The Startup CPG Podcast

Nolan Spencer
At first part of us said, let's just be like everybody else and make a bar that's clean and natural but no sugar and the highest protein possible. What all the trends are nowadays, a lot of the bars out there want no sugar, artificial flavors, birthday cake, cookie dough, and still a ton of protein. And we said after trying that once that's not us. That's not the way people should eat. And we wanted to really then make a bar that was just true to a whole food diet, real food ingredients, nothing you had to Google everything that was real that you would eat by itself. And we said, okay, it's good to have some sugars and it's good to have fibers and it's good to have carbs and fats and protein. You can have it all in a real food manner.

00:52
Nolan Spencer
And that's the bar that we ended up creating.

00:55
Caitlin Bricker
Hey, everybody, this is Caitlin Bricker, Managing Editor at Startup CPG. We are back with another founder feature. Today I'm sitting down with Mackenzie and Nolan, co-founders of HOL Health Club, the first and only bone broth protein bar with 20 grams of protein that doesn't use any protein powder. Both of them spent six years as investment bankers on Wall Street. Mackenzie was at Lazard in the consumer group working on the siete sale to Pepsico. And then they decided they would both quit their lucrative jobs, buy an RV with two golden retrievers and start living nomadically to do retail demos in the country. They went from zero retail doors in January to now over 200 retail doors doing 90 demos in 90 days.

01:39
Caitlin Bricker
We're diving into what the siete sale taught them about the gap in better for you brands at scale, why they chose bone broth instead of protein powder, how being founders on the ground personally selling bars completely changed their trajectory as a brand and what it actually looks like to run a CPG company from an rv. We hear from founders on this podcast every week. If you're a brand and want to get new opportunities right in your inbox, text CPG to 833-605-7002. That's 833-605-7002 and we'll get you hooked up as always, enjoy. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the startup CPG podcast. This is Caitlin and today I'm here with Mackenzie and Nolan, co founders of HOL Health Club. Hello, you guys. It's so good to see you.

02:30
Mackenzie Muth
Thank you so much for having us.

02:31
Caitlin Bricker
Of course. I mean, I feel like this has been a long time coming. We've been like, hey, let's do this. Let's record. Now we're doing it. Here we are. I'm so excited to share HOL Health Club with the world and to have you tell your story here on the podcast.

02:46
Mackenzie Muth
Absolutely.

02:47
Caitlin Bricker
So before we dive into all things HOL Health Club, Mackenzie, can you tell us what HOL Health Club is?

02:53
Mackenzie Muth
Yeah. We are the first and the only bone broth protein bar and the only bar that has 20 grams of protein with out the use of a protein powder.

03:03
Caitlin Bricker
Boom. Simple. Done. So I have so many questions, of course, as I do for all founders that are on this podcast. But before we get into that, can I know what your backgrounds are? Nolan, do you want to kick us off, tell us a little bit about your background?

03:20
Nolan Spencer
So simplifies it a little bit that we both were investment bankers for about six years. MacKenzie's got a cooler background than that, but I'll let her tell her half. I worked investment banking for about six years to technology investment banking most of the time, but always had a passion for the CPG side of things.

03:36
Caitlin Bricker
Very cool.

03:37
Mackenzie Muth
By the way, just to give background, Nolan and I went to Indiana University together, which is where we met in accounting class.

03:44
Nolan Spencer
We are married. We are co founders and partners wide.

03:47
Mackenzie Muth
I spent about two years in consulting before making the transition over to banking. Spent about four years at Lazard in the consumer group. Most namely working on Siete on their cell to Pepsi before I left. But yeah, it's a little bit about both of us.

04:03
Caitlin Bricker
Okay, so now that we have established that you're both off the market, but HOL Health Club is on the market now we can really get things going.

04:11
Mackenzie Muth
Exactly.

04:12
Caitlin Bricker
Great. Okay. The backgrounds are very interesting to me and Mackenzie, you've told me before that the Siete sale that you went through in your past life was something that was very intriguing to you and why you wanted to start HOL Health Club in the beginning. So can you give us a little glimpse into what that world looked like for you in that moment where you thought, okay, I need to do something differently with my life?

