Minimalist food bars have local flavor

There are fewer ingredients in a Caveman Bar then there are food groups, and that’s exactly the way creator Steve Lunde wants it.

Now five flavors in all, Caveman Bars are made of little more than nuts and fruit held together by brown rice syrup. There are no preservatives, no dairy products, and no flour. All but one flavor are gluten-free.

Lunde, from Edmonds, can testify to the nutritional value of the bars because each is made by hand and by him.

“There’s no dairy, no flour,” said Lunde last week. “The end product is extremely minimal. They’re like a cookie that will never go stale.”

A personal trainer in his 20s and former employee of QFC, Lunde first entered the nutritional health field making a sugar-free chocolate bar with his own company during the low carbohydrate craze of 2001.

“Every job I’ve had I’ve struggled,” Lunde admitted. “I wanted to start my own company and get into nutrition.”

Calling his operation a company may be a bit strong, however, considering the number of his employees is equal the number of his ingredients. Lunde develops the recipes and makes the bars while his brother Lars packages them Both originally worked out of their kitchen, but they now rent a commercial facility. Only one extra member aids with distribution outside of Washington.

Unfortunately, the chocolate bars didn’t last long.

“The craze lost popularity and so did the bar,” he said, “although I’m kind of glad it went down because it was hard to make. It was a great learning experience, though.”

While Lunde always had the idea for the Caveman Bar, it wasn’t until four years ago that his company actually put them into production. The goal was a nutritional bar with “no flour and no filler – just real basic ingredients.”

“A lot of other bars use a lot of products,” he said. “That’s great if it’s what you’re looking for, but it’s not what I was looking for.”

Lunde made an effort to create bars anyone could enjoy. Soy-free bars are available for anyone with allergies, as are bars made with Agave syrup cactus syrup) for diabetic customers. Lunde even claims his pecan oat and raisin bar is a no-flour version of his grandmother’s oatmeal cookie.

After months of development, including plenty of trial and error, Lunde began taking his completed bars to nearby farmers markets, including markets in the U-Village, Ballard, and Edmonds, where he lives.

“Edmonds has been great,” Lunde said. “My first accounts were in Edmonds, and the farmer’s market was a great way to promote the product.”

Lunde also met with many of the local store owners he’d known through life in Edmonds and work at QFC. The first local shop to stock his chocolate bars was the Sub Shop in the Westgate neighborhood, and now they are among the many Edmonds retailers to stock Caveman Bars.

“Most stores I sell to are independently owned,” said Lunde of his new role as vendor. “They don’t need to talk to a distributor and are allowed to control accounts. Managers call when the stock is out, saying ‘Hey, Steve, give me some bars!’”

Stores in Port Townsend, Seattle, Whidbey Island and even California now stock the bars.

Lunde is thrilled by the response to his Caveman Bars, but is unsure how large a company he wishes to maintain, and doesn’t wish to become “just another Clif bar.”

“There are not too many handmade products out there,” he said “From beginning to end, to packing and delivering, the whole process is hands-on, the kind of process that comes with a quality bar.”