The Origins of the Clif Bar

"..Gary Erickson knows a thing or two about prosperity. He said he founded Clif Bar with $1,000 in his mother's kitchen in 1992 using her chocolate chip cookie recipe as the base. The company now does over $150 million of business per year.

Erickson said he was living in a garage in 1990 when the “epiphany” to make a better performance food bar came to him on a Bay Area bike ride.

“I was about to eat my sixth PowerBar of the day,” Erickson said. “I thought to myself, I can make a better power bar than this.”

..Erickson described how the company grew to the point where Quaker Oats offered $120 million for Clif Bar.

..He said Clif Bar has five bottom lines, “sustaining our business, sustaining our brands, sustaining our people, sustaining our community, and sustaining the planet.”

“It's not just about profit,” Erickson said. “Our employees mean everything to us.”

Among the innovative business practices Clif Bar employs are involvement in community projects, employee profit sharing, sustainability and green house gas reduction programs, 75 percent organic ingredients and holding events that promote these values.

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