About ERG! Bars

Whether you’re an endurance athlete or an apologetically lazy person when it comes to packing yourself a lunch, you either know — or should get to know — ERG! Bars. The calorie-dense, pocket-sized bars are cold-pressed, minimally processed bars are worlds apart from the gooey, chewy mass-produced bricks you’re used to. That might be because they’re made right here in our backyard, using simple ingredients that you can spell, like apples, cherries, dates, and blueberries. Bonus: ERG! doesn’t use any corn syrup or processed sugars — only honey made by Sleeping Bear Farms’ bees. As for the taste, let’s say it’s like comparing apples to paste. ERG!’s 12 inspired flavor combos — Apple Ginger, Apricot P’Butter, Sunflower Fig, and Lemon Blueberry among them — are actually as good as they sound and, we suspect, will go even farther under the new ownership and imagination of world traveler Matt Dykema. The Great Lakes Culinary Institute grad, whose resume boasts some of Northern Michigan’s top kitchens (The Boathouse, Lulu's, The Good Bowl, 9 Bean Rows, The Cook's House … ), recently purchased ERG! from visionary founders Dennis and Katy Bean-Larson. Read their story