Eddie’s Energy Bars Blog

When I received a call from fellow Vermonter, John Page, the expedition leader for Climbing for Spina Bifida, asking for product donation to climb the highest 67 summits in New England while benefiting the Spina Bifida Association, I just could not turn him down.

John and his crew are awesome people.  They do everything for their sponsors, and really get the word out about products and services, including Eddie’s Energy Bars.  John has coined Eddie’s Energy Bars as “awesome products where I can finally pronounce all of the ingredients”.  That’s what sells our bars…the real ingredients, and the fantastic taste that we worked on for two years to master.

Our product donations do go a long way, but what is more important is what Climbing for Spina Bifida is trying to accomplish.  The 67 highest peaks over 4,000 ft. in New England is one tremendous feat, but John and his climbing partner intend to do it over the next year or two by hiking mainly on weekends.  However, they are not the only team.  John has enlisted a climbing team in the West, and is working on a central team as we speak.

So, why is John and company doing this?  Here is an excerpt from John’s letter on the homepage:
As a lifelong hiker and avid outdoor enthusiast the idea to climb the highest 67 Summits came to me one day while driving home from the Hospital. After seeing my Daughter I was wondering what I could do to help others. I love to climb and this seemed like a great way to go about raising awareness and funds for Spina Bifida. I gave this a lot of thought and the more I thought about it the more I believed people would get behind me.

Our mission is to climb the highest 67 Summits in New England over 4000 feet. We are doing this to raise awareness and raise funds for the S.B.A.A./Mass http://www.msbaweb.org/ which really helps a lot of people. It is an 18 month Expedition which I expect to open a lot of eyes about S.B. I also feel that it will be a Spiritual Journey and a cleansing journey. I hope to touch a lot of people’s hearts.

Expedition Leader
John Page

Everyone at Eddie’s is very excited to get the chance to sponsor this great group of guys, and help out other organizations as well.  Both John and I agree that Vermonters helping Vermonters is the best way to do business!  There is a possibility that we will be hopping around New England with C4SB promoting them and our awesome energy bars!

Stay tuned for event developments!

Michael
Eddie’s Energy Bars

The power-outage didn’t stop Gary Hirshberg, the co-founder and CEO of Stonyfield Farm, from giving his keynote speech at Bryant University’s semi-annual elevator pitch competition.

I usually attend the many speakers that Bryant brings in to speak to us, as I find them incredibly interesting. I counted down the days until Gary Hirshberg was coming to Bryant. I was so excited because he has written an incredible book titled “Stirring it Up: How to Make Money and Save the World” that I read in a whopping five days. I could not put this book down to the point where I was pushing off homework just to read it. I highly recommend the book to anyone, from the small business owner to the everyday consumer. His style of writing makes the book a page-turner, and there are multiple companies profiled as well.

Gary made many great points during his power-outage keynote, and one was in the first five minutes: Entrepreneurs are either courageous or crazy, but most of the time both. I can definitely relate to that one. There have been some people who have thought that Eddie’s would not have the ability to get our feet off the ground, but we have persevered, and are growing faster than ever. Gary had a similar story of his wife wanting to get out of the yogurt-biz, but he and his partner believed in what they were doing was the right thing to do. Years later, Stonyfield is the largest producer of organic yogurt, and brings in a staggering $300 million in revenue.

A second point that was made was the argument for real-food. All of Stonyfield’s yogurt is organic. It contains no pesticides, preservatives, or funky red dye 40. At Eddie’s, while we do all we can, we are not solely organic. We are constantly working towards a higher quality product. We currently use organic soy flour (purchased from the VT Green Grocer right down the road) in all of our bars and organic peanut butter in our peanut butter chocolate chip bar, a customer favorite. Our bars have a two week shelf life. That means we add no preservatives and no artificial colorings as well. While our bars are a little bit more expensive than the 10 for $10 Power bars, we blow them away on taste, quality, and customer service. Once you taste an Eddie’s, like many customers have said, they will never go back. That’s because our energy bars are real food!

Another great point that Gary made was that there was no mythical place called “away”. This point really drove it home for me, that we need to change how we run the Eddie’s Energy Bars. He pointed out that people believed all the waste moved from their place of business to “away” (which New Hampshire claims is Vermont). Gary thought this was a horrible idea, trucking this away, wasting more fossil fuels, so he was determined to change that. Stonyfield offsets all of their carbon emissions by investing in renewable projects through a partnership with Native Energy based out of Vermont. Just think if all businesses did this. We might actually get those crazy Vermont winters back!

With all of that said, after reading Gary Hirshberg’s book, and listening to him speak, I now have a vested interest in making sure Eddie’s has green practices. Check out what we’re doing to go green already!

