All About Bars
We’ve been spending quite a bit of time over the last several months working on our MacaMania Bars. There’s a lot in the works: I have been developing a new, smaller bar and designing new packaging; we’ve purchased a Doboy Flow wrapper and my husband, Stewart, is figuring out how to operate it; and Hawaiian Airlines has picked our Original MacaMania bar to represent Kauai products on their Buy-on-Board program.
But let’s start at the beginning and I’ll tell you how I first came up with the MacaMania Bar
In the 1980s I made a bar using ground flaxseed mixed with water as a binder to hold all the seeds, nuts and oats together. These bars were sold on a square piece of parchmentpaper at the health food store in Hanalei, run by Michael and Mikel. I recall a day while making my delivery when Mikel complained that all the bars weren’t the same size. I had the audacity to point out what I thought was a great marketing strategy: the larger size was for someone really hungry, the smaller size for someone less so. The problem was that either size, they cost the same. Anyway, think very healthy with these first bars.
In 1998 I experimented with an improved recipe using Anahola Granola, brown rice crisp cereal, held together with honey, butter, brown sugar and dusted with crumbled macadamia nuts. The MacaMania Bar was born. My cousin, Mike Burns, came up with the name. Thanks buddy! Think very yummy.
Since then our sales have climbed steadily and now we sell over 2,000 bars each week. We have 4 flavors including tropical, mango ginger, original and chocolate chip. When we demo these bars at stores and the Made in Hawaii Show, I love to watch people’s faces light up when they take a bite of a MacaMania Bar. Many exclaim “these are really good!” The bars are big-2.5 oz. big and people tell me that they often eat a half of a bar. And that bar sustains their energy on a long bike ride or a hike or until they get a chance to eat a meal.
We’ve decided to develop a smaller size bar so they will be available at an lower price point for shoppers. At the same time I am re-designing the packaging. The bars will be in a clear package so the customer will be able to see what the bars look like. When you have a great product, nothing wrong with showing it off!
We bought a used Doboy Stratus Wrapper from our friends at Cougar Mountain Baking Company (if you ever fly on Alaska Airlines, you’ll recognize their cookies) and will be using it to package the bars. Our MacaMania bars will still be handmade, we’re just automating the packing process.
As of March, Hawaiian Airlines has partnered with Anahola Granola and are selling our bars on their mainland flights. This happened because the purchaser at Hawaiian Air came up with the ingenious idea to offer one local product from each island. Just think, you can buy our MacaMania bar when you get on board and enjoy a healthy snack or meal replacement before you get to the islands. Happy Flying with Hawaiian Airlines!!!
2 Responses to All About Bars
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Michael, So sorry for the lengthy delay. Our daughter, Malia, just got married on Saturday and we’re just getting back to taking care of business. Our products are wheat-free, but the Rolled Oats are processed in a mill that does process wheat products so our products can not be described as gluten-free. Thanks for you question.
Mahalo, BNecky
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Love the bars and just received my case of 24 that I ordered recently.
My friend needs to know if they are gluten free… can you please reply and let me know? Mahaolo from Sonoma County, CA