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Jennifer Maxwell and her new company JAMBAR
By Leonie Sherman
Jennifer Maxwellโs degree in food science, along with her athletic background, inspired the creation of PowerBar, widely considered the first energy bar. But itโs her passion and resilience that nurtured her six children after their father passed away and led to JAMBAR, a whole food bar that nurtures the body while contributing to her local sports and music community.
Maxwell grew up in Bolinas, the magical Marin enclave famous for removing road signs that might bring outsiders to their slice of paradise. In a glorious Mediterranean climate and a house without TV, being outdoors nurtured her imagination and body. She started running at an early age and competed in triathlons before enrolling at UC Berkeley, where she studied how food contributes to athletic performance, and met her husband Brian.
โTogether, we embarked on making PowerBar,โ Maxwell explains. โWe created an entirely new food category, there were no energy bars youโd eat before working out.โ They started in 1985, before she even graduated from college, fulfilling mail orders out of their basement. Their original clients were cyclists, runners, and other athletes, though as the energy bar market expanded so did their consumer base.
And their family. In 1988, Maxwell graduated with a bachelorโs degree in food science and married Brian. The next year they welcomed their first child; five more followed. โI love being a mom, it came really easy to me, but raising a family and growing a business, whew,โ Maxwell laughs. โIt was a very busy time.โ
Twelve years after starting PowerBar, they sold the company to Nestle. In 2004, just four years later, Brian died suddenly during a run. โHe had a congenital heart defect, and waited too long to get a valve replaced,โ explains Maxwell. She was left with six children, the oldest 16 and the youngest only seven months. The trauma of losing her partner was a shock to her entire system. โIt took me two or three years before I could function again,โ she recalls.
โI went to a lot of music concerts in the year after he passed,โ explains Maxwell. Music helped her transform the pain and loss. โDrums really spoke to me, so in 2007 I started playing. It took about 10 years before I got any good, but now Iโm in two bands.โ
โSo now Iโm a musician,โ reflects Maxwell. โIโve been a food scientist and athlete my whole life. Music and sports have both been coping mechanisms for me. Everyone needs some kind of an iron rod that protects their sanity, something to hold onto that keeps them grounded.โ
Maxwell decided to combine her twin passions into a money-making project that nurtures her body, her immediate circle of friends and an expanding group of athletes. โIโve created a business and a bar that promotes those things that saved me,โ Maxwell says with a contented sigh.
Six years ago she found herself in a situation familiar to many foodie athletes. โI was sitting at the kitchen table with my daughter lamenting that there was no energy bar out there I wanted to eat,โ she remembers. Like Goldilocks she found them either too sweet, or too processed, or too bland. โMy daughter pointed out that with my background I should be able to make something better than whatโs out there.โ
There at the kitchen table, the JAMBAR was born. Five years later, in October of 2021, they sold their first bar. Now JAMBARs are available at cafes, health food stores, bike shops and gift boutiques throughout California, as well as direct to consumer via their website (the company made a conscious decision to not sell their bars on Amazon). JAMBAR isย expanding to markets in Oregon, Massachusetts, Idaho and Florida. Maxwell employs 10โ15 people, many of whom sheโs known for decades.
โFifty percent of our profits go to music and active living,โ she explains. JAMBAR is a major sponsor of the California Jazz Conservatory, and donates money and bars to a dozen organizations, including a music school in Haiti, an after-school bike program, and the Tamalpa Runners Club. They are a title sponsor of the local mountain bike event, Ales for Trails, as well as the Cookout Concert Series,ย a music series held atย HopMonk Tavern in Novato.
โJAMBAR is all about education, performance, community involvement, getting people outside, the transformative power of music, helping kids learn to play an instrument โฆโ Maxwellโs voice trails off, lost in her own excitement. โBut at the center of our mission is a commitment to making a super high quality product.โ
That process starts with the highest quality ingredients. โWe use maple syrup, because itโs a live whole food. The available water in our bars is very low, so the shelf life is at least a year. And we use sunflower protein,โ she explains. โItโs super expensive, so almost nobody uses it, but it has very little flavor, almost no after taste, and a very high protein efficiency.โ
All of which means JAMBARs are expensive to make, but they retail for between $2.99-3.49, comparable to other high end whole food bars. โWe donโt gouge the consumer, we are a small private company and we will always remain private and relatively small,โ explains Maxwell. โThat allows us to maintain our focus โ being involved in the local music and sports community while making a high quality, tasty energy bar.โ
Food, of course, can be more than just what a person chews on. โPart of how we eat is philosophical, what do you want to put in your body?โ Maxwell explains. โI like to be close to nature, so I try to eat what is in nature, whole foods. That allows me to be more in tune with everything, including whatโs going on in my body.โ
Though she embraces health foods, she believes fixating on specific diets and excluding certain foods can lead to guilt, and reinforce shame and other negative feelings around eating. โFood should bring joy into your life and not guilt,โ she says. โYou want to focus on how food makes you feel.โ
The pure whole food ingredients of JAMBARs make a body feel good, and the knowledge that every purchase supports local athletes and musicians creates a positive feedback loop.ย Look for them in local stores throughout California.
MAIN IMAGE: Jennifer Maxwell is a lifelong athlete who started running marathons at age 13