Howdy, I would like to apologise for the lateness of this weeks release. I will be completely honest, I am not used to writing to an audience. Well at least writing then having to edit to release in a few days. What you’ll learn about me is I’m an 80% person.

To give you the TL;DR, I follow the 80-20 rule. 

The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80-20 rule, states that 80% of outcomes from 20% of causes (the “vital few”).

In life there are 2 types of people:

1/ 80% people

We 80% people are those that find it easy to complete many tasks in few broad strokes. I believe it is we are wired in this way to get a lot done in a short period of time.

2/ 20% people

The 20%-er person is one that is likely to be a book worm, constantly correcting any grammatical errors. They will spend as much time, if not more time on completing the 20% of work as the other 80. They usually work professions such as auditors, editors or insert any other boring job here. No hate - just not want I want to do.

Both types are needed for the world to work and I am glad the 20%ers exist! This principle is everywhere and almost can be applied to anything. Where I am applying this today is 80% in the outcome. I like to focus on getting most of a task complete and moving on the next, as that final 20% saps the crap out of my energy.

anyway….

Why I Would Start a Protein Snack Company

My relationship with food isn’t the best. I do not hate it, I just don’t find a burning desire to eat. It’s almost like a built in smol-boi mechanism.

However, with a goal of consuming 200g of protein daily, I often find it hard to hit my goals without smashing steaks and shakes.

My current food stack that I eat every day - I like to call it my auto pilot meals are:

• Yoghurt & Muesli = 20g Protein

• Protein Shake & Full Cream Milk = 30g Protein

• Tuna on Toast = 20g Protein

• 200g of Meat = 50g Protein

For a grand total of…. 120g...

That’s still 80g off!

So whilst at the supermarket yesterday looking at a wall of protein bars starting from $3.75 each, I came across these bad boys:

No, not the TimTams! Although, The Murray River Salted Caramel ones are my favourite snack. What I am talking about is, Musashi’s High Protein Bars. The thing has 45g of protein for only $4.50! (This is not a sponsored section, just to be clear).

That’s so much more cost efficient $/g of protein, or cgop, than every other bar on the wall at my supermarket. Not bad!

Look, the taste is what you’d expect of a bar that’s 50% by weight protein, but that’s okay. I’d rather eat this than a 200g chicken breast with the risk of it being dry. It’s not supposed to be a delicious meal, think of it like one of those vegan slices many cafes sell out of their display fridge. They don’t taste good but we pretend and eat it for it’s benefits.

Not to dunk on every other bar, but when they are the same price as this hefty log for only 15g-25g of protein, I see this bar as my only option…

My Epiphany

It got me thinking, I have this pain that I would like solved, all 80 grams, and there’s clearly proof in the logistics in serving a high protein snacks for less than $0.10/gop (gram of protein). So, if I had the capital I would totes try and build a protein snack company.

I think I would smash the competition, too! (Full disclosure, I have never built a product based service, having to manage SKUs, TGA legalities, trying not to food poison people, shelf life, taste etc).

But… 

I would specifically target these protein snack bars as part of a daily consumption for those that need to boost their protein intake and try to work the price into that.

At $4.50 / bar, 7 days a week, that’s $31.5 for 315g of protein. At that price, it’s hardly worth it.

In Australia, at the time of writing, Chicken breast is ~$10/kg, with nearly the same protein as my 7 bars, so it’s a tough sell for most. But, what if the 7 bars were able to sold in packs, approaching $0.05/gop? Then it’s approaching ~$16/week. Then, that’d be good value.

Napkin Maths

Before we jump into the maths.. I typically get 5 pieces of chicken in a serve of chicken varying 1.1kg - 1.2kg. So going forward, I will be benchmarking with 5 hypothetical protein bars.

Looking at the results, my made up protein bars are still more than chicken, but you can’t leave your chicken in your work bag for 3 months and eat it on the bus without needing to visit the hospital.

I believe there is a gap in that market, especially if they were sold D2C, similar to MrBeast’s (@MrBeast), Snack Company Feastables. All those commercial mark up overheads could be eliminated if you could buy these as a subscription online, like the toilet paper, Who Gives A Crap.

The point here is that I am not literally trying to start a protein bar company, although I would if my capital permitted. The argument is; I’ve identified a pain point, and I’ve figured out the solution through a product, albeit made up. I understand who I am solving the problem for, which is people who want more convenient protein, and I would target those people. I would then really focus on providing them as much value as I can through my product.

The ‘deal’ of the offer will increase if I can reduce the price and improve the convenience of purchasing this item through D2C strategies.

Nothing else matters.

I didn’t talk about what marketing videos I’d make, what celebrity will be the mascot of this product, what colour wrapping the bar should come in.

As a personal trainer, these rules are no different. Being ignorant to this fact will not help your fight against business entropy. Knowing how to build the best offer for your audience is half the battle.

To be inspired, here’s a pic of CBUM looking suave with his fiancée, Courtney King.

Be good.

- Reagan

Footnotes

¹ We based this from my last shop on 27/03/2023 with skinless Chicken breast priced at $10.99 per kg. It is assumed each portion of chicken is 200g.

² Sourced from FoodData Central, USDA

The Calcs: [31g Protein / 100g Portion ] = 31% Protein Density

³ Calculated to assess the total cost per gram of protein. This is an important metric when assessing viable food options, in conjunction to protein density of an item.

Low

[$10.00 purchased] / [1000g portion x 0.31] = $0.0323 per gram of protein

High

[$15.00 purchased] / [1000g portion x 0.31] = $0.0484 per gram of protein

⁴ As previously mentioned, I purchased two Musashi High Protein Bars on 27/03/2023 for $4.50 each. Removing overheads & retail margins, it is assumed these bars could be sold Direct to Consumer for $2.50.

⁵ Here’s the math: [ 45g protein / 90g bar ] = 50% protein density.

⁶ Benchmarking against chicken cost per protein gram (cgop)

Low

[$2.50 per bar] / [45g protein per bar] = $0.0556 per gram of protein

High

[$4.50 per bar] / [45g protein per bar] = $0.10 per gram of protein