Protein bars continue to evolve with new better-for-you brands
The protein bar category is continuously evolving as dietary preferences change. Now, a bar by a new company, David, is hitting the market, hoping to fill a growing nutritional gap.
David was co-founded by RXBar’s Peter Rahal, who also led the $10 million seed round, along with Zach Ranen, who founded the online bakery Raize. The company claims its bars are “rigorously perfected,” boasting 28 grams of protein at 150 calories and zero sugar per serving.
Its launch points to a changing snack landscape.
Protein bars and beverages have gradually moved from being perceived as supplements to real food made with familiar ingredients, thanks to players like RXBar and Kind. Young brands in the protein category also see an opportunity to stand out among the sea of competition with cleaner ingredients and better flavors. With new players like David entering the field, protein bar startups say they are tweaking their products and emphasizing flavor and texture to better attract the growing audience.
The David launch comes at a time when Americans are attempting to consume more protein. In a 2024 Food and Health Survey by the International Food Information Council, 71% of 3,000 participants said they are trying to get protein — up from 67% in 2023 and 56% in 2022. So it’s no surprise that better-for-you bars are also seeing a shift, given that protein sources are being injected into snack items.
Since its founding in 2013, bar maker Aloha has evolved and found success by reformulating its products with plant-based sources of protein.
Aloha CEO Brad Charron, the self-described “re-founder” of the company, came on board in 2017 to help rebuild the business. At the time, Charron said the company had burned millions in venture capital and needed to re-focus on its core products of bars and drinks. “We’re now a profitable business, but it’s not easy to run a food company,” he said.
Charron told Modern Retail that Aloha’s focus on simple ingredients and bold packaging has been key to its success in recent years. He also credited Americans’ growing interest in protein bars made from real food versus lab-made supplements. Aloha’s bars are made with pumpkin and brown rice.
“This is not a supplement brand,” Charro said. Whereas protein bars’ target audience had been eating them in a utilitarian fashion for fuel, Charron said the widening consumer base expects taste to match the nutritional makeup.
This year, Aloha is expanding beyond its core channels of e-commerce and natural grocers, and moving more into conventional retailers. In March, it was announced that growth equity investment firm SEMCAP Food & Nutrition invested $68 million of secondary capital to buy out early angel investors and take a significant minority stake in the company. In August, Aloha launched its first-ever brand campaign featuring an ASMR-themed ad spot.
This year, Aloha is projected to reach $100 million in revenue; it posted 500% growth between 2020 and 2023. Its products are now found in 14,000 doors that include Kroger, Sprouts, Walmart and Whole Foods, with more to be added later this year.
Charron said the company’s been largely able to grow digitally through DTC and and on marketplaces like Thrive Market and Amazon, where it’s a bestseller in the high protein bar category.
Another plant-based bar maker, Trubar, was founded in 2018 and acquired by Simply Better Brands in 2021. The company specializes in bars boasting fun flavors — like Oh Oh Cookie Dough and Get in My Belly PB & Jelly — that provide a dessert-esque experience while also maintaining a better-for-you ingredients profile.
Even within a few short years since launch, Trubar has been tweaking its macro-nutrients to cater to its women-skewed customers. Founder and CEO Erica Groussman said the products have always been vegan, gluten-free, soy free and under 200 calories, while providing 12 grams of protein. “That hasn’t changed, but we’ve listened to consumers and made adjustments to refine our product as ingredient preferences evolved,” she said.
For example, there has been an increase in the fiber content in our bars, and the brand is now certified non-seed oil, Groussman said, “which has become more important to our audience.”
“We also switched to using organic cane sugar and Fair-Trade cacao because sourcing matters as much as the ingredients themselves,” she added. But the decadent flavors remain the biggest differentiator for the brand.
Trubar has been expanding into more mass and grocery channels, most recently entering CVS to reach a broader segment beyond the health and wellness crowd. “There’s a lot of room for growth, and with the momentum we have, 2025 is going to be a year of expansion and deeper consumer engagement,” Groussman said.
With more competition than ever, Groussman said she sees new brands “popping up every day, and I’m always keeping track of how we measure up.”
“The journey of creating a better bar is ongoing,” Groussman said. “And while we’ll never sacrifice flavor, we’ll always look for ways to innovate while staying true to our core values.”
Continuous need to innovate as tastes and preferences change is key to the category’s growth, especially after experiencing a slowdown when people were home during the pandemic.
“About 10, 20 years ago the food IQ of the average consumer was lower,” Aloha’s Charron said of changing expectations. “The consumer is so much more educated now on health and sleep now.”
This story has been updated to correct what ingredients are in Aloha’s protein bars, and to clarify that Semcap invested $68 million specifically to buy out early angel investors in Aloha and take a significant minority stake in the company.