THE NOBLE BLOG

Out of Stock Again

2010-03-24T19:36:00.000-07:00

Why, you may ask, did I have to turn off online orders? We are just about out of stock on the last of our pilot run bars. I have enough left to supply our local stores (so you can still get them at Tacoma Boys and Dave's Meat and Produce). Well, we closed up shop on making the bars by hand here at our tiny kitchen. I have been in talks with our factory and various companies that will be producing the new Noble Bar packaging. The wrapper you have all come to know and love will be going the way of the Dodo. Our new wrapper will be a slick form-fitting type- basically like any other bar wrapper out there- same color and graphics as our old one, but I will have to severely edit the really cool stories on the back because we just won't have space. The bars will be in the new shape configuration-a fatter, thicker bar but still the same weight (Viking Cherry and Spartan Pear were bulked up to 65 grams each). The boxes are also scaled down in size.
This is pretty much the big push. The economy is in shambles and I am really rolling the dice on this one, as this government (my State of Washington and the Federal) are anything but business friendly, but we are going to push forward and have a huge amount of bars made and packaged. I'm not sure how I am going to swing my full time G job with trying to get NB out into the wild, but hey, no guts no air medals, right?
We hope to be back up and running in a couple of months. I am sorry if I have left some of you disappointed, but I hope you will be patient with me and Corey. It's just us stumbling through this. I thank everyone for being fans and ordering as often as you do. Check back periodically for updates.

BACK IN STOCK

2010-01-24T14:35:00.000-08:00

We're back in stock on fig, asian pear, pear and cherry. Website ordering will be tweaked shortly. Thanks for your patience!

Final Pilot Run

2010-01-18T19:44:00.000-08:00

We got the final pilot run of bars in today. Initial results: Asian Pear is right on the money. Cherry is excellent as well. I'm still testing out Centurion Fig and Spartan Pear. We should be back up and running on selling bars (online) in a few days. Thanks for everyone's patience! I'll let everyone know the final outcome.

OUT OF STOCK

2009-12-22T21:30:00.000-08:00

We're out of stock on all bars except Centurion Fig. We hope to have more after Christmas. We're finalizing the last pilot run which will replenish our supply. Keep checking the website for updates and thanks for helping us make this a great year!

Samurai Persimmon

2009-10-27T22:20:00.000-07:00

In honor of the frigid fall temperatures, and the fact that we still have a bunch of persimmons in the Noble Bar kitchen, we're going to do a small hand made run of Samurai Persimmon. I think we can squeeze out about 15-20 boxes or so. Pre-order while you can!! Same price as regular bars. You won't see these again for a while.
orders@noble-bar.com

Pilot Run 3

2009-10-12T22:41:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. We are doing a final pilot run. Hopefully it will be accomplished this month. After that, we will ramp up for multi-state distribution. In the mean time, our Asian Pear bars are still discounted. I will be bringing back the Persimmon and Apricot bars down the road- just have patience!

Second Pilot Run

2009-09-14T21:06:00.000-07:00

We're doing a second pilot run- this time just Viking Cherry. Hopefully this will work out the bugs and we can do one more run with Asian Pear and get it right. Stay tuned.
Also...we still have lots of "factory seconds" Asian pear bars available. Me, Corey and our kids went hiking to Mount Rainier this weekend. After a 2 hour hike, I tore into a factory second Kobukson Asian Pear bar. It tasted great. Just a little different than you are used to- so these are a steal at $1 each!

He Who is Brave Is Free

2009-09-11T19:56:00.000-07:00

We at Noble Bar honor the men and women who lost their lives 8 short years ago in the cowardly, unprovoked attack by Islamic fascists on SEP 11, 2001. May you terrorists who died on that day burn in hell forever. Those terrorists that survive and continue to plot our downfall, may your time on this earth end violently at the end of a rifle barrel in the hands of an American.

We honor our courageous soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines who have valiantly given their lives to secure our very freedoms. We honor these same men and women at arms who continue the struggle, sacrificing their fortunes, personal freedoms, and family life so that we may remain secure to enjoy the blessings of Liberty.

For this, your glory and memory will never fade.

Pilot Run of Bars and Initial Thoughts

2009-09-02T19:38:00.000-07:00

It's been a few weeks now since we've gotten the pilot run of bars back. I am happy with our factory's rendering of Spartan Pear and Centurion Fig. The cherry just needs some small fine tuning, and I don't think anyone will notice a difference (but I do. Then again, I have eaten A LOT of these things making them just right!)

Kobukson Asian Pear needs more work. I held off commenting on this because I wanted to try a good cross sample of the bars, just to make sure it wasn't that particular lot. But no, too much honey was added and thus, the taste of the Asian pear is lost (some bars the flavor comes through, but not enough to satisfy me). Mind you- it tastes very good still, but it's not the same flavor profile you will recognize if you have had one. It's a nice blast of rice, honey and walnuts. But you didn't buy a rice, walnut and honey bar...

So, I am pulling them from future orders- both online and at the various stores that order from us. I am taking a nice financial loss on this, but I can't put out an inferior product.

