Two Florida Companies that Almost Crossed Paths...

     Foxtail Coffee Co. is a Florida-based company and one of America’s fastest growing coffee shop franchises. The company’s mission is: “to roast great coffee that guests can enjoy in an inviting and comfortable environment.” A coffee shop that began in a humble warehouse in Winter Park, FL in 2016, grew to have 56 locations in Florida and 3 locations in Georgia by 2023. 

     Dive Bar Nutrition is another Florida company who had a humble beginning in 2016. The company began when a Health Science Professor had a dream to create an energy bar that was part sports drink, part protein shake, and totally delicious. After trying dozens of recipes in his kitchen, and hundreds of hours researching micronutrition, physiology, and hangovers… The chewy, caffeinated, Dive Bar was born. Dive Bar Nutrition went from a warehouse dream to the biggest direct to consumer protein snack on the market. The Sarasota County based company holds the leading online protein bar title in 2023.

     In late 2019, just months before the pandemic, Dive Bar Nutrition and Foxtail Coffee were working out collaborations to carry Dive Bars in its very first physical store. The deal would have placed Dive Bar’s protein bars into all of Foxtail’s 20 Orlando locations, including the airport. Amidst conversations, the pandemic hit, which delayed all plans for Dive Bars to be available in physical retail locations. With the workout at home movement, came a 250% increase in demand for Dive Bar Nutrition. Suddenly, production had to be dedicated to the explosion of online orders. After going viral on TikTok, Dive Bar saw an all time high that carried on post-pandemic. 

(Increase in demand led to a need for larger equipment; a big change from the Kitchen-Aid mixer)

     Conversations between Dive Bar and Foxtail resumed a year later, in late 2020, and carried through the winter into early 2021. The two successful businesses couldn’t come to an agreement on pricing as well as the means of distributing the bars to the many Foxtail locations. This was one of two experiences that led Dive Bar to decide that the best route for them was to stay in the direct to consumer market; the other being a national convenience expo which led to empty promises and wasted labor hours. Instead of dreaming about what could have been, Dive Bar Nutrition ultimately made the right choice to stay in the ecommerce market. After all, MILLIONS of Dive Bars have been sold, no stores needed!