04:40
Mackenzie Muth
Yeah, absolutely. I think for a long time were considering what we could do outside of banking. It was a great jumping point for us in terms of starting our careers there and different things like that. But the Siete transaction was really the thing that pushed us over the edge. I will say it was. Of the dozens of transactions that we had worked on, I think there were a number of others that the deal would get announced and really nobody cared about it transparently. Siete, that was not the case. I remember going on Instagram and social media later that day after the deal had gotten announced and seeing such a visceral reaction from the public. And I think that was really the most eye opening experience for me.

05:22
Mackenzie Muth
And it was the reality that people didn't trust this better for you company being sold to a big food giant. And really that is what opened our eyes to the fact that most CPG brands start out their early years in this big growth phase and then they sell to either private equity or big food. And for us, we just saw that there really was a gap of people and brands doing better for you at scale. And so that is what we are seeking to create with Hull.

05:52
Caitlin Bricker
I have never seen a product like HOL Health Club before. 20 Grams of protein packed into a bar that's not a brick, it's just an average size protein bar. It's very impressive fact that you're not using fillers, you're not using any powders. Okay, first, before we walk through that, whose idea was it to create these bars? Was this a joint decision or did one of you come up with this concept?

06:16
Nolan Spencer
It was a joint decision. I mean, I think Mackenzie is definitely the queen of bone broth. She definitely takes that side of things. Then it's really her. She's the one who came up with that side of things. But when we sat down to think about, okay, we don't want to use a protein powder, a whey, a pea, soy protein powder, where else do we get protein? And we started to think about that and came to the conclusion of bone broth. You want to give a quick little background on bone broth and why we drank it so much and everything?

06:42
Mackenzie Muth
Yeah, bone broth, I mean, it's got some incredible benefits for you. It's great for your gut. It's got a lot of good collagen in it, which is great for supporting your joints, your muscles, hair, skin and nails. All of those things. Things. I am an acne prone girly at heart and so I can't do the biotin and even the whey protein. It really bothers my stomach. It makes me break out. And we knew that we had to find a better way to do it. In our old lives, were grabbing for protein bars all the time. But the problem that we had with them was that the bars that were high protein were full of ingredients we didn't want to put into our bodies. The protein powders, the sugar, alcohols, artificial.

07:22
Nolan Spencer
Sweeteners, things you can't pronounce. Have to google to see if it's going to kill you or not.

07:26
Mackenzie Muth
Yeah. And the more natural bars don't have the protein that you needed. So for us, as we started to shift our diets and try to eat this more whole food lifestyle protein bars were the biggest issue that were.

07:39
Nolan Spencer
Running into in bone broth. When were in the office in New York, different teams, we would always be at this bone broth place at usually lunch to get. They literally serve it in a big coffee mug of bone broth. It sounds weird, and I was weirded out the first time I got to the point of loving it every time we would go there. And it was filling and it was nurturing. You just felt better after drinking it. So bringing it all back, we said, let's try and put this in a bar.

08:02
Caitlin Bricker
And did you run into any issues when you were first trying to go through the ingredients that you were going to use? Okay, Mackenzie, you're like, yes, we absolutely did.

08:11
Mackenzie Muth
The first recipe that Nolan made in the kitchen was complete sandpaper. We were preparing to design our packaging, basically to educate customers of how they had to use it and pair it with yogurt and all of these different things. It was not even remotely a bar at the beginning.

08:27
Nolan Spencer
I think part of the reason is because we thought at first, part of us said, let's just be like everybody else and make a bar that's clean and natural, but no sugar and the highest protein possible. What all the trends are nowadays, a lot of the bars out there want no sugar, artificial flavors, perthecake cookie dough, and still a ton of protein. And we said after trying that one, said, that's not us. That's not the way people should eat. And we wanted to really then make a bar that was just true to a whole food diet, real food ingredients, nothing. You had to Google everything that was real that you would eat by itself.

09:02
Nolan Spencer
And we said, okay, it's good to have some sugars and it's good to have fibers, and it's good to have carbs and fats and protein, and you can have it all in a real food manner. And that's the bar that we ended up creating after about months of developing it. So it took some time.

