Hitting the wall

BoldRush protein juice was a remarkable discovery. It was shelf-stable and made from real fruit and vegetables. It contained 10 grams of protein and worked extremely well to support endurance and recovery before, during and after grueling athletic events. It substituted for food, tasted good, and was not-too-sweet. Kids weren’t crazy about it, but there are some definitely hooked adults in the Yukon.

It was tricky to make. It required a delicate balance of time, temperature and pH. We used a special “heat stable” whey protein isolate that was made in the United Kingdom. The food scientists at Vitalus in Abbotsford helped us understand the tolerable ranges for this specialty product that was in late stage R&D. The protein could only take a high temperature for a short time prior to bottling, otherwise it would “take off” and turn to jelly. The pH also had to be closely monitored in the product formulation stages.

The Food Development Agency in Manitoba was helping us scale up production from 50 to 1000 units per batch (see post “Powering Up”). There were challenges with foaming while mixing and a slight burning while heating, but most importantly, they couldn’t fill the bottles fast enough at the right temperature without exceeding the time limits imposed by the nature of the protein powder. Of course, money and better equipment could have alleviated this problem.

However, the problems of money, equipment and batch sizes paled beside the risk factor of only having one supplier of our key ingredient. For a while last year, it was only being shipped by container to North America every four months, and once we had to air freight bags from the UK for our continued production and scale-up requirements.

Unbeknownst to us, global forces were at play in the dairy and whey business (it’s not all honey and fun). Vitalus announced a “joint venture” with DNV, a division of the Dutch food giant, Campina last October.

Now I’m not sure of the nuanced differences between a takeover and a joint venture, but the small division of Campina that partnered with Vitalus boasted 583 employees to Vitalus’s 40, and turnover of $518 million compared to Vitalus’s $35 million. Campina, the mothership, counts in many billions. Not exactly partners on equal footing. Campina had obviously been making moves in the dairy and whey industries from Argentina to NewZealand, and then with Vitalus, North America (see acquisition history).

We were informed that the supply of our ingredient would be halted for a while since the UK plant would be producing pig food instead of our whey protein product. Later we learned that sales of the heat stable product were not significant enough and they felt the product was too expensive for most players in the beverage industry. Of course, they were in business and just following the profits. We had enough protein on hand to see us through until spring.

We pursued alternatives and experimented with other protein products all winter, but to no avail. Still we kept our fingers crossed regarding DNV’s promise of new plant construction and that the heat stable product would be produced again in March 07. However, last month we learned that the ingredient BoldRush depended on would not be produced — not for the North American market, nor in Europe. We have been unable to find a clear, heat stable protein James can get to taste good. In short — we are hooped.

It’s been hard. This would have been our third Yukon River Quest with BoldRush paddlers (we are giving our remaining bottles to Pauline Frost-Hanberg as she goes out to break the mixed record this year). We have withdrawn our sponsorship on all other levels. So sad. Sponsoring people and events with such a great product has been the best of fun.

This is where it started two years ago — Jenny and Su finishing the River Quest in Dawson City — endurized by BoldRush!

It’s been quite a trip !