As I stated earlier, we have discontinued Samurai Persimmon and Han Dynasty Apricot as well.
I hope to have our factory problems worked out soon. Its been a very frustrating couple of weeks now. Please bear with us and if you got an Asian pear bar that you found disappointing, I apologize.

If there are customers our there that don't care and want to still get Asian Pear, I will make these factory seconds available at $1 each plus shipping. If interested, drop us a line at orders@noble-bar.com They will come in their silver unmarked wrapper.

Pilot Run of Bars

2009-08-15T15:38:00.001-07:00

Take a look at the photos. I opened a Kobukson Asian Pear bar and a pilot Asian pear bar for comparison (the factory made bar is always pictured below the the bars we make by hand). You'll notice the bars we had made are fatter and a little shorter. They will still have the same weight (except for cherry and Spartan Pear, which have been increased from 55 and 50 grams to 65 grams). The reason for the change is because the bars are made in a factory and are pressed into an extruder as opposed to me and Corey pressing them into individual tins by hand. Other than appearance and shape, the bars are the same- same recipe and quality ingredients.

Pilot Run

2009-08-12T22:25:00.000-07:00

I received word today from our factory that the pilot run was completed. They will ship the bars to the Noble Bar HQ tomorrow and they should be here by FRI. I will put up pix of the bars for you all to see (apparently they will be a little thicker). This weekend we will begin taking online orders again.

The pilot run and lack of bars

2009-07-28T21:46:00.001-07:00

Sounds like a bad movie title. So, as I have been alluding to for about a month, we have been ramping up for our pilot run with our partner factory. On Monday, I took a day of leave from the G and traveled down to our future manufacturer and delivered all of the stuff to make our pilot run. This will consist of 300 bars of each flavor (fig, pear, cherry and Asian pear- we are shelving apricot and persimmon, RIP). Our major supplier of figs ran out a while back, so I had to scramble to find another supplier. I managed to, but they were unwilling to sell me a few cases of figs for the pilot run. So...I had to spend some serious dough to supply us with our figs so I can get the pilot run done.
This has left some of our vendors in a bind, since we can't make our Centurion Fig and Spartan Pear bars, and they want 'em. Dave's Meat and Produce of Tacoma are ACES and agreed to give us more time. I fear we may lose a vendor who warned me once that the shelf space is a luxury, and when she calls, I won't have product to deliver. This is a terrible position to be in, but I must take responsibility as the CO of Noble Bar and, if I must, lose one of my cornerstone accounts.
I share this with you all because I want you to know what we are going through as a small company. This is certainly not easy. But I believe in honesty, integrity, loyalty and courage. I will always be honest with the fans and customers of Noble Bar, through good times and bad. No matter what happens, I promise I won't let you all down and will continue to bring you the best snack bar on the market.

I've had to suspend web sales due to this issue, but once we have the pilot run finished, we will be back in business. After that, we're moving forward with full production of our 4 top sellers. After that? Well, I'm planning to expand outside of the Northwest.

As my father once astutely stated, "No guts, no air medals."

Centurion Fig Goes Home

2009-07-01T21:46:00.000-07:00

A former co-worker of mine, who, for security reasons we will call Randy Quaid (cause he looks and sounds like him but about 25 years younger), was recently overseas in Europe for work and vacation. I told him prior to his trip that if he grabbed some photos of our Fig bar near the Colosseum, I would give him a prize of a free box of bars. Today I was summoned to Quaid's office (which is conveniently next to mine) and I saw the photos in all their glory. Pix look great!
We're ramping up for our pilot run of bars at our partner factory. More details to follow. Enjoy Randy Quaid's Ansell Adams-like masterpieces!

Big Changes Coming to Noble Bar

2009-06-21T10:14:00.000-07:00

In preparation for our move from our tiny commercial kitchen with a staff of two (me and Corey) to a major factory (a co-manufacturer), we've got some changes coming up. First, it's important for everyone to realize that this move is either going to make or break Noble Bar. This is it- the big dice throw, the "calculated risk" the bet it all on red- or was it black??

Noble Bar is going to be made on machines rather than by hand. The packaging is going to change as well- it will still be the same coloring and graphics, but it will now be a typical wrap packaging (like you would find on a candy bar or some other snack bar). Very form fitting. With those changes, it will be necessary to change the size of the display boxes- they will get smaller. The size of the bar will not change, but the shape may be altered slightly. I'm happy to say that the Spartan Pear and Viking Cherry bar will actually get BIGGER- both are 50 and 55 grams, respectively. They are getting bulked up to 65 grams. I had a sample Spartan Pear bar from the factory with the new formulation I came up with (basically more pears) and it was great. Very chewy, exploding with pear- you're all going to love it. Same with cherry- it's even better.

And with that said, we are dropping Samurai Persimmon and Han Dynasty Apricot from our first major run. Unfortunately, these are not our top sellers, and I can't afford to have pallets and pallets of each flavor sitting in a warehouse. We are going to focus on our remaining four flavors, as they always sell out.
I hope to introduce America back to the persimmon and apricot down the road. They will be available online until our stock runs out, and I plan on still outfitting our local vendors with them. If you are a fan of either flavor, you should probably order them while you can. I estimate we have around 40 boxes of persimmon left and 35 of the apricot.

