About
Quest Nutrition is a company founded in El Segundo, California, in 2010 by Tom Bilyeu, Ron Penna, and Mike Osborn. Quest is best known for its line of protein bars. Since then, it has branched into food categories such as low-carb, high-protein chips, and pizza. Quest products are available across all 50 states of the US and in over 90 countries worldwide.
History
Quest Nutrition is known for having rapidly grown, in part due to its use of social media. Based on revenue of roughly $300 million, the private equity firm VMG acquired a minority stake in the company, valuing the company at approximately $900 million. In 2022, it was sold to the Simply Good Foods Co for an estimated $1 billion. MarketWatch lists Question Nutrition as a key market player in the protein bar sector.
Tom Bilyeu, the founder, has spoken about growing up in an obese household and having been motivated by health to create a protein bar that avoided high sugar content. In doing so, Quest protein bars make use of whey protein and isomalto-oligosaccharides (IMO) instead of other more commonly used protein bar ingredients. Though these seem to have contributed to Quest’s taste profile, others have criticized the ingredients.