Phun Bar Is a Locally Made Way to Fuel Your Body for Fun

Jason Cartwright had grown tired of selling for others. The wine salesman and Wheat Ridge resident was looking for a new direction in life when, in the midst of the pandemic, a local parent told him about some trail bars that she made for kids.

“We made them; they were really tasty, and we started tweaking them from there,” says Cartwright. One night over a bottle of wine, he considered the possibility of turning the recipe into a business. “You know, everyone starts from zero."

The first step was coming up with a name. “My daughter, who was seven at the time, chimed in, 'Fun Bar!'" he recalls. The name stuck, though the spelling was changed to Phun Bar because of a naming conflict with an out-of-state company — but also because pH is something Cartwright is very familiar with. It's an important aspect of wine making, and in the food world, as well. “Growing up in the generation of 'That's phat’" was part of the name's inspiration, too, he adds.

Phun Bars are now in over thirty retail locations, and Cartwright also sells the bars directly on his website, mailing them to consumers. There are five flavors available, including Cherry Bomb, a coffee-, dark chocolate- and cherry-led bar, and Free for All, a vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free bar. There is also a Lemon Blueberry variety and the OG Recipe, which includes chocolate, cranberries, coconut and cinnamon, plus a CBD variant, which many believe helps reduce inflammation.
All Phun Bars are gluten-free and come in compostable packaging, something that costs a little bit more but is important to Cartwright. "It's the right thing to do," he says. The two-ounce bars are 300 calories apiece, with “plenty of slow-burning and quick-burning fuels,” he notes.

The process for making the bars is fairly low-tech. Cartwright toasts oats in order to break them down and make them easier to digest, releasing aromatics, as well. He then melts down butter, adding honey and brown rice syrup to the mix before adding in chocolate and other ingredients, depending on which bar is being made. Batches are made fifty bars at a time.

Cartwright originally made the bars in his kitchen under the Cottage Foods Act, but in order to sell wholesale, he needed to be in a commercial kitchen. “I sold wine to Satchel's on Sixth, a fantastic restaurant,” Cartwright says. “I gave [the owner] a few bars, and he said, 'Dude, these are great. We’re closed Sunday and Monday, come use my kitchen.'” After the city signed off on the plan, the kitchen became an official commissary.

Since launching, Cartwright has had an instant connection with runners and cyclists. With easy-to-understand ingredients, plenty of calories, compelling flavors and freshness you can only get from locally made food, it’s easy to see the appeal. Popular athletes like Jordyn Milbrath are using the bars, and Cartwright has retail clients from as far away as Washington state.
The company's focus this year is getting the bars in front of more eyes. To do that, Cartwright reserved booths at races like the Leadville Series, as well as CrossFit gyms and various markets.

His ultimate goal is to get out of the wine industry, which, he admits, he didn't get into on purpose. After graduating from Fort Lewis in Durango in 2003, he and his now-wife moved to the Highland neighborhood. He was working at the downtown location of REI when he sold a bike to an employee from Mondo Vino, a popular wine and beer shop. A few weeks later, he was offered a job by that same employee.

He’s been in the wine world ever since, doing everything from stocking shelves, to buying product, to selling wholesale. Sales isn’t necessarily something he dislikes; he’d just rather be selling his own product. Getting out of the wine industry hasn’t been easy, though. Cartwright’s current production capacity is about 700 bars per week, and he needs to hit that consistently to be able to focus solely on Phun Bar.

As he continues to build his business, Cartwright is grateful for his wife's support. She’s a teacher at the Denver Waldorf School, which is where he met the mom that told him about the trail bars to begin with.

Now, as he gets closer to realizing his dream, he reflects on the fact that he's already accomplished a lot. For years, he's been an amateur mountain bike racer, frequenting stores like Wheat Ridge Cyclery as a customer. "I thought, it would be amazing if Wheat Ridge Cyclery would carry Phun Bars," he recalls. "It turns out, they were wholesale account number one."

To order online and get more information on Phun Bars, including a list of retail locations, visit phunbar.com.