The website is also going to get a makeover, and it will be a little more "martial" and realistic. I think you all will approve.

Thanks for sticking with us these months!
Dana

Summer finally made it

2009-05-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

A lot has gone on since I posted last. First, we are in the preliminary stages of having our bars made in a professional factory, which is very exciting. This means Corey and I will actually have our nights and weekends free again to be marauded by our kids, the zoo, and other things that parents do with young kids.

The temperatures have kicked up a bit here in Tacoma to a balmy 77 degrees, and I am loving it. Believe it or not, it really does rain just about every day here in WESTERN Washington (the West Side, Seattle/Tacoma/Olympia). The east side (wine country- Yakima, Tri Cities, Spokane, Walla Walla) basks in the sun (almost) year round.

Orders have tapered off quite a bit; could be the new Depression that the Media and Hussein Obama want us to believe is here, or it could be that people just don't have the time to fill out the order sheet online for our bars. Who knows.

I've had a lot of customers and fans of Noble Bar tell me they want a protein laden bar. Despite my protest at extra protein and the extra strain it puts on your kidneys, I am conceding the fact that many of you want more than the 3-5 grams found in our bars, so I am working on it. I also realize that some of you are allergic to all tree nuts, so in formulating said bar, it will be sans tree nuts (but filled with PEANUTS- we've traded one allergen for another).

Tonight, I am relaxing with a nice Don Pepin Cigar and some El Mayor Anejo tequila. BTW, I actually SAW Don Pepin at my 10-7 Habaneros Cigar Club meeting hand rolling cigars at the Smokey Joes bar in Fife, WA. Not only did I witness a master at his craft, but I got to enjoy a freshly hand rolled by cigar by Don Pepin! Amazing. You have not lived until you have had a freshly rolled cigar by hand. Don Pepin, THANK YOU FOR ESCAPING castro's CUBA!!!
Why am I telling you this? Because it was a vision of mine. In all of the days of my Army career (all four years, anyway), I always had a vision that kept me going- it was sitting by my own fire pit nursing a fine libation and a hand rolled cigar, basking under the orange and pink of a beautiful sunset and realizing that I am blessed to live in these great United States. It's worth fighting for, worth thanking God every day for, and worth dying for.

Everyone have a great weekend.

New Shipping Format

2009-05-02T12:57:00.000-07:00

Due to customer demand, the shipping has been revamped! You'll notice on the website that we have an electronic form that you fill out and email to us. This makes it easier in that we can save money by not paying for an online store and we can calculate the shipping rate for you. If you don't want to pay it, you aren't out any money. This was the best compromise I could find for shipping, and I think it will work well with everyone. So get to ordering!
Since we went with FEDEX, the rates for shipping single boxes have dropped to half, if not less.
We're in talks right now with a company in Oregon to mass produce Noble Bar. Other than that, we're still moving slow and steady. Have a great weekend.

Twitter

2009-04-04T12:27:00.001-07:00

Follow us on Twitter! A link will be posted near the Facebook page. Time to make a new batch of Spartan Pear bars. I managed to source organic pears for these ones. Enjoy!

Spring is here...sort of!

2009-03-28T09:45:00.000-07:00

The cherry blossoms are in full bloom around Tacoma and Seattle, though it is still gray, rainy and cold. Now would be a great time to order and enjoy some Samurai Persimmon bars, as the cherry blossom is featured prominently in our eagle's talons.

I've begun to ship via FEDEX now, but haven't been able to plug in the new totals into Paypal simply because they don't partner with FEDEX and there are too many variables. We're transitioning to a new online shop that will allow you to choose either USPS or FEDEX and the rate, but it has just taken more time than I anticipated. If you want to order more bars and want to cut down on shipping (like in half) you should drop us an email via the orders@noble-bar.com and tell us what you want, and then give us a business address to ship the bars to. FEDEX has a separate delivery service from FEDEX Ground (called FEDEX Home Delivery and it costs as much as UPS or the Post Office in some cases). I can then send you an e-invoice and you can pay with a CC.

I'm going to be traveling for a bit over the next week, so if you need bars, Corey will be here to fulfill them.

You'll notice the price of the bars went up $.05 each. This was necessary to offset the costs of the shipping boxes we had made so we could ship via FEDEX and cut the costs significantly. As I stated earlier, the Post Office provided free boxes for their shipping, but you were paying $10.35 for one box, which is just too high.

We're going to be crafting some surveys in the future and I would appreciate any feedback we could get from you all.

Everyone have a great week.

Demo #2 at Dave's & Shipping

2009-03-13T21:42:00.000-07:00

I'll be doing another free sample giveaway/demo at Dave's Meat and Produce, located at 1312 N I Street, Tacoma, on Saturday, 14 MAR from 1200-3P. Please come by! Of course, it will be raining tomorrow...figures.

