Inside The RXBAR Duo’s Plans To Disrupt Candy

The founding duo behind RXBAR is taking aim at the candy category with a new brand curiously called HORMBLES CHORMBLES. Set to launch early next year, the chocolate products are high in protein and low in calories and sugar, said Jared Smith, co-founder of the Chicago-based startup.

Alongside co-founder Peter Rahal, Smith scaled and sold RXBAR to The Kellogg Company for $600 million in 2017. In the years following the deal, Smith established Villam Ventures, his family office, backing better-for-you food and beverage brands such as Mush, JuneShine and Graza.

Yet the entrepreneurial itch remained. Following the sale of RXBAR, both Smith and Rahal signed five-year non-competitive agreements, and now that those contracts have expired, both have returned to the packaged food industry as startup founders.

HORMBLES CHORMBLES is Rahal’s second new brand to debut this month, following protein bar David. The candy company’s third co-founder is Tom Melcher, who most recently was chief operating officer at MrBeast’s snack company Feastables and previously held operations and supply chain roles at RXBAR.

The team also includes director of brand Laura Mena, previously senior brand manager of Feastables with an earlier stint at Kroger’s 84.51˚ data and analytics arm. She also briefly worked at – you guessed it – RXBAR.

HORMBLES CHORMBLES is currently hiring for roles including director of finance and director of research and development, Smith said, noting, “The idea is that we want to round out our full leadership team prior to launch.”

Smith sat down with Nosh on Wednesday to shed more light on HORMBLES CHORMBLES, including its go-to-market strategy, growth plans and what’s in the name. Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What brought you back into the food business?

When we sold our RXBAR, I felt like I lost my identity. It was an emotional period for me a little bit. Fortunately, I had two kids right after the sale, so that was absolutely incredible. But I did feel like I was lacking purpose a little bit. And I had a five-year non-compete, so I couldn’t even get back into it.

So you couldn’t do any CPG brands at that time? It wasn’t just bars?

No, it covered a lot of different categories and ingredients. So, fast forward five years, my non-compete is up, and I knew I wanted to get back into something and find an operating role. I spent about a year trying to find something, and finding whitespace in a category is really hard.

I was getting dinner with Peter last year, and he brought up to me this concept of candy, and then we started working together on it. The stars kind of aligned because we had found this whitespace, and I felt like I had purpose again, and I was doing this with Peter, whom I view as my mentor, advisor and one of my best friends.

What can you tell me about HORMBLES CHORMBLES?

Our mission is to make candy that makes you strong. We’re calling it Power Candy as the sub brand, and the power is derived from protein. So, all of our products will be high in protein, and that’s going to be the cornerstone of all of our products. In addition to that, low calories and no sugar. That’s how, from a macro standpoint, we’re positioning the product.

And then, you’ve seen the brand; it screams fun, happy, indulgent. It doesn’t scream healthy, right? Which I think is really important. We’re starting out with chocolate, and there are going to be other products.

So, there’s a possibility you’ll expand into sugar candy and other form factors?

Definitely. We want to create a platform of better-for-you candy that absolutely hits on taste.

What are some of the lessons or experiences you had while building RXBAR that you’re taking into this business?

There are a ton. I think the biggest thing is that the only two things that matter is making the best product and taking care of every customer. But there’s so much more, like the importance of maintaining a culture and using values as a north star for decision making, for hiring and firing, promoting. It’s actually similar to RXBAR in that respect.

What is your go-to-market plan starting out? Are you going to be direct-to-consumer or on retail shelves?

It will be a combination the first year, but we’re going to start out direct-to-consumer on our website and really focus on building a relationship with the consumer directly.

So, I have to ask about the name. How did this come about? What is a HORMBLES CHORMBLES?

We wanted to build a brand around a world that was happy and fun and bright, and that’s lacking a little bit especially in the better-for-you candy set, just lacking a little bit of dimension and personality. We are bringing imagination and nostalgia back to candy. It’s just a really happy feel-good brand.

We were talking about it here at Nosh. It almost sounds like a Dr. Seuss thing in a way.

It’s hilarious. People will pronounce it the first time really slowly because it looks confusing to say out loud… but when I test it out with people, everyone smiles right after saying it.

Can you talk about the ingredients?

It’s candy at the end of the day, but we’re only using ingredients that are good for you or do no harm.