Mix1, natural drinkable fast food, on shelves

BOULDER – Take two beverage industry veterans, add a naturopathic doctor and $2 million, and you have a startup that develops natural, drinkable fast food.

Mix1 Inc. began distributing its nutritional beverage called Mix1 in October in King Soopers, City Market, Whole Foods and Wild Oats throughout Colorado, the product’s test market.

It’s also available in a number of Boulder Valley independents including Lucky’s, Pharmaca, Moe’s Bagels and health clubs including RallySport and Flatiron Athletic Club.

The founders – Greg Stroh of the Stroh Brewing Co. family and co-founder and former executive with Boulder-based Izze Beverage Co., which was acquired by PepsiCo Inc. in early October; Wes Brasher, who cut his teeth at Ben & Jerry’s and 7-Eleven Inc.; and Dr. James Rouse, host of “Wellness Wednesday” and “The Fit Kitchen,” which air on the local NBC affiliate, and “Living Well,” which airs on the CBS affiliate in Los Angeles as well as author of several nutrition books – started dreaming up the new business soon after Stroh left Izze about a year and one-half ago.

“When I left Izze, James and I had lunch to catch up. James wanted to know what I was going to do next,” Stroh said. “We felt the idea had legs. Coming off Izze, I felt we had the skill set to take this and go with it.”

Rouse developed the recipe for Mix1, which is available in 11-ounce plastic containers that don’t require refrigeration. It comes in four flavors: mango, blueberry-vanilla, lime and mix-berry. It contains a blend of carbohydrates, proteins and nutrients designed to maximize energy throughout the day.

According to the company, Mix1 contains the “ideal carbohydrate to protein ratio for sustainable energy” using whey protein. The 200-calorie-per-serving drink also contains 22 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, polyphenols, fiber and no lactose, gluten or soy, no saturated or trans fats and no preservatives, artificial flavors or colors.

“I used to have a restaurant while I was in medical school,” Rouse said, explaining his desire to create “really healthy things that taste good.

“Most of the (nutritional beverage) products out there aren’t natural or they are very high in sugar, especially the juice-based ones. I wanted to get the sugar down.”

Rouse said he knew he’d mastered the Mix1 recipe when his daughters, Dakota and Elli, told him they would drink it.

The company is working on new flavors; the most requested include chocolate and coffee, Brasher said. The main problem with those flavors, he said, has to do with achieving Mix1’s nine-month shelf life. “Essentially, there’s an acidity level we’re trying to achieve, and chocolate isn’t naturally an acidic flavor,” he said. “Acidity has to do with shelf life.”

The founders had no trouble raising capital to launch, Stroh said. “Our investors are a group of people both local and out-of-state, a really good group of friends and family that really believe in the product, ranging from venture capitalists to just successful businesspeople. We don’t have just one particular person or group.”
Mix1 is fully funded for the Colorado launch, and will raise another round when it’s ready to move to other parts of the country.

“This is your traditional test market,” Stroh said. “We learned a lot from Izze and other successful companies in Boulder County. It’s a great place to start a company.”

What’s not so traditional about the region, he said, is the level of education and physical activity of Coloradans. “Colorado will be the easiest to understand this: Here, people are on the go and most educated on health and nutrition. We hope to take the success we have here and then handpick markets to go into that will be a little ahead of other markets.”

Mix1 is manufactured and bottled in California because the company needed to find a third party that could handle the demands of the product, Stroh said.

Stroh isn’t sharing when he believes the six-employee company will be profitable, but he envisions Mix1 will ramp up quicker than Izze.

In order to pick up speed, Mix1 hired Todd Berg, a former brand manager at premium drinks business Diageo (whose brands include Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, Guinness and Baileys, to name a few) as vice president of marketing.

“I can speak first hand. My first year at Izze, I felt the world was on my back. But everyone here knows the beverage industry and is hitting the ground running. The fact that we’re in Kings Soopers and Whole Foods within the first month shows the confidence people have in the product and the confidence I have in our team.”

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