Healthy Snack : Mill Valley's Can Do Kid bar energizes children
Excerpted from Marin Magazine, article by Michal Lev-Ram
In the beginning, there was Power Bar, the Berkeley-based ancestor of all energy bars. Then came Clif Bar, from another Berkeley company, which introduced us to bold and appetizing flavors such as Black Cherry Almond and Carrot Cake. More recently, the Bay Area has become the prime breeding ground for yet another energy bar maker: Can Do Kid.
Unlike its predecessors, this Mill Valley company only sells energy bars specifically formulated for children. That translates to kid-sized protein and vitamin percentages. Also, tapioca is used as a sweetener to provide sustained energy, instead of the ubiquitous crash-inducing ingredient, high-fructose corn syrup.
"Before, there were only energy bars for adults," says Deborah Luster, founder of Can Do Kid and a mother of three. "The vitamin core would be 50 to 100 percent over the amount recommended for kids; there was nothing that had appropriate protein for kids, that tasted good, and had no high-fructose corn syrup."
Realizing there was a need (and a niche market) to be filled, Luster took matters into her own hands. She conducted numerous focus groups with children ages 5 to 11. Packaging-wise, Luster settled on a purple, yellow, and red wrapper adorned with a running cheetah. And she decided on two flavors, Cookies and Cream and Chocolate Crunch; both varieties are 70 percent organic. The bars are now sold at Mollie Stone's, Mill Valley Market, and Corte Madera's Paradise Foods, as well as natural food stores and gyms across the United States. Luster estimates they'll be available in about 1,000 stores by the end of the year.
Luster, former president of Annie's Homegrown (which manufactures some well-known all-natural food products), has always had a passion for organic, nutritious foods - and a lifelong interest in work that inspires and empowers kids. Can Do Kid, she says, was the perfect marriage of the two.
"We wanted to create a whole culture around it," Luster says. "When kids use words like 'I can do anything,' it really shapes the way they look at the world." Can Do Kid proved its conviction by releasing T-shirts, books, and bumper stickers brandishing its logo before the bars even hit the market. Next up is another book, and possibly some other nonfood items like backpacks or bicycle helmets.
"We also want to create a half-sized bar specifically for schools," says Luster. "But, well, that's a whole 'nother bar." When it comes to the Bay Area and energy bars, it seems, the more the merrier.
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