It's been a while since I reviewed energy or protein bars, so I thought I'd rectify that. This section at my local grocery store seems to have grown significantly since the last time I checked. And there were many new-to-me brands as well. So I grabbed one from six different companies to compare and contrast. In all I tried one from Jonesbar (mango almond), one from Quantum Energy Squares (salted peanut butter crunch), one from RxBar (peanut butter), one from GoMacro (peanut butter chocolate chip), one from Verb Energy (cookie dough), and one from Munk Pack (peanut butter and dark chocolate).
Because I'm sampling from six different companies, I'll keep their histories and background information deliberately short. (And, frankly, for many I would have had to do this anyway, since their official websites were basically just product lists.) Therefore, Jonesbar was started by a man named Taylor Jones. Jones is originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, but he moved to Manasquan, New Jersey, and started his company there. Jonesbars are organic and kosher, some are paleo-friendly, and all lack added sugar and were neither cooked nor baked. Many of Jones' other flavors include peanut butter and/or chocolate.
Quantum Energy Squares are made in Santa Monica, California. The listed founders are Leah and Dan. A business website provided Dan's surname as being Medvene. But I'm not 100% sure if Leah and Dan are a couple, and if so, if she changed her surname to Medvene. Quantum's overriding goal is to make energy bars that are nutritious, and don't result in the jitters and a crash. The company claims that caffeine from green coffee fits this bill. Their bars also lack gluten, GMOs, artificial ingredients, dairy, and soy, and are kosher and vegan-appropriate.
RxBar was founded in either 2012 or early 2013 by Peter Rahel and Jared Smith, in Chicago, Illinois. Their bars include "A.M." and "mini" varieties. Unlike most of the other companies I'll discuss, RxBars are evidently not vegan or kosher, and some contain gluten and/or added sugar.
GoMacro is a mother-daughter operation, with the former being Amelia Kirchoff, and the latter being Jola (no surname given). Amelia was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003, and in addition to getting surgery and conventional medical treatment she decided to switch to a plant-based macrobiotic diet. The ladies quickly decided to make macrobiotic bars for sale, and began the company in 2004. (As far as I can tell, GoMacro is by far the oldest of the companies I'll talk about today.) All of GoMacro's wares are organic, plant-based, and lack GMOs. The company's location is the family farm, in Viola, Wisconsin.
Verb Energy sells both energy bars and protein ones. The company's headquarters are in Boston, Massachusetts, and its founders are Matt Czarnecki (who's also the current CEO), Andre Monteiro, and Bennett Byerley. As with Quantum Energy, the business claims to use a healthier form of caffeine, that's derived from green tea. In 2020 Verb donated 750,000 bars to healthcare workers during the early days of the COVID pandemic. (Meaning the company was started at least by early 2020 at the latest.) The brand also has a celebrity fan in Olympic athlete Shawn Johnson. An artistic gymnast, she won a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in the balance beam category, and 3 silver medals in other artistic gymnast events.
Finally, Michelle and Tobias ("Toby") Glienke dislike sugar. Or, more properly, they despise it. So, when they decided to start making their own protein bars, they used an allegedly healthier alternate sweetener, allulose. Which is a naturally occurring substance, and the Glienkes get theirs from non-GMO corn. In 2013 the Greenwich, Connecticut-based company Munk Pack began. Like many of the others, the business is proud of being GMO free. Although, oddly, for a company such as this, they're not necessarily allergen-free, as their bars are made in facilities that also process peanuts, tree nuts, soy, and sesame. And while they technically qualify as being gluten-free by government standards, they reportedly do have trace amounts of it. So bear that in mind if you have allergies or celiac disease.
Because there are so many products today, I'm going to change up my usual rating system. At the end I'll rate every bar as being "weak," "okay," or "good." And they'll be listed worst to first.
GoMacro bar, peanut butter and chocolate chip flavor: It measured about 8 cm. by 5 cm. (or about 3.5 inches by 2 inches), was a light brown color, and had visible inclusions such as chocolate chips in it. It was also quite shiny. The texture was sticky and very chewy. The taste was kind of bland. I could detect a chocolate flavor, but not much else. It wasn't terrible--I could finish it, but it was far from tasty. (Weak)
Verb Energy bar, cookie dough flavor: This was a small bar, being only about 3 inches by 1.25 inches (or about 7.5 cm. by 3 cm.), and it had a shiny, light brown color, with visible yellow chunks in it. The flavor was a bit oat-y, and I didn't really detect a cookie dough taste. It was chewy, but overall bland. (Weak)
Jonesbar, mango and almond flavor: It was about 2.75 inches by 1.5 inches (about 7 cm. by 4 cm.), with a shiny, dark brown color, with visible inclusions. It was chewy, and alright. Sweet, but could have been sweeter. A solid energy bar, and nothing more. (Okay)
RxBar, peanut butter flavor: This bar measured about 7 cm. by 5 cm. (about 3 inches by 2 inches), and had a dark brown hue, again with visible inclusions. The texture was chewy. The taste was peanut-y, and decent. (Okay)
Quantum Energy Square, salted peanut butter crunch: As the name suggests, it was a square shape, about 2.5 inches (about 6.5 cm.) to a side. Dark brown color, with visible nuts and seeds and such. It was a little crunchy. The flavor was very peanut butter-y. Or good, almost like a candy bar. I really enjoyed this one. (Good)
Munk Pack, peanut butter and dark chocolate flavor: This one was a dark brown chocolate on one side, and the other was exposed nuts and seeds, with some chocolate drizzle lines atop it. The size was about 3.75 inches by 1.25 inches (about 10 cm. by 3 cm.). The texture was crunchy and chewy. The taste was seed-y, and the dark chocolate bitterness was cut nicely by the other ingredients, including the peanut butter. Along with the Quantum one, I enjoyed this one the best. Unusually tasty for a health bar. (Good)
So, all in all, I would consider buying the Quantum and Munk Pack bars again. But even the weakest ones weren't terrible--just kind of blah and dull. And to be fair, I only tried one flavor per brand. Maybe other flavors of the weak brands are better, or other kinds of the strong brands are bad. Although since I only tried one kind per brand, I deliberately chose flavors I usually like, so there's that.
I realize when you pick protein/energy/health bars as a topic, you're naturally going to buy from companies that are super into nutrition, and may be obsessed with avoiding things like gluten, GMOs, artificial ingredients, etc. You know, kind of hippie types. But after reading through six very similar founder histories, I'm kind of getting tired, and crave something different. Like, "This company was founded by fat, lazy, couch potatoes, who don't give a crap about nutrition, or artificial ingredients, and instead only care about taste. As well as making piles of precious, precious money." Or in other words, an account that's cynically honest, perhaps even destructive, for a change. I'm more than half-kidding here, but you get my point.
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