Inside Peter Rahal’s Evolution: Why RXBAR And David Are ‘Literal Opposites’

These days, Peter Rahal’s take on protein bars is more labcoat than loincloth.

A decade ago, he created RXBAR around the then-popular paleo lifestyle, using only a handful of simple ingredients like nuts and dates and becoming the face of the clean label movement. But within a few years, he observed a shift in consumer eating patterns, namely many of the brand’s early adopters moving from caveman-friendly foods to other fads like keto dieting and intermittent fasting.

“The biggest trend that was coming was really about anti-snacking and anti-carbohydrate, and we were both of those things. I saw a headwind, and I remember [thinking] we are anchoring ourselves on whole, real foods. That’s a vulnerable position,” Rahal recalled.

With David, his new protein bar brand slated to launch in September, Rahal’s approach involves “cutting-edge” technology and “science-driven” principles of nutrition. The brand’s $10 million seed funding, led by Rahal with participation from well-known wellness influencers Peter Attia and Andrew Huberman, will be used to hire strategists, scientists and medical experts to support product development.

Not much is publicly known about the product itself, other than a few nutritional highlights – a David bar contains 150 calories, 28 grams of protein and 0 grams of sugar.

“The genius of our product is it has the protein of a meal but the calories of a snack. We’re basically a weight loss product without being a weight loss product,” Rahal said.

We sat down with Rahal to learn more about retail and marketing plans for David, how the brand differs from RXBAR, and why he has evolved from the paleo era to a more modern approach to innovation. Answers have been lightly edited for clarity.

What is David? Specifically, what is in it?

We want to keep some suspense. You can’t take off all your clothes, you know?

OK, but can you take off a couple of articles, at least?

It’s predominantly dairy-based. You’ll see the philosophy is around finding ingredients that don’t cause harm.

I wanted to make a position that was science- and evidence-based, not sort of depending on the weather. I never want to have a position that’s based on some subjective, trendy thing to lose weight. And so thanks to the work of Peter Attia, we’re building the product around three principles of nutrition. One, do not overeat calories. Calories matter. Two, get adequate high-quality protein. Protein is the only essential macronutrient, very important not just for muscle building or maintenance, but also for other biological functions. Three, don’t spike your blood sugar.

We’re betting the whole company on that, and I think it’s resilient and will stand the test of time. So what ingredients do we use? Does it cause harm? Is it safe? Is it good for you? What does the literature suggest? What do the leaders in health and wellness say?

It looks like based on what I’ve seen, there’s a Cake Batter flavor, a Double Chocolate Brownie flavor and a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough flavor.

Where’d you find this? You’re good.

I’m a journalist, dude. But also, it’s funny because I remember when we were talking back in 2016 about RXBAR, and you were saying, “We can’t do any crazy flavors like Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough” due to the ingredients you were using. So, it’s interesting to me what a departure David represents, not just from a flavor development standpoint, but also from the standpoint of “This is six ingredients that you have in your kitchen” to “This is the cutting edge of technology.”

They are literal opposites. In our business, there are two schools of thought. One is that your ingredient deck is more important than anything else. And then, in the other school of thought, your nutrition facts are everything. And RXBAR was all about quantifiable, whole, real foods. Paleo was influencing that.

And David is all about the most optimal nutrition. And the constraints at RX were very difficult. If you noticed, there weren’t really many knockoffs that got anywhere because from a product development perspective, it was so difficult. You couldn’t use lecithin, for example. And as I learned about nutrition through that journey… lecithin is not a bad thing. People actually use it as a supplement for brain health. But the paleo mind is like, “I don’t know what that is, therefore it’s bad.” That’s actually not a very sophisticated approach.

You have described David as a platform, not just a protein bar company.

That was kind of exaggerated, to be honest. We’re actually focused on protein bars. We want to be the No. 1 protein bar in America.

You are launching direct-to-consumer, but what’s the longer-term retail channel strategy?

We will be anywhere we think customers will want to buy it. I think it goes to all the standard places. Our job as a manufacturer is to make it easily available for customers at the right price. So the question for us is, what order do we do all that in? And we’re figuring that out now. One of the benefits of launching DTC is we can talk to customers, we can learn a lot and then we can get an understanding of demand and then plan and partner with the right retailers to get it to customers at the right price.

Another thing that’s really interesting about David is how you’re surrounding yourself with scientists and well-known medical experts as part of your approach.

When I think about who shapes nutrition culture in the United States, it is Peter Attia and Andrew Huberman. And I would say Peter Attia is America’s doctor, and Andrew Huberman is America’s researcher. Peter in particular really understands health and is on the cutting edge, and it’s a privilege to work with someone like that to help us think through ingredient technology, to think through product design, to think through all the aspects of what makes a great product.

And honestly I think I’m overcorrecting for the subjectivity of 2010s nutrition, you know? I really admire and respect a rigorous scientific approach. We want our position to be very objective and serve customers’ best interest.

I am curious about the name David. I know it refers to the statue, but are there concerns that the branding is too masculine?

It’s a good question. You know how most languages have gender, like in Spanish or French, the chair is masculine or feminine, right? Protein bars are masculine. It doesn’t matter your gender, but if you’re going to give it a gender, it’s masculine. So that’s one. And two, if it’s beautifully designed and has a good aesthetic, women will have no problem consuming masculine things. Men will not consume feminine things, period, even if it’s beautifully done. Once the product is in your hand, you’re like, “Wow, this is pretty.” And I think the polarity of it’s pretty but has the name David – there’s some tension there that I think is a beautiful thing.

I’m excited for the market’s response to a brand in this space because I feel like no one’s doing anything bold, and it’s just sort of like, “Here’s my product. Here are the benefits.” And I find a lot of brands are absent of meaning.

Did you intentionally leak the news about David the week before Expo West so everyone would be talking about it in Anaheim?

What do you think?