Also, it looks like I have solved part of our shipping conundrum. I'm going with FEDEX in lieu of the USPS. Once I can get my hands on some custom size boxes, we will start shipping through FEDEX. I will be updating the Paypal site with the new shipping parameters this weekend. I think those of you who order one box at at time will see your rates drop by almost $3, which is fantastic.

One last thing concerning shipping. I just received a package back from one of our customers in New York City. For whatever reason, the Postal Service couldn't find his home. Please double check your address in Paypal to insure accuracy when ordering. I also noticed that the box the bars were in (the display box) was pretty beat up, even after I had placed in those air packs. All I can say is sorry if your box was a little thrashed. I'll add more packing material in them. Additionally, we also got two of our Freebie sample bars kicked back- I noticed they were as flat as pancakes. I want to let everyone know that the Noble Bars aren't made flat like a tortilla! They are about half an inch thick, so I think the automated letter sorters in the Post Office squished them. I just wanted to add that in case you did get one that was smashed and you may have wondered if that how we make them...the answer is no.

On an unrelated note, Heather from Diets in Review (www.dietsinreview.com) wrote up a very nice piece on her freebie Centurion Fig bar we sent her. Check out their blog and the article here:

http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/03/food-find-noble-bars/

Keep checking our Noble News section on the website. We're adding more links as people write or feature our bars.

Everyone have a great weekend. Battlestar Galactica is about on and I'm going to catch it.

Demo at Tacoma Boys

2009-03-10T21:03:00.000-07:00

My buddy Rico helped me demo the Noble Bar at Tacoma Boys grocery and butcher shop on Saturday. It was a lot of fun and a learning experience dealing with a bigger store with a larger, diverse customer base than at Dave's Meat and Produce, which is the small, friendly, everyone-knows everyone clientele. Shockingly, there were a fair amount of customers who DID NOT want to try the bar. Which is surprising, because when I go to Costco, the sample ladies can't give away the microwaved meatballs fast enough.

They had a couple other businesses sampling their products, one of which was a guy who sold fudge and caramel popcorn. Needless to say, it was a challenge to convince people to try our bars after a large hunk of butter, cocoa and sugar, but c'est la guerre.

I mentioned Rico. He and I attended college and Army ROTC together. He is very excited about Noble Bar's potential and has been helping me out in establishing new accounts in the Tri-Cities area of Washington.

Corey joined us briefly, but soon decided that she was sort of chopped liver and left (the space we had was somewhat cramped- it barely fit us). It was a successful day for Tacoma Boys though, as they sold several boxes worth of bars.

This weekend we will be at Dave's Meat and Produce again from 12P-3P. If it is a sunny day, Derek, the store owner, will probably have the grill up and running. You should stop in, say hi, buy a tasty, huge cheeseburger from them, and try a Noble Bar from me. See? Everyone gets something.

We're still looking at expanding our manufacturing process. Stay tuned on those developments. Also, I just about have the shipping issues resolved. I think with UPS you are going save about 2-3 bucks on shipping orders, and I hope that still entices you all to buy from us. I know times are hard and cash is lean, and I am trying my hardest to find a reasonable shipping deal for you all. Just to let you all know my logic, because it has come up, I used the Postal Service for a couple of reasons:
1. Free boxes for me to use (equals inexpensive Noble Bars for you)
2. Flat fee ($10.35 for one box, $13.95 for up to 5 boxes)
3. UPS and FEDEX were a couple bucks cheaper, but would take 7-8 days. Perhaps you don't mind waiting? The other comparable shipping option was the USPS Parcel post, which was 8 days and was around 8-10 bucks. I figured the flat rate would get you the bars in two days so there was no waiting.

So, that's the deal. Okay, Corey is calling for me so I need to go and package Viking Cherry bars. Everyone have a great rest of the week.

PS. Back from packaging the bars. Just wanted to add an update to our book reading list. Corey finished "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and loved it. She'll post about it on here later. She is now reading "In Defense of Food" by the same author. I am just about done with Clavell's "Whirlwind" which is about a group of helicopter pilots in pre-revolutionary Iran. It was written by James Clavell, the guy who wrote Shogun. I'm excited to begin "Atlas Shrugged." I enjoyed Rand's "The Fountainhead" and "Anthem." From what I have heard about the book, it sort of postulates what would happen if all of the movers and shakers in society (read entrepreneurs, scientists etc. not Hollywood) decide to pull up chalks and leave everyone else to their government handouts... Sounds like an apt tome to be pouring over in 2009.