09:17
Caitlin Bricker
The fact that you're just like, oh, you know, like cookie dough and birthday cake and bone broth. I'm sure somebody's probably listening to this episode right now, and they're like, okay, that's what I'm gonna make next. Bone broth, like cookie or cake mix or something. Who knows? I do wanna share something that's pretty Interesting. And maybe other people listening are probably like, duh. And maybe you'll feel this way too. But I have had blood sugar issues since I've had a baby. And one of the things that I noticed, I wore a continuous glucose monitor for a little while just because I wanted to see what my blood sugar was doing during the day.

09:56
Caitlin Bricker
And I noticed that at nighttime my blood sugar would dip, and then I would wake up in the morning and my blood sugar would be high, which was something I experienced when I was pregnant too. Had gestational diabetes. Probably a broken record for many people who have listened to these podcasts before. Anyway, one thing that I found that really worked for me, that kept my blood sugar from dipping and spiking was drinking bone broth before bed. Maybe that is something that people who are listening are like, okay, yeah, duh. To me, that was groundbreaking because I was able to just have one cup, one serving of bone broth before bed. Wasn't anything fancy either. It was like Kirkland brand from Costco. Organic, but not anything fancy. And I'd have one cup and drink it before bed. Fine. I was totally stable throughout the night.

10:46
Caitlin Bricker
My glucose monitor would not beep and I wouldn't feel a spike in the morning. Does that feel like something that would resonate with your audience and the people who are buying your bars too? I mean, it sounds like the people who are purchasing your products and the people who are creating them yourselves are reaching for these things because you're living fast paced lives and you're trying to not cut corners, but sometimes you do have to cut corners. So what do you do to keep yourself stable?

11:14
Mackenzie Muth
Yeah, I do know our bars have a low glycemic index, and I always thought it was because of the dates, but now I'm wondering if the bone broth and the dates are working together.

11:23
Nolan Spencer
Yeah, and like dates are a much lower on the glycemic index than honey, which is still lower than cane sugar and things of that sort, which is why we chose those sugar sources. But that's super interesting to hear that bone broth at night. We drink bone broth almost every morning before and really on an empty stomach for different reasons of really just coating our gut lining and giving it that. You know, you have the best analogy. You said it's like when people put nails in walls, you put a coat of plaster over it. That's kind of what bone broth does, just fills in all the holes within your gut. So that's really interesting. We'll have to look into that further Great to hear that it had that sort of benefit.

11:59
Caitlin Bricker
I don't think I've ever shared that before. That's just like something that I found that worked for me. And hey, who knows?

12:06
Nolan Spencer
You know what? People forget that bone broth has been around for thousands of years. Like it's not new. It might be popular right now, but it has been around for a long time for a reason.

12:15
Caitlin Bricker
So true. And I honestly don't think I had heard of bone broth until maybe the pandemic days. Maybe it was a little earlier than that, but I think people are probably making so much food at home at that point and they're like, okay, what do I do with the scraps? All right, so I think you have a super interesting story. Your background is really cool, Very inspiring. You did mention that you saw this response from the public with the siete sale and you still felt inspired to create this bar and put your brand in the public eye. Have you pictured what your life might be like if you sell one day and what the public perception might be of HOL Health Club?

12:58
Mackenzie Muth
Yeah, I'm going to take a step back and just try not to ramble, honestly, because no one knows. I could go on and on about this. I think for us we are focused on building that next better for you platform brand. I think as a consumer that is attempting to switch to a more non toxic, more natural lifestyle. The grocery store is a very overwhelming place and a lot of the onus falls on the consumer to flip over the package and to read the ingredients. And I think something that we struggled with was going to the grocery store now has become a fun thing. But in our past lives was a chore that we had to go do and to flip over and read every single ingredient label starts to add time and time.

13:47
Mackenzie Muth
So I think for us what we are seeking to build is a brand that regardless of what product we put out there, consumers know and trust that they don't have to read the ingredients because they already know that we have done the legwork from them. And that is really what we are trying to do. I think food is a natural place for us to start. But I think a lot of this ingredient transparency can be applied to a number of other categories, whether it be pet food, home care, feminine products, baby.

14:17
Nolan Spencer
Pretty excited sometimes and need to calm ourselves down. There's a lot of things we want to do at blogging.

