Two years in development, GU’s first solid food product will debut in early 2016. The GU Energy Sticks are small, 200-calorie whole food bars that are mostly organic and 100% gluten free. Two flavors will be offered at launch: Crispy Honey Peanut (organic dates, organic peanuts, honey, organic quinoa and sea salt) and Crispy Chocolate Almond (organic dates, almonds, organic semi-sweet dark chocolate, organic cocoa, organic quinoa, honey and sea salt). They’ll retail for $2.50 each, or a 12 pack for $30.
While the company’s founded on gels, they say solids can play a role in daily nutrition and during longer, lower intensity efforts. For everything else, the gels (and blocks and drinks) will still be the foundation of a quick energy and hydration strategy. For that, they have also launched a new 15-serving refill pack…
Long absent from GU’s offerings have been a way to cost effectively fuel longer rides. At about $2 a pop for single servings these days, this new multi-serving pouch unfortunately doesn’t solve that financial problem. It does reduce waste, however, so you can feel good about that. Retail is $30 and you’ll be able to choose from Salted Caramel, Strawberry Banana, Sea Salt Chocolate Roctane and Blueberry Pomegranate Roctane.
Debuting concurrently will be a new gel flask from Hydrapak that’s designed to work best with GU’s consistency. Now, if that were included with the refill pack, that price might make a little more sense. Look for these in stores in November 2015.
