Quest Nutrition

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Quest Nutrition
Company type Subsidiary
IndustryHigh-protein foods
Founded2010;15 years ago (2010)
FoundersTom Bilyeu
Mike Osborn
Ron Penna
Headquarters El Segundo, California, U.S.
Revenue$345 million (2019) [1]
Parent The Simply Good Foods Company
Website questnutrition.com

Quest Nutrition is an American food company that specializes in protein bars, protein shakes, protein powder, and various other high-protein foods. It was founded by Tom Bilyeu, Mike Osborn, and Ron Penna in 2010. In 2019, it was acquired by The Simply Good Foods Company, the parent company of Atkins Nutritionals.

Contents

History

Quest Nutrition was founded in 2010 in El Segundo, California, by Tom Bilyeu, Mike Osborn, and Ron Penna, who had recently sold their data loss prevention software company Awareness Technologies. [1] [2] Inspired in part by obesity in Bilyeu's family, Quest aimed to create protein bars and other high-protein snacks with no added sugar. [3] Their first product was a protein bar based on a recipe developed by Penna's wife Shannan Penna, who was a fitness trainer at the time. [1]

Quest grew rapidly in its first few years, becoming the second fastest-growing private company in the United States in 2014, with over 57,000% three-year revenue growth according to Inc. magazine. [4] The company's growth was largely driven by influencer marketing, sending free protein bars to fitness influencers with large followings on social media; as Bilyeu explained, "People with six packs are walking billboards." [3] The company was bootstrapped for its first five years before accepting a minority stake investment from private equity firm VMG Partners in 2015, valuing Quest Nutrition at $900 million. [1] [5]

Bilyeu left the company in October 2016 to launch the media company Impact Theory with his wife Lisa Bilyeu. [1] In 2017, Quest underwent restructuring, closing two Los Angeles manufacturing sites, laying off 524 factory workers, and outsourcing their production and distribution to third parties. [6] [7]

On August 22, 2019, Quest was acquired by The Simply Good Foods Company, the parent company of diet brand Atkins Nutritionals, in a $1 billion all-cash deal. [1] [6] In announcing the acquisition, The Simply Good Foods Company CEO Joseph Scalzo explained, "This combination delivers on our strategy to become a broader nutritional snacking company that offers consumers a broad range of brands and products that satisfy their nutritional needs." [6]

Products

Quest Nutrition is best known for their protein bars, available in a variety of flavors including best-sellers Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Birthday Cake, and Chocolate Chip. [8] The company also offers a wide variety of other high-protein items, including protein powder, protein shakes, and high-protein cookies, chips, crackers, candy, frozen pizza, and pasta. [3] [8] [9]

Quest's protein bars derive their protein from whey protein isolate and milk protein isolate. [8] Their products are sweetened with sugar substitutes including stevia, erythritol, sucralose, and luo han guo, which are lower in calories than other refined sugars. [2] Quest was the first major adopter of allulose as a low-calorie alternative sweetener, which they used in select protein bars as of 2019. [10] Quest's protein bars are gluten-free. [8]

Reception

In 2012 and 2013, health and nutrition retailer GNC named Quest's protein bars the best on the market. [2] The company received criticism in 2014 for its use of the dietary fiber source isomaltooligosaccharide in protein bars, which can cause indigestion for some people, which led the company to replace the ingredient with corn-soluble fiber in 2016. [3] The change prompted criticism of the protein bars' flavor, causing a sharp decrease in sales and leading the company to further reformulate the recipe later that year. [3]

In a 2024 list of "The Best Protein Bars You’ll Actually Want to Eat", Elaheh Nozari and Megan Wahn of Bon Appétit named Quest's protein bars "The Most Filling Protein Bar", pointing to their higher protein contents than competitors and remarking that they "will remind you of the three-course chewing gum from Willy Wonka , because they taste freakishly like whatever food they’re trying to imitate." [11] Glamour named Quest bars the best-tasting protein bars on the market in 2024. [12]

