By Andrew Garcilazo, co-founder
Welcome to Hiker's Gold.
I'm Andrew, the co-founder. I'm also the person in charge of this thing. It's an exciting time, and I can't wait to see where everything goes from here.
As I write this it's July 2023. We received our first batch of Hiker's Gold energy bars a couple of weeks ago, and now the hard part begins.
It's taken quite some time to get here. After many years of planning and saving money, I officially co-founded Hiker's Gold with a pair of family members (aka my parents) in August 2022, making it a true family owned business.
I was aiming, perhaps naively, for a fall launch of our first product, an energy bar made from nuts, chickpeas and dates. After speaking with our manufacturer, I realized that timeline was way off the mark.
Months of samples and taste tests and packaging design has led to today. Almost a year later, we're finally in business. I've fulfilled our first orders, and the real work is underway.
Hopefully Hiker's Gold becomes a thriving, successful business someday. At least, that's the goal. What form that takes in the years to come is yet to be seen.
Right now, we're focusing on energy bars, specifically better-for-you energy bars. If those sell, maybe we'll add some trail mix, maybe an oatmeal or granola product, and maybe, if things go really well, freeze-dried meals.
The idea here is to make food products for hikers, backpackers, campers, and adventurers that are simpler, healthier and still taste good. It's not a groundbreaking idea, but I feel like it was one worth pursuing, despite the competition. The more healthy snacks and food products that exist the better, in my opinion.
It's also possible we could expand the site to sell foods products from other brands, becoming a sort of grocery store for backpackers and campers. I'm open to anything. Much will depend on business conditions and what sells and what doesn't. Ultimately, whatever keeps the lights on and the doors open is the path we'll take.
I plan to document this journey right here on hikersgold.com. Those of you who are interested can follow along, and maybe you'll even buy a couple of our energy bars every now and then.
For now, I'll leave it at that. Stay tuned for more updates in the near future.
To our customers now and in the future, thanks for supporting us. And to everyone reading, thanks for your interest in what we're building here!
You can email me any questions or comments at andrew@hikersgold.com or follow me on Instagram (@andrewgarcilazo).
