Sometimes, inspiration for a good company mascot is grazing a few steps from your front door.
Blue Unicorn co-founder Meradith Christensen had alpacas on the brain. Five of those constantly curious South American animals live in their nearby pasture, where her family has raised them for the past couple of years. They collect their hair to make yarn, occasionally rent one of the friendlier ones out to kids’ birthday parties, and give their teenage daughter a chance to learn responsibility by taking care of them.
“We decided we could do some out-of-the-box thinking with our mascot, and it didn’t have to be a traditional unicorn,” Meradith says while hosing down the big-eyed animals with cool water. “A unicorn is something you don’t believe exists. When my husband Jason first tried this bar, he called it the ‘unicorn’ of protein bars — a fusion of taste, texture and nutrition. Nobody thought it could even exist, yet here it was. That’s how it began.”
When the opportunity to partner surfaced, Jason wasn’t necessarily looking for it. It had been a decade since he sold North Star, the company he started, which he grew from thousands of employees and even more customers in 30 states. He spent nearly 20 years in that industry before selling. He then started teaching at Brigham Young University, where he’s still an adjunct professor in its entrepreneurial management department, teaching entrepreneurial sales and persuasion.
Curiosity led him to meet with his now-partner, Luke Tolley and try the bar he’d invented. It shocked him; it was like nothing he’d ever tasted. He was immediately hooked.
“I don’t know how many people get to be involved with a product that they’re passionate about,” Jason says. “I liked what I did before … but it’s unique to be a part of something you genuinely love.”
No more half-eaten protein bars
While Jason never worked in consumables before Blue Unicorn, he had many years of experience with protein — and protein bars, specifically. After eating thousands of them in his lifetime, Jason believed Tolley’s creation surpassed them all.
Jason was 25 when he learned what protein could do for his body. He was living in Arizona, working for Intel. He filled his refrigerator with cans of Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew. Before he went to work, his first meal was always a bagel with cream cheese and a 32-ounce Coke. The rest of the day, fast food was his mainstay. “It had been years since I tasted water,” Jason says, only half joking. Chronic heartburn was an everyday reminder of all he ate, and a bottle of Tums was never far.
When his company offered body fat testing to its employees one day, Jason measured over 33 percent, bordering on morbid obesity. He hated how he looked and subsequently felt. When a roommate introduced him to Bill Phillips’ Body For Life program — a 90-day body transformation challenge offering prizes for the most dramatic body change — he threw everything in his fridge away, started a new meal plan and supplemented it with daily protein bars and shakes, quitting soda cold turkey. After making incredible progress, he dropped to 10 percent body fat, and protein became part of his daily nutrition. Even though he never enjoyed eating a protein bar, he did it for the results.
When Tolley told Jason he had an idea for an innovative protein bar, he was all ears; however, he wasn’t expecting to like what he tasted.
Knowing the bar’s contents — high protein, high fiber, and low sugar — Jason was skeptical. He thought if it was this good for you, there’s no way it would taste good. He was proved wrong right away and took as many protein bars as he could get away with to share with his family.
“Our kids started asking for them nonstop after that, which was a huge deal to me. I buy the groceries in our home, and nutrition has always been important for us,” Meradith says. “That means getting sugar down and protein up. The bars check those boxes and have seven grams of fiber. As a mom, oh my gosh, it hit all the areas I cared about as a consumer.”
Jason and Tolley agreed on a partnership, and a business name evolved simultaneously. The bar was highly desirable yet difficult to create. In other words, it was a unicorn.
Jason refers to Tolley as a real-life Willy Wonka, and there’s more than one reason for that.
Beyond Oompa Loompas
From the time Tolley’s mother urged him to try making cookies when he was a boy, he developed a love for the science and art of baking, even baking wedding cakes by request and pouring chocolate. He started to tap into various regions of the world, including Fiji, which has cocoa beans with a strong caramel taste. Even though Tolley became known for his culinary delights, it remained a part-time passion. Professionally, he focused on electrical engineering, designing analytical chemistry devices, and was also a chemistry professor.
“Sixteen years ago, a weightlifter friend called me up. He said, ‘Look, I know you bake well and know you know chemistry. I need you to invent a new protein bar for me,’” Tolley says. “I turned him down.”
The friend persisted. He bought one of every kind of protein bar that existed then and sent them over. After Tolley received them in the mail, he and his kids tasted each one. Knowing what was in the market, he was confident he could do better. The more he experimented, the more his confidence blossomed. While the project with his weightlifting friend never progressed, he learned there was so much room for improvement in the world of protein bars.
Tolley decided texture was the first area that needed help. In his mind, there were two types of protein bars: one resembled dried-up Play-Doh and the other was like cookie crisps glued together with syrup. Either option gets stuck in your teeth and requires a lot of water to wash down. He wanted to change that.
Tolley read an article that rated protein bars against one another, and the crowd favorite was the only one almost no one dreaded eating. The standard for protein bars was low, and he knew he had the chops to create the ultimate recipe.
“A lot of that [confidence] comes from my chemistry background, being able to understand how the molecules interact and how that translates into texture and a more pleasant eating experience,” Tolley says. “I thought about it for years, simulating how it would work. Once I figured it out, I did it. It’s not just messing around in the kitchen.”
While Blue Unicorn remains Tolley’s primary focus, it’s not his only one. A continual invention process has surfaced, allowing him to improve on the areas that need it. He’s developed prototypes with a protein Twinkie-like product that has been surprisingly successful. He’s excited about what’s possible with this new product as he blurs the line between dessert and good nutrition.
“That’s the American dream, right?” Tolley says. “Just imagine! A healthy Twinkie!”
A future still untold
Blue Unicorn experienced success before they knew what to expect.
Jason met with Todd Humphrey, the CEO of Good Earth, before his company produced even 100 bars; they had more packaging created than completed products. Still, he wanted to gauge interest. Humphrey asked him questions he didn’t have answers to yet. When the store owner ultimately liked the bar and bought 21 cases (over 3,000 bars), Jason experienced some internal panic. However, they completed the order the following week, and their bars are a staple at Good Earth stores across the state.
Knowing they had something worth sharing, Jason and Meradith attended farmers’ markets and conferences once or twice a week to encourage people to experience Blue Unicorn for the first time, something they continue to do.
Jason’s vision for Blue Unicorn’s future is vast. He’d like to see their bars in stores throughout the country. As their family of products evolves, Jason is eager to see what accessible nutrition solutions they add next.
“It’s exciting to be part of a movement that helps people live healthier lives, where they feel like they’re not totally deprived,” Meradith says.
As a mom of five who is careful about the treats she buys her kids, Meradith wants to let the world know a nutritious, allergen-free and gluten-free option does exist.
While Tolley’s goals are tied to those within the company, he continues to find new ways to create.
“I’m an inventor,” Tolley says. “My dream is to have a company where I can sit in my lab, invent new products and funnel them to those who can run with it.”
So far, he’s able to do just that with Blue Unicorn. As the company’s founders uncover additional ways to make nutrition taste good, the idea of a unicorn protein bar — or even an alpacacorn protein bar — becomes far less mythical.