BERKELEY, Calif. GU Energy Labs recently announced a donation of $15,000 to the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) through its GU Gives program. The donation came from a portion of 2018 sales of GU Energy Lab's French Toast Energy Gel, a flavor developed in a partnership with NICA Student-Athletes.
In early 2018, GU Energy Labs partnered with NICA student-athletes to create a new Energy Gel flavor. The student-athletes visited GU's Berkeley, California headquarters to learn about flavor science, nutrition and brainstorm flavor ideas. The French Toast flavor was created through this exercise, and students were also able to tour GU's production facility to see their dream flavor become a reality. To learn more about NICA's partnership with GU in developing this fun flavor, click HERE.
As part of the GU Gives program, GU Energy Labs committed to contributing 10% of all sales from French Toast to NICA to help grow middle and high school youth cycling programs across the country. The resulting donation from this program to NICA for 2018 was $15,000.
Nathan Horst, currently a college freshman, who participated in the project while a high school senior, reflected, "Being a part of the NICA/GU collaboration was super awesome as we got to see every step of the process from concept all the way to the production line. Knowing that a company is willing to dedicate a product to NICA, and then go further and allow current student-athletes to be a part of the process is fantastic. It was a special experience I won't forget. It's awesome to see the flavor in stores and be able to say, I had a part in making that flavor become a reality."
"We first got involved with high school mountain biking over 12 years ago," said GU Energy Labs co-founder and CEO Brian Vaughan, "and it's been truly gratifying to see the growth and reach of the NICA programs offered today. When given the unique opportunity to work with local student-athletes to brainstorm, develop, and launch our limited-edition energy gel flavor, the entire company got behind the project. Judging from our success, we believe that the future looks brighter when there are more kids on bikes."
NICA's President, Austin McInerny, stated "bringing NICA student-athletes into GU's product development has not only directly benefited our ability to expand our reach across America, but has, more importantly, provided student-athletes a unique opportunity to get 'behind the scenes' to learn about nutrition, food science, sports marketing and product branding. Similar to NICA, GU Energy is focused on helping individuals discover their ultimate potential both in sport and life and I am forever grateful for GU Energy's willingness to be creative with us to educate our membership on the importance of nutrition while also engaging the student-athletes in innovative ways."
