In 2010, as Katie Forrest was training for an Ironman World Championship race, she began experiencing chronic knee pain that doctors could not diagnose. She decided to try adjusting her diet to see if incorporating natural foods helped relieve the pain.

Forrest and fellow endurance sport participant Taylor Collins looked for products on the market that would help Forrest's knee and give her the energy she needed to compete but could not find anything that blended healthy foods and nutrients for healing and endurance. They brainstormed how to conveniently package their own health food for when they competed in sporting events, and the Cherry Walnut Crunch bar—Thunderbird Energetica's first bar—was born.

"We couldn't really find that convenient package, that clean-reading ingredient label in the market," Collins said. "We made Thunderbird to help fill that void in the market. ... And ultimately we made [the first bar] to help Katie promote healing during her rigorous training."

Since creating their first bar more than two years ago, Forrest and Collins have since founded Thunderbird Energetica, a Round Rock–based energy bar company that offers six varieties of flavored bars in grocery stores throughout the United States. Each bar is made in Thunderbird's Round Rock kitchen before being packaged and shipped.

Each Thunderbird bar flavor was developed through trial and error. Collins said he and Forrest would take base ingredients, such as fruit or cacao, and try different combinations until they came up with a unique taste that was not offered by any other bar on the market.

"It's kind of like being a mad scientist," Collins said. "There's a million brownie bars and a million fruity-flavor bars, [so we think], 'Let's start with a base foundation and only make it more unique from that point on.'"

Both founders also pride themselves in using only natural, organic products to create their soy-free, gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan-friendly flavors. Each bar is made with no more than nine ingredients, which are combined, formed into bars and dehydrated before being packaged in

100 percent compostable wrappers. Forrest said the biodegradable packaging helps keep Thunderbird a waste-free company.

While the bars were originally meant to provide raw energy for athletes, Thunderbird's demographic has expanded to consumers who are just looking for healthy snacks, Forrest said. Shoppers at H-E-B, Whole Foods Market, Natural Grocers, RunTex and other local businesses can now pick up the bars along with their usual groceries.

"Our biggest demographic is actually natural food eaters," Forrest said. "We have people who just want to eat healthy or moms who put them in kids' lunches."

In May, Thunderbird expanded its Round Rock facility to include a larger kitchen, office space and more warehouse storage. Collins and Forrest are also working to expand their product offerings with the Epic Bar, an organic, meat-based bar mixed with fruits and nuts.

Flavors

Each Thunderbird bar is 100 percent soy-free, dairy-free and gluten-free with no sugar added. Boxes of 15 bars can be purchased online for $32, with a sample pack including one of each flavor costing $12. Individual bars cost $1.99–$2.50 each at local grocery stores.

Cacao Hemp Walnut

Ingredients: Dates, walnuts, hemp seeds, cacao, cacao nibs, chia seeds, coconut

shreds, mint, Himalayan salt

Cashew Fig Carrot

Ingredients: Dates, figs, cashews, carrots, nutmeg, vanilla, Bolivian rose salt

Cherry Walnut Crunch

Ingredients: Dates, walnuts, cherries, buckwheat groats, sweet potato, cinnamon, tumeric, Hawaiian black lava salt

Hyper Hawaiian Crunch

Ingredients: Prunes, buckwheat groats, papaya, raisins, mango, pineapple, Hawaiian, black lava salt

Sweet Lemon Rain Dance

Ingredients: Apricots, cashews, cashew butter, quinoa, lemon extract, Himalayan salt

1700 Bryant Drive, Ste. 101, Round Rock www.thunderbirdenergetica.com, Twitter: @ThunderbirdBar