Demo at Dave's Meat and Produce in Tacoma

2009-03-01T22:14:00.000-08:00

Corey and I spent 3 hours at a small, neighborhood grocery store called Dave's Meat and Produce. The owner and manager, Derek, asked us to demo Noble Bar for his customers and we were glad to oblige. It was a great time and I am pleased to say that Noble Bar was quite a hit among his shoppers. He sold out of Viking Cherry, Kobukson Asian Pear and Centurion Fig. Luckily, I had some extra samples on hand to replenish their boxes!
The thing that struck me most was that Derek knew so many of his customers by their first names. You don't find that too often in many grocery stores these days! If you live in Tacoma, you should really head over to their place. They were grilling burgers and brats on Saturday and Derek gave Corey and me a free burger- it was fantastic! They also have phenomenal guacamole. Please check them out. They are located at 1312 North I Street, Tacoma, WA 98403. We'll get their address added to our store locator ASAP.
Below is a pic of Corey at our demo stand. Notice the green fleece with our eagle logo? You can't read it, but it says SPARTAN PEAR under it. Kinda' matches the box. Okay, lame observation, but you get where I am going- we sort of live and breath this Noble Bar concept! Hope everyone has a great week. We hope to be doing another demo this weekend. Stay tuned.
PS
And for all of our new customers out there who have been ordering from us, thank you very much. Thanks for giving us a shot, and thanks for taking that exceptionally painful shipping bullet. I'm going to have different shipping options before the end of this week!

The lovely Corey.

Hi Dave from Texas!

2009-02-27T20:23:00.000-08:00

Okay, we have established that at least one person reads this blog, so David from Texas, here is a new post for you! You were the lone guy to respond to my posting last night. And glad you liked the Kobukson Asian Pear bar.

By the way, if you are reading this blog, YOU NEED TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE BAR!!!

I thought I would share some comments we have received from our discontinued Freebie program and some from our customers.

Carol from Tacoma writes, "Hi, I just purchased one of your bars and used it while riding long endurance cycling ride. Wanted to let you know it worked really well as a nutrition bar for endurance. I told anyone I encountered about it, as well..." Carol had the Han Dynasty Apricot bar, our gluten free, vegan friendly specialty.

Sam from Texas wrote, in regard to our Freebie, "...I hope the bar kicks as much ass as the ideas behind/names of the bars themselves. If so, my head might explode. If that happens I won't be able to buy any more bars. So I guess when it comes down to it you'd better hope your bars aren't too good."

Karen from...Virginia? writes, "I think your product is the best I have ever had. It is a natural for Whole foods..."

We thank everyone for their time in writing to us. Please keep the comments coming!

Also, for those of you who have ordered from us online, I would like to ask for your help in testing out some new bars that we have on the drawing board. They won't be in gorgeous, colorful wrappers. Probably a white plastic bag with my chicken scratch on it telling you what it is. But we value your opinions. Sort of a tease, but we have 4 new bars on the drawing board.

Now for some bad news. We have been really trying to find a business we can co-manufacture with here in Tacoma. It doesn't look like its going to happen. I might be forced to outsource the production of NB to Oregon or another State. While I am loath to do that, I want everyone to know that our goal is to break out of the Puget Sound area and go national. I want everyone to be able to enjoy Noble Bar from sea to shining sea. I want my friends and their soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan to enjoy the bars. In order for us to do that, we have to have the volume. Corey and I can only crank out so many bars at once. Only way to get volume is to get someone to make the things for us on a large scale.

Why am I telling you this? Because we value your opinions and want to keep you informed. Many of you have been loyal customers and you have decided to part with your hard earned money on our product, and we are forever grateful. We want to keep you as customers and continue to make a quality product. But we also want you to know what we're dealing with- you know, that whole "integrity" thing that we believe in and force our noble eagle to keep clutched in his beak.

Please keep ordering, but until we can get these made on a huge scale, don't expect them in your neighborhood coffee shop or Whole Foods anytime soon. But rest assured, we WILL BE. Hope to see some of you at Dave's tomorrow for the free sample/demo.

We're still working out the shipping dilemma as well.

Corey and I are going to take it easy tonight and watch Lost and The Office.

Does Anyone Actually Read this Blog?

2009-02-26T23:55:00.000-08:00

Or am I stroking my own ego thinking there are legions of fans out there awaiting the next exciting iteration of my battles with the mixer, food processor and packaging of Noble Bars? Not sure. Hopefully there are some that are reading the blog and you find it interesting, quirky perhaps, but also entertaining. Okay, enough of that sort of "Facebook" wall commentary.

Corey and I cranked out another 10 boxes of Centurion Fig tonight. To commemorate our victory over the ever obstinate, organic fig (they don't like to be hacked up by the food processor) I give you a picture of a victorious Centurion (he is posing after eating a Centurion Fig Bar and battling a barbarian horde rather than barbarian figs).

I seriously cannot keep these in stock fast enough. My sister, Misti, has been going on a sales spree out in Ohio. She nabbed four separate coffee shops as clients for Noble Bar. We'll get there info up on the store locater soon.

We're really looking at finding a larger manufacturer to start producing the bars. The demand does not let up and Corey and I are spending LOTS of time in the little factory we have. We want to find a local business in Tacoma that can crank out the bars en masse, but things aren't looking promising. I may have to look further south to Oregon. We'll keep you posted. One thing about Noble Bar is that our philosophy of courage, honor, integrity and loyalty will not waiver, and I am really trying to stick to the aspect of loyalty by keeping the bar made here in Tacoma. Hey, I want to be loyal to the businesses and people in Tacoma and keep jobs here if I can. So, if anyone out there is reading this and happens to live in Tacoma and knows a factory that may want to produce Noble Bar, you should really let me know!
That's it for tonight. Everyone have a great weekend and Corey and I hope to see you all at Dave's Meat and Produce for our Noble Bar demo/free sample handout from 1200 to 3 PM, Saturday, 28 FEB.

