A made-in-Manitoba energy bar was off to the Oscars last week.
Colleen Dyck, the Niverville farmer who created the GORP Clean Energy Bar was headed to Los Angeles, where her product was to be featured at a special trade show held at the Academy Awards.
Known as the Luxury Gifting Suite, the show participants were selected from Canada, the U.S and abroad and are showcased to 150 celebrities who visit the booths to see and sample the products.
Dyck was attending the show along with Manitoba Chef Peter Fehr of Gourmet Inspirations, where the two expected to meet and have photos taken with Hollywood stars. The photos can be used in marketing and social media, and presence at the show also offers opportunities to network with other retailers.
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Fifty companies are featured in the gifting suite. GORP and Gourmet Inspirations were the only two from Manitoba.
GORP bars are made from homegrown grains and other ingredients produced on the Dyck family’s southern Manitoba farm.
Dyck began developing the energy bar in 2005 while training as a triathlete. The bars were eventually picked up by companies like Mountain Equipment Co-op, and the North West Company and today are sold in 600 stores across Canada. They are also official team snacks of the Winnipeg Jets and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Dyck told reporters last week she was very excited about this opportunity and the potential it opens for her to start selling her energy bars in the U.S. too.
The GORP bar took the top prize at the Great Manitoba Food Fight of 2009.
Dyck today employs up to 20 full- and part-time staff, making energy bars in processing facilities located in the lower levels of the Dycks’ family farm home in Niverville.
GORP is an acronym coined in the 1960s that stands for “good old raisins and peanuts.”
