Honestly, we thought this would be easier. When we decided to create Bridgepeak Nutrition as a healthier snacks company, we figured we had all the ingredients we needed.

1. We had the right market in mind. Consumers are more savvy these days about nutrition and the health issues related to high sugar, artificial sweeteners and empty calories and they were looking for something more.
2. We had some great nutritionists and healthcare partners on our side to help us set nutrition goals for our foods and select natural ingredients that make foods healthier.
3. We had a personal mission that we have never deviated from: to craft natural snacks that would be great for everyone, including people with diabetes and pre-diabetes. As founders, our families had been personally affected by that condition, we knew it was all too common (one in three North Americans affected, and growing), and we wanted to create options everyone could enjoy, versus some of the sad looking choices hiding in the dusty corners of your local pharmacy that look like they were built in a lab sometime during the last century. Or so.
4. We were seasoned business executives, with close to a century of experience between us in packaged goods and healthcare. I’m not saying we’re old. Just seasoned.
5. We had a lot of great ideas about what kind of snacks would do well in the market.

It sure sounded easy … The four most dangerous words when starting a new endeavour!

Okay, three years later, we’ve come to recognize that in fact nothing this worthwhile is easy. In fact, that should probably be Bridgepeak’s motto. We could have made it easier for ourselves, but we would have had to compromise. We created snacks over the first couple of years that would have been fine to launch. They were nutritionally balanced, they tasted good and they were low glycemic. But they wouldn’t have been great, just more options in a sea of options already out there. At Bridgepeak, we didn’t want fine snacks. We didn’t even want good snacks. No, we wanted to craft healthier snacks that were truly, unquestionably great.

So, after long consideration, we settled on creating a new kind of chocolate snack first. Why chocolate? In it’s purest form (70% dark chocolate and above), it’s been proven in multiple studies to have serious health benefits – high in antioxidants, raises LDL and reduces heart disease risk, among other things. And while there are a lot of chocolate snacks out there, none of them offered what we wanted to create. The best tasting chocolate on the market. The most nutritious snacking chocolate available. And all made with wholesome, natural ingredients that have other unique health benefits. No compromise. Easy? Maybe not. But if you’re going to do something this important, like change how people snack, like making something everyone could enjoy, including people with diabetes, it’s worth doing right.

It’s been quite a journey launching Bridgepeak 70% Dark Chocolate Bark, but we’ve really only just started. Now there’s the whole getting to market thing, and then getting people to taste it. After that, though, the rest really should be easy. Because once you try it, we know you’ll love it.

Snack with Confidence!

Dan Johnstone
Co-Founder – Bridgepeak Nutrition Inc.