The story behind Phoenix BarsBuilt for people who need to eat more.
Most food is designed to help you eat less. I started Phoenix Bars at 23 to do the opposite: as many calories as possible in a small, soft bar that's easy to get down when eating is hard.
It started with one question
I started Flaming Phoenix in the third year of an economics degree at Exeter, after becoming fixated on a question I couldn't put down: what were people actually eating during humanitarian crises?
The answer, too often, was not enough.
I read everything I could find on calorie-dense food: field rations, expedition food, and what a body can actually process when food is scarce or eating is difficult. Then I sketched a product and took it to the aid agencies.
Their procurement cycles run for years and the bar for sign-off is rightly high, higher than I could clear at 23. So it went nowhere as a humanitarian product. What happened next changed the company.
The same problem, different rooms
Once I started telling people about the bar, I was introduced to people I had never thought about. They all needed the same thing.
Ultra endurance
Burning 6,000 to 10,000 calories a day and physically unable to eat enough to keep up.
Fuelling for ultras
Expeditions
Heading somewhere food freezes, melts, crumbles, weighs too much or runs out.
Expedition food guide
Low appetite
When a meal feels like climbing a mountain, and the question isn't what to eat but how to get enough in at all.
Ideas for low appetite days
Weight gain
Getting more calories in every day without forcing down bigger plates.
Weight gain guideMaximum calories. Minimum volume. Minimum effort.
In a format the body can handle when food is difficult. That became Phoenix Bars.
150 conversations before a single bar
I didn't design Phoenix Bars. The people who'd use them did. I built what they told me they needed.
I asked 150 people
Ultra runners, expedition leaders and people who find eating hard told me what their food got wrong.
Three years on the recipe
About 18 months of that went into keeping it soft at minus 45 without melting in desert heat. Launched in April 2024.
Shared with racers
Including a talk at a Marathon des Sables event. More than 50 MDS runners have used Phoenix Bars.
Still packed by hand
Every box is packed by me, and if anything's wrong, you hear back from me, not a support inbox.
Real places our customers have taken Phoenix Bars. Not affiliated with or endorsed by any event or organiser.
Phoenix Bars reviews: rated 4.9 out of 5 from 398 reviews
★★★★★Flaming Phoenix Bars featured as a star in my food supply for my recent South Pole expedition! Easy to eat, even at -45c.
★★★★★I normally struggle to eat solids during races but I found Phoenix Bars so easy to get down on the move and to digest.
★★★★★Phoenix Bars are helping me to weight gain prior to Everest next year, which is a big problem for me.
★★★★★Phoenix Bars saved the day when I was struggling with high-altitude appetite issues
A very personal company
This is still a very small company. I pack every order myself, and I read and reply to every email, usually the same day.
The goal is to build the best specialist food on earth for anyone who needs to get more calories in when something is making eating difficult. A race. An expedition. An environment. A moment in life when food isn't optional.
Not sure what would work for your situation? Write to me. I read every message.
James Frost, Founderjfrost@flaming-phoenix.co.uk+44 7990 519422
Fuel your next big effort
Most customers start with the Starter Bundle: 12 bars, two of every flavour, so you find your favourite. Gaining weight? Most choose the 18-bar Essential Bundle.
Get the Starter Bundle