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Tony Lammers is an endurance athlete, but he's "not a very good one."
The 58-year-old -- who has been a prominent executive at seven companies, including a stint of almost five years as the CEO of MAR Systems Inc. -- is much less modest when it comes to Boom Nutrition. The company, whose brand assets an investment team led by Lammers and partner Mike Cousino purchased in late 2013, has "cracked the code" when it comes to producing energy gels that taste much better than the competition's, Lammers said.
Carb Boom Sports Nutrition Inc., which was founded in 2000, developed Carb Boom! Energy Gels, a fruit-based, high-carbohydrate product that, according to Lammers, had a "cult following" among endurance athletes. By the time the company shut down a few years ago, it was based in Toronto and had "totally lost its way," Lammers said.
A group of seven investors -- five of whom, including Lammers and Cousino, are based in Northeast Ohio -- relaunched the company as Boom Nutrition and began selling its signature product, the Carb Boom! Energy Gels, early in 2014.
Last November, Boom Nutrition became the official energy gel of USA Triathlon -- a critical step for a company that has a very specific customer base in mind.
"He or she is an endurance athlete who races, and races is a pretty important component of it, in events of two hours or longer," said Lammers, who is Boom's president and CEO.
Athletes who do so -- specifically, those who compete in marathons, half-marathons and triathlons -- train quite a bit and tend to be very vigilant when it comes to what they put in their bodies.
To reach those customers, Boom has had a simple approach.
They sponsor as many...