In 2023, Eat This, Not That criticized Quest's protein powder for its use of cellulose, sucralose, and carrageenan, which may have negative effects on gut health. [13] In a 2024 review for USA Today , Christian D'Andrea largely praised Quest's protein chips and crackers, while commenting that they sometimes struggle to mask the flavor of whey protein. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Splenda</span> Brand of sugar substitute

Splenda is a global brand of sugar substitutes and reduced-calorie food products. While the company is known for its original formulation containing sucralose, it also manufactures items using natural sweeteners such as stevia, monk fruit and allulose. It is owned by the American company Heartland Food Products Group. The high-intensity sweetener ingredient sucralose used in Splenda Original is manufactured by the British company Tate & Lyle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sugar substitute</span> Sugarless food additive intended to provide a sweet taste

A sugar substitute is a food additive that provides a sweetness like that of sugar while containing significantly less food energy than sugar-based sweeteners, making it a zero-calorie or low-calorie sweetener. Artificial sweeteners may be derived through manufacturing of plant extracts or processed by chemical synthesis. Sugar substitute products are commercially available in various forms, such as small pills, powders, and packets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Junk food</span> Unhealthy food high in sugar or fat

"Junk food" is a term used to describe food that is high in calories from macronutrients such as sugar and fat, and often also high in sodium, making it hyperpalatable, and low in dietary fiber, protein, or micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals. It is also known as "high in fat, salt and sugar food". The term junk food is a pejorative dating back to the 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atkins diet</span> Low-carbohydrate fad diet devised by Robert Atkins

The Atkins diet is a low-carbohydrate fad diet devised by Robert Atkins in the 1970s, marketed with claims that carbohydrate restriction is crucial to weight loss and that the diet offered "a high calorie way to stay thin forever".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moon Pie</span> American snack cakes

A Moon Pie is an American snack, popular across much of the United States, which consists of two round Graham crackers, with marshmallow filling in the center, dipped in a flavored coating. The snack is often associated with the cuisine of the American South, where they are traditionally accompanied by an RC Cola. Today, MoonPies are made by Chattanooga Bakery, Inc., in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banana chip</span> Chip made of banana

A banana chip is a deep-fried or dried, generally crispy slice of banana. It is usually made from firmer, starchier banana varieties like the saba and Nendran cultivars. It can be sweet or savory and can be covered with sugar, honey, salt, or various spices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Energy bar</span> Nutritional snack bar

Energy bars are supplemental bars containing cereals, micronutrients, and flavor ingredients intended to supply quick food energy. Because most energy bars contain added protein, carbohydrates, dietary fiber, and other nutrients, they may be marketed as functional foods. Manufacturing of energy bars may supply nutrients in sufficient quantity to be used as meal replacements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Special K</span> WK Kellogg Co brand of cereal

Special K is an American brand of breakfast cereal and meal bars originally manufactured by Kellogg's. The cereal was introduced to the United States in 1955. It is made primarily from grains such as lightly toasted rice, wheat and barley. Special K used to be marketed primarily as a low-fat cereal that can be eaten to help one lose weight. Following the 2023 spinoff of Kellogg's North American cereal division, the cereal is manufactured by WK Kellogg Co for the United States, Canada, and Caribbean markets. The former Kellogg's, renamed Kellanova, continues to manufacture the cereal for the rest of the world and the meal bars for all markets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lay's</span> Snack food brand and company

Lay's is a brand of potato chips with different flavors, as well as the name of the company that founded the chip brand in the United States. The brand is also referred to as Frito-Lay, as both Lay's and Fritos are brands sold by the Frito-Lay company, which has been a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo since 1965. Frito-Lay primarily uses the brand name "Lay's" in the United States and Canada, and uses other brand names in some other countries, such as Walkers in the UK and Ireland, and Smith's in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milky Way (chocolate bar)</span> Brand of chocolate confectionery

Milky Way is a brand of chocolate-covered confectionery bar manufactured and marketed by Mars Inc.. There are two varieties: the U.S. Milky Way bar, which is sold as the Mars bar worldwide, including Canada; and the global Milky Way bar, which is sold as the 3 Musketeers in the U.S. and Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Empty calories</span> Calories with no nutritional value

