Since starting JoJé Bar in 2016, Founder and CEO Jess Cerra’s mission has been to create a line of energy bars baked with real-food ingredients that strikes the perfect balance of taste and nutrition.
While the bars fulfilled this quest – delivering some of the best-tasting bars on the market by being baked like a home-cooked style soft cookie, while providing easy-to-digest nutrients and sustained energy for athletes and active people – Cerra was also trying to find a way to balance all of her life’s goals and ambitions, from being a founder and CEO, to a professional chef and instructor, a professional gravel cyclist and event organizer, as well as a journalist and TV correspondent.
Today Cerra was able to take a step toward finding that balance as RoadRunner Holdings LLC announced the addition of JoJé Bar to its portfolio of athlete-focused active nutrition brands. Cerra will become the Vice President of Product and Community Development for RoadRunner, working alongside RoadRunner Holdings CEO Mac Tillman.
“When I first spoke with Mac, I knew in the first 30 seconds that this was a good fit,” said Cerra. “I’d spoken to private equity firms in the past, but Mac and his team at RoadRunner were completely different. He presented something that was good for my life’s balance and good for the health of the JoJé Bar brand. It was clear that RoadRunner valued me as a founder, and created a plan that worked for me on a number of levels.”
Now Cerra can focus on the things she loves, the gravel cycling community, race organizing, working on diversity and inclusion in the industry, and being a mentor. And she gets to continue thinking primarily about the bars themselves and the communities they are made for, rather than the things that bogged her down in the past, such as finance and forecasting, and supply chain and distribution logistics.
“From both a product and brand values standpoint, JoJé and Jess are a perfect fit for us at RoadRunner,” said Tillman. “The bars deliver an uncompromising balance of taste and nutrition for active people, and the brand is all about creating a welcoming community. We want Jess to flourish as a founder and as an athlete, and more importantly as a person, doing the things she loves such as nurturing a cycling community that values diversity, equity, inclusion, and mentorship.”
JoJé Bar will join the RoadRunner team alongside SaltStick, which makes electrolyte products for people who sweat by providing the right balance of ingredients that perfectly replace the electrolytes these athletes lose, now sold in over 40 countries.
For more information, please visit RoadRunnerHoldingsLLC.com and JoJeBar.com.
About RoadRunner Holdings LLC
RoadRunner Holdings LLC is creating a portfolio of athlete-focused sports nutrition brands, including SaltStick and JoJé Bar. From the San Francisco-based private equity firm, American Pacific Group, RoadRunner hopes to build upon these investments by adding an array of wide-ranging, high-quality sports nutrition brands that activate an athlete’s potential for a healthy life through its products, people, and prowess. RoadRunner is committed to the development and support of a diverse, inclusive, and collaborative community of athletes, and sees a tremendous opportunity to bring the benefits of athletics and sports nutrition to athletes of all sports, skill levels, genders, geographies, ethnicities, and backgrounds. Learn more at www.RoadRunnerHoldingsLLC.com.
About JoJé Bar
JoJé Founder Jess Cerra baked what would be the first JoJé Bar back in 2010. Since then, little has changed. Not only does her commitment to creating a healthy and delicious energy bar remain steadfast, but she promises that what you pull out of the wrapper now is crafted with the same home-cooked style as that first batch pulled out of a tiny apartment oven a decade ago. JoJé Bars are for everyone – from the endurance athlete to the recreational enthusiast to the busy professional – all who rely on natural and real food ingredients to provide the fuel needed to conquer workouts and complete daily projects. Our promise: JoJé is the best tasting energy bar you will unwrap. Learn more at JoJeBar.com.
About American Pacific Group
American Pacific Group is a San Francisco-based private equity firm with $450 million of capital under management that pursues control investment opportunities primarily in North America. It focuses on complex businesses and transactions across sectors with a particular focus on technology. Together with management teams and in-house operating partners, American Pacific Group drives sustainable growth in its portfolio companies through the “Q Process”, a proprietary and proven approach to value creation. For more information, please visit www.americanpacificgroup.com.
