Venice Beach, long known for its surfing culture, is now home to a new food product inspired by those who ride the waves: Carve Bar. The company launched in mid-March and is currently selling its first product, a chocolate chip cookie dough protein bar, on its website. Manufactured in Oakland, two more flavors of the Carve Bar are on the horizon, as is mass distribution in Southern California.
Scott Long, a former college-football-player-turned-surfer and health nut originally from Pittsburgh, cooked up the idea for the company. Deeply immersed in a surf-before-work ritual in Venice Beach, he often found himself looking for a quick breakfast. He noticed that most so-called “nutrition” bars weren’t as healthy as they proclaim themselves to be; some have as many grams of sugar (or worse, corn syrup) as a candy bar. Others contain sugar alcohols that can cause gastrointestinal distress. Many contain ingredients you probably couldn’t pronounce, much less digest. Even the less villainous versions of nutrition bars can have a grainy texture or an unpleasant aftertaste.
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Long thought he could do better, and recruited his wife, Tia, to experiment in their kitchen. They eventually created their own recipe, using organic and natural ingredients to produce a real food bar free from preservatives, GMOs, or gluten. Among them, cashew butter contributes good fat and boosts serotonin; cinnamon prevents muscle spasms and fights infection; whey protein builds and repairs muscle; honey boosts immunity and promotes healing; dark chocolate chips contain antioxidants and may contribute to heart health; and MCT oil, derived from coconut, improves metabolic rate.
Carve Bar Founder Scott Long
Not only was the winning version of the test bars nutritionally sound, it tasted appealing at room temperature or chilled. When heated in the oven or microwave, it became a muffin-like, guilt-free substitute for a hot chocolate chip cookie. Those who sampled the bar early on agreed that it had potential—but Long, who worked in the legal industry, couldn’t yet dedicate himself full time to starting a company. Then a mutual friend introduced him to Joey Adler, an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and former president and CEO of Diesel Canada, Inc.
“I tasted the bar. I could not believe how good it was. More than that, the passion of this young man was flabbergasting. I’ve been an entrepreneur all my life, I know someone passionate when I see them,” says Adler, now CEO of Carve. “You know that line, ‘I liked it so much I invested in it’? That’s truly my story.”
The name Carve came from a lifestyle philosophy as well as a surfing technique. “As a people, what we’re doing every day is trying to carve our own path,” Adler says. “We’re trying to live life to its fullest. We’re trying to eat right. We’re trying to be healthy.” In the same way a surfboard carves the water, fitness fanatics carve their bodies with exercise and proper nutrition.
Adler also brought her own motto to the company’s modus operandi: “Leverage what you do every day for good.” In Carve’s case, that means helping fellow surfer Colin Cook, who lost his leg in a shark attack, raise funds so he can get back to surfing with a prosthetic. When purchasing Carve Bars online, shoppers can opt to add a donation to Cook’s fund. Carve also created a “Baker’s Dozen” concept that donates one Carve Bar to a community partner for each 12-bar box purchased, and its team coordinates beach cleanups.
As for Long, he’s now living the dream of combining his two passions, food and surfing, rather than just toiling for a paycheck and using surfing to escape.
“He’s really created what I think is a revolutionary product,” Adler says. “This bar is for everyone. It’s not specific to extreme sports. It’s all part of what we consider to be the lifestyle of the future, which is living life to its fullest.”