Somewhere down the road when I graduate, I envision a sustainable building run on wind and/or solar power that our bars are manufactured in, biodeisel delivery vans, and edible packaging. Crazy, I know, but as Gary says, entreprenuers are either courageous or crazy, or both. I think I’m both.

With green thoughts,

Michael Adams, Owner
Eddie’s Energy Bars

I just got back from spring break, and noticed that I haven’t posted in a while. I had a wonderful time back home with my parents for the week, doing business-related things and hanging out, putting off my homework for as long as possible.

Anyway, to culminate my spring break, we took a trip over to Comeau Family Sugarhouse, the providers of the maple syrup we use in our maple walnut bar. Proprietors Bernie and Ann, are some of the coolest people that we met at the Williston Farmer’s Market last summer. They boil thousands of gallons of syrup each year, and certainly seem to have lots of fun doing it. Below is a picture of the sugar house. Bernie and Ann have won a ton of blue ribbons at various maple festivals–we only use the best maple syrup!

We made sure to get to a sugarhouse before next weekend’s Maple Open House, where all Vermont Sugarhouses open their doors to the public so they can see how syrup is made. It’s really a great event.  Hope everyone is doing well!

Michael, Owner
Eddie’s Energy Bars

Since I am at school nine months out of the year, I am forced to read the Seven Days online every single week. It’s world’s better to read it with a tangible copy in hand, but most of the time I will make do by reading it with my eyes focused on my brightly lit laptop screen.

Well, as the online content gets revamped every Wednesday, I logged on yesterday as usual, and jumped right to the Food section of the Seven Days website (my favorite section).  I clicked on the article about QTees (I had no idea what it was, so curious me wanted to find out). The article got more and more shocking as I read on.  Apparently, the only Dairy Queen in Vermont is no longer a Dairy Queen.  The owner does not want to partake in some mint-explosion blizzard as a promotion for St. Patty’s day.  She also revolts against the big wigs at DQ and makes made-to-order sandwiches.  With these differences, the owner has decided to split with DQ and name her establishment QTees.

The article goes on to say that, with the absence of a McDonald’s in downtown Burlington (Vermont’s largest “city”), and with the only state capital to not have the golden arches, Vermonters don’t really like fast food.  The author also found out that Vermonters are dead last in the amount of money they spend per person on fast food.  To me, this is no surprise.

In the 802, Vermonters (at least me) have come to dislike “chain” anything, especially when it comes to restaurants.  We don’t have a lot of fast food places, we don’t have a lot of chain restaurants, and frankly, the little independent eatery kicks butt compared to anything big and money hungry.  The food is fantastic, and a lot of the time it’s local–which is fantastic!

In a lot of small Vermont towns, residents still walk to the country store to pick up their milk, eggs, and the morning paper.  Some towns don’t even have broadband access!  In Vermont, there is an incredible desire to support the little guy, and not the huge conglomerate (that’s why farmer’s markets are so successful in Vermont).  For example, we were the last state in the nation to get a Lowe’s, granted we already had Home Depot, but we all know their service isn’t too fantastic.

I bring this mentality where ever I travel.  I always say to my parents (and they know it) that I much more prefer to eat at a local restaurant rather than stop at a chain just off the highway.  I support Vermont companies whenever I can, and this is the mentality many Vermonters carry with them.

So, it’s no wonder that we hate the fast food palaces, because, well, we are the healthiest state in America.  Go Vermont!

Have an opinion on this?  Let me know!

Michael, Owner
Eddie’s Energy Bars

Hi Everyone,

I am very happy for the weekend to be here. I had a full plate this week with midterms, and it continues partially into next week. It has been a very whirlwind week here at Eddie’s. We have had a lot of people contacting us about our energy bars, all the while Ed and Jeanne (our baking and distribution team) are in Mexico taking a much deserved break from the bakery.

The whole point of this post though is to let you all know that I was invited to be part of a panel of young entrepreneurs (all under 35) discussing how we started, and our challenges for the future at Champlain College. Here are the details if you are interested in going:

What: BYOBiz Young Entrepreneur’s Panel
When: Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
Where: Champlain College, Alumni Auditorium in Burlington, Vermont
Who: Hear four young entrepreneurs, Michael Adams (Eddie’s Energy Bars), Andy Rossmeissl (Brighter Planet), Steve Cleary (EESA), and Trevor Crist (Inntopia.com) tell their stories and share their experiences about starting and building their diverse businesses in Vermont.

Admission is free.

I hope to see some familiar Vermont faces!

Michael Adams, Owner
Eddie’s Energy Bars