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Two weekends ago I was up in San Francisco where, on a whim, I tried a Clif Nectar bar, a product I hadn’t seen in Los Angeles, made from 100 percent organic fruit and nuts. It was a dark chocolate and walnut flavored bar, sweetened only with organic dates and flavored with walnuts, unsweetened chocolate, cocoa, vanilla. What first struck me was how simple but addictive the Nectar bar was (imagine a rich, smooth fudge crossed with a date fruit pave). My next thought was, How can these energy bar companies continue to introduce so many products and flavors? They’re freakin’ relentless.

Double-digit Growth
I stumbled onto a story today, by Barbara Grady, in the San Mateo County Times, that has some good details on the energy bar boom. Apparently, 447 energy bar products have been introduced over the last 10 years, and in 2004 alone, energy bar makers collectively reaped $2 billion. Researchers say sales of energy bars are still growing at double-digit rates, an estimated 12 percent a year. The unprecedented growth explains why companies as far ranging as Safeway, Wal-Mart and the U.S. military have entered the market with energy bars of their own. As of this spring, the Army began selling its HooAH! Nutrition bar to the general public.

Hooah! Bar
The Hooah! Bar website says that “no bar on the market was up to the challenge of providing nutrition to the toughest customer in the world: the American soldier.” And a portion of the proceeds from every HOOAH! bar “helps fund government research that improves soldier safety, diet, and quality of life.” … Last month, the New York Post wrote: “Make way for the Hooah! bar, the biggest military advancement to hit the mainstream since the Hummer.”

In 2004 alone, 68 new energy bar products were introduced, according to Productscan Online. Multiply those 68 new products by several flavors and sizes a product is launched in, and the number climbs to about 400 a year, Vierhile estimates. Product analysts say the explosion in nutrition bar companies and products defies logic since nobody thought the market could support over 400 new bars coming out a year.

Berkeley Origins
Two Berkeley, Calif.-based companies kicked off the craze in the mid-1980’s and continue to dominate the market: Clif Bar and PowerBar, according to the story. Nestle acquired PowerBar for a reported $375M five years ago while Clif is still independently run. A few analysts believe that Clif Bar may have an edge because it attracts, what one researcher deems “a following of people interested in LISHS: a life style of health and sustainability of the planet.” Clif donates 1% of Nectar revenues to the Organic Farming Research Foundation.

Popularity On the Rise
Energy bars have been at the forefront of food fads for the past 3-4 years, and are predicted to increase in popularity as a “meal replacement snack” because the people making them “really understand nutritional science, what is happening in the nutritional world and figuring out what is credible, and then linking that to what motivates consumers,” said Vallar, the PowerBar general manager.

See Grady’s story here. I still haven’t seen Nectar (or Hooah!) bars in L.A.