois. Like all of Boca Foods' products, Boca Burgers serve as a meat alternative. History The Boca Foods Company began in 1979 with the vegetarian "Sun Burger" product, as one ...

. Kraft paid a 37% premium over Balance Bar's then-current trading price. Analysts cited Balance Bar's agreement to market a line of bars with weight loss firm Jenny Craig, Inc. as a factor that drove up the price. Another factor accounting for the premium may have been that Kraft's purchase was part of a rush by large food manufacturers such as

General Mills General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company ori ...

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the man ...

and the Adolph Coors Company to snap up well-established natural foods companies such as Cascadian Farm, Mother's Oatmeal and Blue Moon Beer respectively. At the time, the deal was thought to be a winner for both sides, with Kraft picking up a well-established brand in a high-growth market category, and Balance Bar leveraging Kraft's resources for further growth. However, Balance Bar was "not financially material" to Kraft, said a Kraft spokesman later said. In 2008, Kraft posted annual revenues of $42 billion. Balance Bar posted revenues of $127 million, a 7% decline from the previous year. It slipped to third position in the category, with Clif Bar surpassing it in sales. Nestle's PowerBar held the top spot, with 2008 sales of $196 million However, the company languished under Kraft, and in December 2009 was purchased for an undisclosed amount by private equity firm Brynwood Partners, a firm known for buying orphan brands from large companies. In 2012,

acquired Balance bar.NBTY buys Balance Bar Company
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References

External links

Official Balance bar Website
{{Energy bars Dietary supplements Energy food products

Company history

Founding and early years

Kraft acquisition

See also

References

External links