Hi. Happy Monday. For some of you, its already Tuesday.

2009-02-23T21:50:00.000-08:00

Corey managed to answer every single freebie email we received from potential customers. She did a great job! She is also the label mistress (we hand apply the labels to the wrappers) and manages to take care of both of our daughters while I am slaving away making the bars and working for The Man for the other 12 hours a day. We got our first order from outside the USA today, so we are excited as to what our new friend in the Netherlands thinks.
We're doing a demo this weekend at Dave's Meat and Produce in Tacoma on Saturday from 1200-1:30ish (1312 North I ST, Tacoma) so you can meet me and Corey and sample some Noble Bars. Dave's wants to carry Noble Bar and we're very excited to have them in stock there! Thanks Dave's!
Okay, well, I need to go and seal up the latest batch of Viking Cherry bars. Hope everyone has a good week and we hope to see you at Dave's.

Here is a random photo of me and Corey in Delaware at the beach a few years back. I had just graduated from some government training in Beltsville, Maryland, and she flew out for my graduation. I don't know if any of you care who exactly makes the tasty, addicting Noble Bar you have come to love, but we're the ones who do. So there you go.

For the Glory of Rome

2009-02-18T22:53:00.000-08:00

Our tasty Centurion Fig bars cooling on a rack. Corey and I just made 10 boxes worth. It's kinda' hard to see their golden color under the fluorescent lights, so I guess you'll just have to order some. Or, you could head over to Custom Smoothie (www.customsmoothie.com) if you are in Seattle and buy one. Custom Smoothie is a family owned business that makes delicious, nutritious shakes. I got an email tonight from one of the owners that the samples we gave them were quite a hit down at their Fremont store and more boxes were requested. We won't deprive anyone of the chance for a Noble Bar!

This jells into my previous post. If you have tried a Noble Bar and don't live in the Seattle area, you should really hit up your local market, coffee shop, smoothie store or where ever and tell them that they MUST carry Noble Bar! Why? Then you don't have to order a whole bunch from me (but feel free to!), you save money on shipping (we're still working on that issue) and you can get the NB when you are craving one. Makes sense, right? Plus it will stimulate the economy by you giving your money to your favorite business. They keep their doors open, give you what you want (such as Noble Bars) and everyone is happy. Trust me, this thing called capitalism and free enterprise really does work!

Stores and Freebie

2009-02-17T19:39:00.000-08:00

We're discontinuing our freebie program as of today. Why? Because I managed to get Noble Bar into a couple of local stores in Tacoma, WA. Rest assured- everyone that requested a free sample with get it- that is a promise.

Java Fusion is a coffee house that expressed interest in carrying Noble Bar. Well, they purchased 5 boxes from us yesterday and became our first commercial customer! My buddy Rico (we went to WSU and served together in the Army) accompanied me on various sales calls around Tacoma. We met with the dry good buyer for Tacoma Boys (a local full service butcher shop and fresh produce market) and she immediately agreed to order 6 boxes. So, fans of Noble Bar can now purchase the bars at those two locations. I'm also pleased to say that we approached a very high end grocery store that has locations in Tacoma and Seattle and our initial meeting with them was very positive. Things are ramping up very quickly! Below are pictures Corey took of our bars at Tacoma Boys.

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T16:53:00.000-08:00

Hi. Happy Valentine's Day. Hope it was a great one for everyone. I spent it making new bars for all of you who requested the freebie sample. So I hope you all enjoy it! I made a little heart from the leftover Samurai Persimmon batch for Corey and she really dug it. Then she chomped it.
I am sending out the samples tomorrow (Sunday, but getting them dropped off a the post office) and they are going super slow, so you'll get it in 5 days or so.
I'm waiting for the Rabbi who is going to walk us through the Kosher Certification process to get back to me. I think he is supposed to be back from Israel any day now.
For our customers and readers in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area, we are going to be featured in their Sunday paper under the "new, quirky" products section. We'll put a copy of it up once it is published (sometime in mid March).

I am going to have resolution on the shipping issue this weekend. I'm in the process of talking with my web mistress to embed a UPS shipping matrix into our website so you can choose your shipping options, rather that USPS.

