Plant-based protein bar with less than seven ingredients targets female consumers
The protein bar had sold over 10,000 bars since its first release in August 2018.
Shintaro Hattori, founder of Snaq Me told FoodNavigator-Asia, the company had changed the ingredients and made it more nutritional balanced in the second-generation product, which features three new flavours, matcha, orange, and maple.
CLR stands for clear, pure and clean. According to Shintaro, the protein bars contain about 8g of protein making it ideal for consumption before and after exercise, as well as throughout the day.
Female demand
He said the number of women who were interested in protein bars or increasing protein intake has been increasing.
“Females are much more conscious about ingredients, compared with men. They know protein is necessary for hair, skin, body, and not just muscles.
“Most of the protein bars (in the market) are for men,” he observed.
He said many protein bars on the market have more than 20 ingredients, “I cannot even pronounce some of these ingredients.”
He added that most users of its subscription box service were women, and that there were few protein bars currently available in Japan specifically for females.
Ingredients
Shintaro said CLR Bar is made from dried fruits and nuts, and do not contain additives, sugar, sweeteners, and trans-fat. It is vegetarian and vegan compatible.
Some of the ingredients in the bar include dates which provide natural sweetness (about two dates are used for each bar), and nuts such as almonds and cashews which give aroma and crisp texture.
Other dried fruits like figs, berries, ginger, cacao, peanut butter, lemon and coffee are used to deliver natural flavourings. Salt is added as a taste-enhancer.
The protein used in the product is pea protein, which is BCAA equivalent to whey protein, and is free from allergens.
Pea protein also has lesser impact on the environment with one-sixth less land required for pea protein production than normal protein. The water required to produce 1 kg of pea protein is only 3,200 liters compared to the 560,000 litres for animal protein.
Pea protein is commonly used in Europe and U.S. and is gaining attention as a vegetable protein that can replace soy.
Shintaro added: “Pea protein is not popular in Japan now, but I think it will become more famous.”
The future is clear
CLR Bars are manufactured in Japan, and available in 12 flavours.
They are sold on the company’s online store as well as at gyms, and vending machines in offices in Japan. They retail at JPY 1,296 for four bars.
Shintaro had hinted interest in selling at more physical stores, as well as expanding its business overseas.
Apart from protein bars, the company also sells its JQ meat jerky made entirely from three ingredients, meat, salt, and pepper.