In human nutrition, empty calories are those calories found in foods and beverages composed primarily or solely of calorie-rich macronutrients such as sugars and fats, but little or no micronutrients, fibre, or protein. Foods composed mostly of empty calories have low nutrient density, meaning few other nutrients relative to their energy content. Empty calories are more difficult to fit into a diet that is both balanced and within TDEE, and so readily create an unhealthy diet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psicose</span> Chemical compound

D-Psicose (C6H12O6), also known as D-allulose or simply allulose, is an epimer of fructose that is used by some commercial food and beverage manufacturers as a low-calorie sweetener. Allulose occurs naturally in small quantities in a variety of foods. It was first identified in the 1940s, although the enzymes needed to produce it on an industrial scale were not discovered until the 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gummy candy</span> Category of gelatin-based chewable candy

Gummies, gummi candies, gummy candies, or jelly sweets are a broad category of gelatin-based chewable sweets. Gummy bears, Sour Patch Kids, and Jelly Babies are widely popular and are a well-known part of the sweets industry. Gummies are available in a wide variety of shapes, most commonly seen as colorful depictions of living things such as bears, babies, or worms. Various brands such as Bassett's, Haribo, Albanese, Betty Crocker, Hersheys, Disney and Kellogg's manufacture various forms of gummy snacks, often targeted at young children. The name "gummi" originated in Germany, with the terms "jelly sweets" or "gums" more common in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiber One</span> General Mills brand

Fiber One is a brand of high-fiber breakfast cereal, packaged nutritional bars, and baked food products owned by General Mills. Originally released as a breakfast cereal in 1985, it directly competes with Kellogg’s All-Bran.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old-fashioned doughnut</span> Type of deep fried food

The old-fashioned doughnut is a term used for a variety of cake doughnut prepared in the shape of a ring with a cracked surface and tapered edges. While many early cookbooks included recipes for "old-fashioned donuts" that were made with yeast, the distinctive cake doughnuts sold in doughnut shops are made with chemical leavener and may have crisper texture compared to other styles of cake doughnuts. The cracked surface is usually glazed or coated with sugar.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snack</span> Small food portions consumed outside of the main meals of the day

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Halo Top Creamery</span> Ice cream company

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">LesserEvil</span> American company producing snack foods

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References

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  2. 1 2 3 England-Nelson, Jordan (September 8, 2014). "South Bay protein bar company Quest Nutrition capitalizes on sugar phobia". Daily Breeze . Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Shapiro, Amanda (September 21, 2016). "How Quest Won the Battle of the Protein Bars". Bon Appétit . Retrieved July 19, 2024.
  4. Feloni, Richard (August 20, 2014). "The 10 Fastest-Growing Private Companies In The US". Business Insider . Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  5. Balf, Celia (August 23, 2019). "Quest Nutrition Acquired By Simply Good Foods Co. for $1 Billion Dollars". BarBend. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 Uranga, Rachel (August 30, 2019). "Snack Brand Gobbled Up". Los Angeles Business Journal . Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  7. Narayan, Shwanika (September 7, 2017). "Quest Nutrition to Close L.A. Manufacturing Sites, Lay Off 524 Workers". Los Angeles Business Journal . Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Pawlak, Lisa (January 25, 2023). "The Truth About Quest Nutrition". Health Digest . Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  9. 1 2 D'Andrea, Christian (April 29, 2024). "Snack of the Week: Quest's got more protein chips that don't taste like health food". USA Today . Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  10. Elejalde-Ruiz, Alexia (August 22, 2019). "A natural sweetener with a tenth of sugar's calories. Allulose, developed in Hoffman Estates, could be 'breakthrough ingredient.'". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  11. Nozari, Elaheh; Wahn, Megan (January 5, 2024). "The Best Protein Bars You'll Actually Want to Eat". Bon Appétit . Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  12. McCoy, Jenny; Canning, Kristin (June 20, 2024). "16 Best Protein Bars, According to Registered Dietitians & Editors". Glamour . Retrieved July 31, 2024.
  13. Boesch, Samantha; Strong, Rebecca (July 11, 2023). "8 Protein Powders To Stay Away From Right Now". Eat This, Not That . Retrieved July 31, 2024.