14:22
Mackenzie Muth
But to your question, our focus is not on selling. Our focus is really on building a platform that exists for consumers that can trust what we are putting out there.

14:33
Caitlin Bricker
I really like that answer. I feel like that's very honest. And of course, it sweetens the deal a little bit if you can sell one day, But I think it's refreshing to hear that's not the goal. Yeah. I think I speak to a lot of founders who get in this game, and they want to sell and they want to get rich. A lot of times it doesn't happen very quickly, but I think the fact that you gave up lucrative jobs to create this platform is really cool. Not only did you give up your jobs, I mean, where are you reporting in from right now? Where's your van parked?

15:05
Mackenzie Muth
We are in Michigan right now. The RV is parked in Chicago at the moment. So we are out of it for a few weeks, but we'll be back on the road mid August.

15:14
Caitlin Bricker
And for anybody who's listening right now and isn't familiar, they gave up their jobs. You carry around this sign when you're at trade shows. And what does it say? We quit our jobs on Wall street to start this brand.

15:28
Mackenzie Muth
Yes.

15:29
Nolan Spencer
And it's also plastered on the back of our branded RV that we are basically living in and traveling around the country right now.

15:36
Caitlin Bricker
Okay. This is going to inform another big part of the conversation, because it's not just the two of you. It's also your two dogs as well, living in that rv. And now you are nomads, and you're nomads for your brand. You are the billboard. Everywhere you got this beautiful wrap on your rv. And where were you at the start of this year as far as retail doors go?

16:01
Mackenzie Muth
00 Doors.

16:02
Nolan Spencer
January 1st up to probably April. We had a few onesie twosies up to April, but really none up until, like, mid April.

16:09
Caitlin Bricker
And where are we at today?

16:10
Mackenzie Muth
We are north of 200 with a.

16:14
Nolan Spencer
Lot going on in the aircraft, of course.

16:16
Caitlin Bricker
Of course, because you're essentially in a mobile office. But now you have that flexibility to really be on the road all the time. What has that done for your brand? It might sound really exciting at first, but has it had its downsides? I got to know the tea.

16:33
Nolan Spencer
Yes and yes. So the reason we did it in the first place was we would do our sample days in New York City outside of a farmer's market last summer. Before we had anything, this was just sampling the product to get it out there, and it went super well. Now, obviously, Manhattan's a different beast, but people loved coming there, loved meeting us. We loved meeting them, and they got to try the product. We said we need to Replicate this in store when we decide to shift to retail. That day came sooner than later when we got picked up by Central Market down in Texas. So we knew that we needed to be down there for more than just three days a weekend, two weekends.

17:07
Nolan Spencer
We wanted to be down there for months at a time because it didn't feel right to just sit in New York, work on our computer when we could be selling bars. So after some convincing, we ended up on a whim, buying an rv, moving down there. And it has been amazing in a lot of ways. It's been a lot of fun. But for the business, it has done wonders. Like us being there. I mean, any demos are beneficial, but as founders, especially being boots on the ground, when people come up to the table, they try your bar, they're usually interested in the product. And then when they might see whether it's our business card or a flyer with our face on it, like, they look up and say, oh, that's you. You're the founder.

17:42
Nolan Spencer
To either of us, that is what then really gets them excited. And I think there's many instances we could think about where customers then bought 15, 20 bars or we sat and talked to em for a half hour, whatever it was. So it's been amazing. But it's definitely been challenging at times too.

17:56
Mackenzie Muth
I think it's definitely been an adjustment. Like, I would be lying if I said that I didn't have an identity crisis at the beginning. January, when we first moved down to Texas. I mean, I think for us, so much has changed in the last 11 months. We haven't even hit a year with the business yet. And I think it's just been an adjustment. Right. Like, obviously our old lives were very different. We were working very different jobs, were working very different hours for very different people. Honestly, were just living a different life in New York City. To go from Wall street and that lifestyle to RV parks in Texas, like, it's definitely a change. But I think for us, what we've come to realize now is that we have so many people supporting us because we are putting our whole hearts into this.

18:44
Nolan Spencer
No pun intended.

18:48
Caitlin Bricker
I feel a Valentine's Day campaign coming up.

