At TrailCon this year, the conversation around real food versus maltodextrin-based fueling felt different than in past years. We didn't get into many panels — we were manning the booth most of the two days — but the conversation on the ground, and what we heard secondhand, pointed the same direction: real food fueling is having a moment.
The shift seems generational. Runners in their twenties — twenty, twenty-five years old — are asking more questions about what's actually in their fuel. Many of them still race with performance gels; that hasn't gone away. But for training, for everyday runs, for long weekend miles, more of them are switching to real food options — honey-based, maple syrup-based, fruit-based, whatever fits.
We think this is still early. Our read is that the next three years will see real food options grow significantly in this space. And we're clear-eyed that we're not the only ones making this case — in Asia, we're one of a small handful doing this. In America, we're one of many. What sets us apart here is being the only one built around tropical fruit.
One thing we got reminded of, again, is that we need to tell our farm-to-fuel story better. It's one of the things that makes people smile when they hear it — sourcing only from farms in Vietnam, close to the factory. But it's also something we don't talk about enough or clearly enough. That's on us to fix.
Flavor reactions told their own story about how personal "clean ingredients" actually is. Passion fruit got strong reviews across the board. Kumquat honey splits people — you either love that honey note or you don't. Lime ginger is the same: ginger lovers are in, everyone else is out. Coffee cacao has what's basically a cult following among people who want that chocolate brownie flavor.
We also heard a clear request for energy chews — something Haribo-style for snacking on the move. Nobody asked about a powder, which, in a market already full of powders, tells us something too.
The bigger picture: clean ingredients matter more to younger runners than they used to, and "clean" doesn't necessarily mean "organic" — it means knowing what you're putting into your body and why.
More on this, and what else we learned at TrailCon, on the full Lecka Bites episode.