CHICAGO — The chocolate candy bar category historically has been formulated for indulgence, but there is a new player entering the category to challenge the status quo. Jared Smith, co-founder of RXBAR, saw the need for a product in the space that could be marketed as “better-for-you” with a focus on high protein, lower calories, no sugar as well as indulgence.

Following Kellogg Co.’s acquisition of RXBAR for $600 million in 2017, Smith was in a non-compete agreement for five years.

Smith, who longed to be back in an operator role, began drumming up ways of how to “make candy make sense.”

Hormbles Chormbles is not a protein bar but rather a candy bar that happens to have protein and includes whey crisps. Smith said Hormbles Chormbles has a similar taste and texture to a Crunch bar, which is owned by Ferrero USA.

The company intentionally formulated the product to say “It’s a protein candy bar” on the packaging to clearly communicate its contents.

“It is not super clear because this (product) hasn’t been done, especially a high protein chocolate (bar),” Smith said. “That’s definitely going to be a struggle because we are creating a new subcategory within chocolate. That’s something we’re really spending a lot of time on trying to figure out, what is our messaging? In the grocery store you’ll find us in the candy aisle, not the protein bar set — that’s really important.”

The candy bar offers 10 grams of protein, no sugar and 100 calories and is formulated with a protein blend of whey protein isolate and milk protein isolate along with allulose, modified plant fat (EPG), palm kernel oil, cocoa mass, Dutch process cocoa powder, palm oil, natural flavor, sunflower lecithin, salt, monk fruit extract and steviol glycosides.

Hormbles Chormbles uses allulose as its sweetener and “high-quality protein sources” from the whey and milk-based protein, which enables the startup to have the product’s calories come from the protein, rather than the other ingredients, Smith said.

Smith said the bar’s formulation creates the indulgent taste consumers would expect from a chocolate bar by blending these ingredients together with the flavor from chocolate ingredients — in a “better-for-you” form.

Varieties include salted fudge, classic milk, cookies and creme and peanut butter.

 To claim the candy bar was high in protein, Smith set the protein content at 10 grams per bar.

“There’s more efficient ways to consume protein than candy obviously,” he said. “So, we didn’t want to overdo it because candy, first and foremost, has to taste amazing. If it has too much protein, it starts to take away from the product.”

With cocoa being a large part of the product’s formulation, the company is investigating how it will adjust its prices to the ongoing tariff situation.

“It (tariffs) does seem to be impacting our cocoa ingredients, potentially one or two other ingredients,” Smith said. “We get it (cocoa) from domestic suppliers, but they source from South America and from all over the world (and) West Africa as well. They just pass along the tariff surcharge pricing to us. We’re very aware that we have to be competitive on price. As a company, we’re going to eat that extra cost, so we don’t pass it onto the consumer.”

The candy bar is priced at $39.99 for 12 bars or $3.33 per bar on the company’s website. When it eventually enters retail, Smith said the company is aiming for $2.99 to $3.49 per bar on shelves.

For Hormbles Chormbles, Smith’s goal is to have the company’s price point be competitive with the “legacy candy set.”

“I’m hoping we put pressure on other more traditional candy companies to come out with healthier, more nutritious products to compete with ours,” he said. “I’m hoping I can move the candy category as well as other sets and be a household name.”

Taking one lesson from his RXBAR days, Smith is setting out to achieve a “relentless pursuit for continuous (product) improvement.”

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