18:53
Mackenzie Muth
You know, we've got retailers investing back in us now, and I think it's because we are committed so much to it. And so I think it's starting to pay off. Plus, we've gotten to see so many different national parks and just things that we would not have otherwise. So it's now coming full circle for sure.

19:12
Caitlin Bricker
Wow. And I think I saw that you did 90 demos in 90 days? Yeah. That is insanity. What are you doing to take care of yourselves besides eating your bars?

19:24
Mackenzie Muth
The first and biggest thing always is sleep. Getting a good night's sleep will take care of you for the entire week. So sleep is something that we never compromise on. The second thing I will say is just the way that we eat. Like I said, we try to eat whole foods as much as possible, which.

19:42
Nolan Spencer
In the RV is actually very doable. For those of you who may not know, we have a full fridge and kitchen and everything. So you might be thinking, how is that possible? But it is.

19:51
Mackenzie Muth
The third thing I will say is having two golden retrievers keeps your mind and your mentality like a goldfish, because they are always getting into fittings. And so for better or for worse, we do not have much time to sit and dwell, which I think as a founder is a positive thing.

20:10
Nolan Spencer
Everybody thought were insane for quoting our jobs, that people paid well to start a business where we had no paycheck. Moving into an RV to Texas and then getting two puppy golden retrievers at the same time. I mean, you might be, probably are, but we just look at it a different way. Right? Of like, they can never be sad, so why not have them around us and it genuinely like, hot take or not is the best. One of the best decisions we've made.

20:35
Caitlin Bricker
Yeah, I need to meet them.

20:36
Nolan Spencer
Yes.

20:37
Mackenzie Muth
We inquired with fancy food to see if we could bring them and we have to get them registered as service dogs. So maybe next show.

20:45
Caitlin Bricker
Okay, yeah, next time.

20:46
Nolan Spencer
And I think lastly, just, you know, when we can being active, which honestly was really hard, I think doing 90 demos, we had a perfect workout plan laid out for the two, three months and definitely did not stick to it as much as we would have liked to. But you make some sacrifices, you're not able to do everything, but we try to do as much as possible to keep right in our mind or body. All that.

21:08
Caitlin Bricker
Wowee. What do you feel like you are prioritizing these days as far as your brand goes? Anything you're doing to expand your team or expand your relationships with retailers. What's on the roadmap for you?

21:22
Mackenzie Muth
All of the above.

21:23
Nolan Spencer
All of the above.

21:24
Mackenzie Muth
I think a big thing for us is visibility, which is also why we apply for every startup CPG event ever under the sun.

21:32
Caitlin Bricker
Everyone should do that.

21:34
Nolan Spencer
Which has been amazing. And genuinely, despite Caitlin being on the call, have led to, like, most of our opportunities.

21:40
Mackenzie Muth
Yeah, seriously, I think visibility is a big thing for us. That would be first and Foremost, we are also hiring our first employee. They will be starting in August with us. They also quit their job on Wall street to make this protein bar, which is super exciting. They are an ex colleague of ours.

21:59
Nolan Spencer
And maybe looking to hire somebody in marketing later in this year. First heard here.

22:04
Mackenzie Muth
So if anybody wants work for us, let us know.

22:06
Nolan Spencer
Let us know. And that is we are starting to think about that just as we grow in it. Like turning that then to the retailer side of things. We're still focused on building out the DTC and online channels, but retail, we just learned early on from our customers, they wanted us to be where they were. Right. They didn't always want to have to buy online and wait. They wanted to grab it at an airport or at a grocery store, bodega or wherever it was. So making that pivot toward retail, we've really doubled down in a lot of ways. And I think right now, I mean that's kind of the biggest thing we're working toward and tracking toward is getting in the right doors, not just the most doors and all the doors.

22:42
Nolan Spencer
Because we've actually been approached by some of the larger conventional retailers so far and it's probably not the right time. We've determined it's not the right time yet. We want to completely just crush the natural channel, the whole foods, the sprouts, the stores of that sort first.

22:58
Caitlin Bricker
Nice. So it sounds like natural organic large retailers and maybe even independents is the way that you're trying to go right now.

23:06
Mackenzie Muth
Yeah, absolutely.