I have one request from everyone out there- when you get your freebie, or if you are already a customer and you really like our bar, ask the coffee shops and other small grocery stores/ stop and robs/ yoga studios/wherever you live and frequent to carry us. Thanks again for everyone's support!

www.uncrate.com

2009-02-11T21:54:00.000-08:00

Uncrate (www.uncrate.com) is a website that I have been reading for a couple of years. Well, on a lark I sent them an email about Noble Bar and asked them if they wanted some samples and could possibly give me a review of them. Well, they went ahead and executed a very nice little write up complete with link to the website and a pic of our wrappers. THANKS GUYS! Our site traffic went up; we had over a 1000 hits on the website in a single day. I received about 200 emails from all over the Fruited Plain and from our friends up in Canada, our cousins across the pond in the UK, and the Philippines. Thanks everyone for your interest in Noble Bar and your desire for the FREEBIE! Of course, all of this broke while I was in Portland, OR, on an assignment for my "other" job (I work for the G). My Iphone almost melted constantly updating my emails received, and I couldn't respond back to individuals because the damn texting function is too small..
Anyway, I will strive to get those out to everyone over the weekend, but please understand that we had orders come in and I have to get those out first. I'm also going to try to respond to each email I received. It may be a 3 or 4 word response, but it's something!
Also, there has been some grumbling about the shipping costs, which is astronomical- and I agree they are jacked. Here's the deal- I was trying to make it really easy for people to order bars (say, at least 5 boxes worth) and it only cost 13 bucks via US Mail (flat rate). I did a cost comparison and found that the competition was within a buck or two so I went with the US Mail due to ease. Obviously, it is a turn off for some of you to pay half the price of the bars in shipping costs if you only order one box. I hear you.
Anyway, we are looking at UPS possibly taking over shipping and giving you, our beloved customer, the choice as to whether you want it delivered via light speed (two day) or carrier pigeon (5-7 ground) which should be less than what Uncle Sugar is charging you. Let me know your thoughts. Drop me a line at info@noble-bar.com.
Okay, gotta go make more Viking Cherry bars since we are OUT!!!

BEHOLD...the power of CHERRY.

2009-02-03T22:49:00.001-08:00

Tonight was spent making some additional Viking Cherry bars, one of our most popular bars. I took some snap shots of the bars as they cooled on the racks for your viewing pleasure. I also got a photo of our new wrapper (its not new per se, I just hadn't gotten around to taking a shot of them yet).
Anyway, Noble Bar is starting the year very well and sales are taking off. At this rate, I might break even by the end of the year! We'll see. But the word of mouth advertising with our customers has been phenomenal, and we really appreciate everyone's business. Currently, Noble Bars are being enjoyed by medical sales reps, nurses, moms, kids, military, doctors, IT professionals, Secret Service Agents, Federal Agents, pilots, police officers and hippies. We are an equal opportunity supplier!

You'll notice that the bars are not all uniform shapes like our competitors. Why, you may ask? Because we make them by HAND. Therefore, they aren't perfect, uniform, congealed bars extruded out of a large machine.
Someone asked me what the little yellow balls are in the bar. That would be millet. It's a very ancient grain that was quite popular (actually, still is) in Asia. Lots of good minerals, fiber and protein. A free bar to anyone who can guess how most of the world today uses millet! Email answers to info@noble-bar.com

The Boxes Have Arrived!

2009-01-24T12:59:00.000-08:00

Woohoo! Our display boxes arrived this week. Corey was at home and I was at my other job when I got the call. "Dana, the boxes are here. There is a huge truck." "Okay," I replied. "How do they look?" "I don't know. There are 7 frickin' pallets here the guy is offloading!"
Needless to say, I was very excited to see them, and I was not disappointed. Our box maker and printer did a great job on them and I know these will stand out on retailer's shelves. Let me know what you think!

Operation Mountain Lion

2009-01-12T20:21:00.000-08:00

Okay, the title has nothing to do with what is in this posting, other than I couldn't think of a catchy title and Operation Mountain Lion was the name of an actual combat operation that occured when I was in Afghanistan back in 2002. Seems like so long ago...ah, memories.

Anyway, this weekend was spent ratcheting up the production process. I cranked out numerous boxes of Samurai Persimmon, Asian Pear, Viking Cherry and Han Dynasty Apricot. The new labels are most definitely cool, and I promised that I would upload an example. However, for whatever reason, they don't want to upload correctly, so you'll just have to buy some. Sorry.

So, after getting the bars done, I dropped off a couple of boxes with friends who had made previous orders and took a bunch more.

I'm still longing for the day (sometime next week perhaps) when the display boxes will be finished and sent to the HQ. The whole process of getting them into the retailer's hands can't start until then. It's like waiting for Christmas when you're 10 years old and you hope Santa brought that special Transformer or Barbie. Or bb gun. Pick your childhood fantasy.

Allie, one of my daughters, is completely addicted to Noble Bars. Mind you, I'm not devious like some other companies who, in the past, put such harmless additives as cocaine, nicotine or caffeine in their products. But she absolutely loves them and would most likely devour whole boxes in a day, far exceeding her daily requirement for fiber (she is almost 3) and you can imagine the result that would bring...so, I limit her to one a day.

KOSHER UPDATE

I got a call back from a Rabbi who can help me out with the Kosher certification, except he is heading to Israel this month and won't be back till February. Hopefully he has a safe trip. It's a little wild over there right now...

I also received a call from an organization I had inquired with to obtain Halal certification. Needless to say, they wanted to charge me more money than I could afford for certification. I tried to explain that I have yet to make their requested sum in revenue and was hoping to pay far less. I was then told by the friendly lady that she would be in touch with me after she spoke with her boss. Haven't heard back from her. So at this point, I'm thinking the Halal idea might be a bit premature. Hey, I tried!