23:07
Caitlin Bricker
I'm sure you have plenty of them listening right now, so you know where to find them.

23:12
Nolan Spencer
Yeah.

23:14
Caitlin Bricker
Okay. Before we wrap things up, I want to know where you see HOL Health Club in five years. I mean the question I want to know personally, you can tell me about your brand after, but do you see yourself living in an RV in five years or do you see yourself having a home based.

23:29
Nolan Spencer
Honestly, I don't think I want to get rid of the RV full time. It's kind of cool to have. Maybe we'll like when we make some money, upgrade N Airstream or something nicer. But it's actually fun to camp one up. But five years, I mean I think part of us we said earlier we would love to and it's all about the right timing of doing these things which we'll have to fill out as we go of when would be there. I mean like pet. Right. We have two golden retrievers, as you heard and we definitely spoil them or said differently, we feed them what we think they should be fed versus Junk that a lot of pet food is. It's really just a question of when would be the right time to go into something like that.

24:03
Nolan Spencer
Because we don't want to cut the food side of things short. Right. We want to make sure we have all of our attention on that until it is the right time to pivot. But I think, I mean our, maybe that's more of a 10 or 15 year goal of being in the other categories, whereas right now would being one of the top selling protein bars out there.

24:22
Mackenzie Muth
But five years. You want to go back to Newark? Where do you want to go now?

24:25
Nolan Spencer
We're getting real intense here. We definitely want to go back to New York. I mean, we're going to do it as long as we see real benefit in doing it. There will come a point where it's not beneficial for us to run the company on the road anymore and need to build out a team and be around the team or just run the company that way as opposed to just doing demos. But I think in our minds, we've got at least about another year, if not more in the RV.

24:47
Caitlin Bricker
Wow.

24:48
Nolan Spencer
Lot to do, a lot coming in 2027 that we're really excited about.

24:51
Caitlin Bricker
Good for you. I'm so happy for you guys. And I also have to say too, every time I see you, Mackenzie, you always ask about my daughter and how she's doing. And that just like warms my heart. We love people who love people.

25:05
Mackenzie Muth
Yes, family is very important to us as I've called you Caitlin in a number of conversations. And honestly we like view startup CPG as our cpg parents honestly taught us a lot. So that's how we felt.

25:19
Caitlin Bricker
That's amazing. Well, we gotta get more HOL Health Club bars in people's hands and in more doors. Where can everybody find you online? What's your website? What's your at? Where are you on social?

25:33
Mackenzie Muth
Yeah, you can find us on social media. TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, at HOL Health Club. Our website, holhealthclub.com, you can find us there as well as Amazon. And in terms of retail, you can find us in central market, Nugget Market, Raley's, Fresh Time and Foxtrot.

25:50
Caitlin Bricker
Wow. That's it.

25:51
Nolan Spencer
By the way, for those of you, listening HOL is spelled H-O-L.

25:55
Caitlin Bricker
There you go. Love that call out. One of the first times I met you guys, I think it was at Hungry Root in New York and I asked, I was like, is it hol or is it whole? How do I say this? But now we know.

26:10
Nolan Spencer
H O L stands for Honest original living, so there is a meaning behind it.

26:14
Caitlin Bricker
There you go. The more you know we learn something new every single day. You guys, it's been great having you here. Loved hearing more about your backgrounds, your story, where you're going to be in five years. I guess we'll stay tuned for that. Hopefully New York. We'll see. And if anybody was here and listening about that marketing role that they're going to be hiring for, slide in those DMs, you know where to find them now. And hopefully I'll see you again really soon and meet your pups.

26:44
Nolan Spencer
Thank you, Colin.

26:45
Mackenzie Muth
Thank you, Caitlin.

26:46
Caitlin Bricker
Of course. See you later. CPG BFFs we've now arrived together at the end of another episode of the Startup CPG Podcast. As you may know, we're not just the top globally ranked CPG podcast. We're a community of tens of thousands of CPG founders and experts. And you should join us. If you haven't already. Head to startupcpg.com to sign up. You'll get an invite to our Slack community, hear about events near you, and get access to opportunities that connect you with buyers, investors and other brands. It's free. So what are you waiting for? I'll see you in Slack and in real life. Thanks for listening.