Clean Up

2009-01-07T23:21:00.000-08:00

I had planned on making some Viking Cherry bars tonight due to the demand for them (and I teased that on our Facebook), but we got swamped with new stocks of fruit and grain that arrived (finally). So, I began to unload some of the large containers that are holding the different fruits, swapping them out, cleaning them, sanitizing them in this electric blue like disinfectant that supposedly kills all known diseases (not that there are any here!) and restocking them with the new fruits and grains. And of course, I realize that I need more containers. This task took a couple of hours and so we couldn't crank any bars out.

I still need to do some additional cleaning/maintenance. Oh. And with this Biblical like rain and flood that has struck us for the second year in a row, I discovered a leak in our factory. The leak allows a single drop to hit whoever is standing at the sink cleaning utensils on the head. Slowly. Very reminiscent of the old water torture trick.
To top that off, our sink is leaking again, this time from the other compartment. The guy who installed it has already been out here to fix it once before. I am, as the French might say, le angry.

These are the joys of having your own small business, trust me on this one.

Do you sense my sarcasm??

The labels arrived and they look great. Sorry to tease; I'll post a photo later. Time to get some sleep. Lucky me-I get to battle traffic tomorrow heading up I-5 to Seattle. Why is it that if it rains, Washington drivers slam on their brakes. If they see a State trooper on the OTHER side of the freeway, they slam on their brakes. And if they see an accident...you get the idea. I'm ranting now. Catch you later.

Sherpa Proofs

2009-01-03T16:21:00.001-08:00

Yesterday UPS finally came through and delivered our display box "Sherpa" proofs. Since I am not in the box/packaging/design industry, I don't have a clue as to why they are named "Sherpa." Suffice it to say, though, our box designer (Rose City Packaging in Portland, OR) did a phenomenal job with the box printing. I'm happy to report that Noble Bar's display boxes will blast the competition away! I can't wait to get them out into the retailers. Not to worry, we will include photos on the blog when they arrive!

Our labels are en route as well and should be here on Tuesday. We've been printing the labels ourselves here at the HQ with our trusty Samsung laser printer, but it just doesn't hold a candle to an HP Indigo commercial printer. Our buddies at Lightning Labels did a great job with the proofs!

On a side note, Corey and I watched a CNBC show last night called "The Entrepreneurs" and it featured a duo in NYC that produce their own granola brand. They initially started in their apartment and wouldn't you know it, they are now carried in about 800 stores! Good for them. That is the American Dream in the making, and I applaud our brothers and sisters in the business community who have the skill and determination to succeed. Suffice it to say, it bolstered our confidence level in our own product and preparations. I've tried to anticipate and research as much as possible before starting this wild ride, and I think my planning will pay off.

There will be a slight modification to the website (a little more text) as we add a few more items to it (so Google can "see" our site a little better). Sort of a Lasik surgery procedure.

On a book related note, I finished Marcus Luttrell's "Lone Survivor" last night. It was a fantastic book. If you haven't read it, it is the story of a Navy SEAL team that was ambushed and cut down in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan. One man made it out alive to tell the story of his fallen buddies. In fact, the team leader, LT Michael Murphy was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Bush for his actions on that desolate, harsh range. These are the types of men and actions that we at Noble Bar hold in the highest honor. Check out the book- you won't be disappointed.

Corey was reading the Omnivore's Dilemma and was about 1/3 of the way through it. She asked me to get it renewed at the Tacoma library and when I did, they informed me that there were holds on the book and that it had to be returned. So, no book report for you!

Welcome 2009

2009-01-01T11:08:00.001-08:00

Thanks for checking out the Noble Blog! We ushered in the New Year last night with a little bit of champagne and a hope that 2009 will be a prosperous year for Noble Bar and our friends.

My name is Dana and I founded Noble Bar. My wife, Corey, helps me out with the production of the bars. Our 2 year old daughter devours them. Corey will also be contributing to the blog from time to time.

You've probably read up on our website, and so you know who we are and what we make. If you haven't, click the back arrow and read up on us!

COMPANY NEWS

Our new product labels and display boxes are en route to our HQ/factory. Due to the pummeling the Northwest took from the "Great Blizzard of 2008" (the media's name, not mine), UPS has been backlogged and thus, our labels and boxes are in the back of a UPS truck frantically making its deliveries to everyone ahead of us in the queue.

Closing out 2008, we begun the application process to have Noble Bar certified both as Kosher (for our Jewish friends) and Halal (for our Islamic friends). We'll keep you abreast on those developments.

We're excited to get Noble Bar into some retail outlets in 2009 and we've made some good headway with other small businesses in Seattle and Tacoma who have shown an interest in carrying Noble Bar.

We're looking forward to sending over some Noble Bars to our buddies currently serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq) and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan and the surrounding "Stans"). We salute our brothers and sisters in the Armed Forces who guarantee our liberty!