Jake (left) and Austin Page recently started selling their homemade workout supplements. Photos by Michael Thompson.
The launch of a new shop near VCU is helping give a Mechanicsville nutritional supplements startup its first boost into the traditional retail market.
Gym Flo, launched by brothers Austin and Jake Page, is now selling its products at No Limits Nutrition Center, a supplement store that opened this month on West Broad Street.
The Page brothers got started months ago advertising their pre-workout and creatine powders over social media.
Austin Page, a court researcher and part-time trainer at the Gold’s Gym on Laburnum Avenue, and Jake Page, an HVAC technician, mix their supplements in the Mechanicsville apartment they share. They got into fitness in 2010 as a way to help Austin recover from an automobile accident. They eventually found that they – and their budgets – were better off blending supplements themselves.
“We were tired of paying a ton of money for supplements from different stores,” Austin said. “The idea was just to make our own personal supplements just for us.”
They mix batches of caffeine, beta alanine, creatine and arginine to make the two supplements they sell. It took them eight months to develop their pre-workout blend. The other powder they sell is made only with creatine.
Gym Flo currently has a pre-workout and a creatine mix.
Austin, who’s also studying to be a paramedic at Reynolds Community College, said getting Gym Flo’s ingredients right was a matter of trial and error. He and his brother would try batches, observe the way they affected their workout performances, and tweak the recipes accordingly. Their only major hiccup was ordering a large batch of blue raspberry lemonade flavoring that didn’t taste like anything they could describe.
After getting positive feedback from friends, the Page brothers began bottling up their supplements, initially adorned with computer paper labels stuck on with packaging tape.
A 16-ounce, 30-serving pre-workout tub sells for $30, and a 60-serving 16-ounce tub of creatine costs $25. They come in five different flavors: raspberry lemon, strawberry orange banana, fruit punch, limeade and grape.
They’ve sold about 300 units so far, Austin said.
The Page brothers have put about $7,000 in the business so far, some of which went toward an upgrade on the look of their products to “make it more shelf-worthy.”
“It’s self-sufficient,” Austin said of the business. “It pays for itself.”
There are no Food and Drug Administration regulations on supplements. But getting blends verified by a third-party is a good marketing tool to stand out from the dozens of supplement brands on the market. Gym Flo will look to verify its ingredients once it has established a bigger following.
“People can put whatever they want in this stuff,” Austin said. “Our ingredients are pure – we don’t hide ingredients behind proprietary blends.”
Gym Flo began working with No Limits Nutrition after the shop’s owner heard about the supplement startup and reached out to the Page brothers. There are currently about 36 Gym Flo tubs on No Limits’ shelves. The store didn’t buy the product up front, but gets a cut of each sale.
Eventually, Gym Flo, whose tagline is “Party in the gym,” hopes to get on the shelves of other independent shops and build up its online sales.
“We’ve just been having fun with it,” Austin said. “We’re still going through a learning phase.”
Jake (left) and Austin Page recently started selling their homemade workout supplements. Photos by Michael Thompson.
The launch of a new shop near VCU is helping give a Mechanicsville nutritional supplements startup its first boost into the traditional retail market.
Gym Flo, launched by brothers Austin and Jake Page, is now selling its products at No Limits Nutrition Center, a supplement store that opened this month on West Broad Street.
The Page brothers got started months ago advertising their pre-workout and creatine powders over social media.
Austin Page, a court researcher and part-time trainer at the Gold’s Gym on Laburnum Avenue, and Jake Page, an HVAC technician, mix their supplements in the Mechanicsville apartment they share. They got into fitness in 2010 as a way to help Austin recover from an automobile accident. They eventually found that they – and their budgets – were better off blending supplements themselves.
“We were tired of paying a ton of money for supplements from different stores,” Austin said. “The idea was just to make our own personal supplements just for us.”
They mix batches of caffeine, beta alanine, creatine and arginine to make the two supplements they sell. It took them eight months to develop their pre-workout blend. The other powder they sell is made only with creatine.
Gym Flo currently has a pre-workout and a creatine mix.
Austin, who’s also studying to be a paramedic at Reynolds Community College, said getting Gym Flo’s ingredients right was a matter of trial and error. He and his brother would try batches, observe the way they affected their workout performances, and tweak the recipes accordingly. Their only major hiccup was ordering a large batch of blue raspberry lemonade flavoring that didn’t taste like anything they could describe.
After getting positive feedback from friends, the Page brothers began bottling up their supplements, initially adorned with computer paper labels stuck on with packaging tape.
A 16-ounce, 30-serving pre-workout tub sells for $30, and a 60-serving 16-ounce tub of creatine costs $25. They come in five different flavors: raspberry lemon, strawberry orange banana, fruit punch, limeade and grape.
They’ve sold about 300 units so far, Austin said.
The Page brothers have put about $7,000 in the business so far, some of which went toward an upgrade on the look of their products to “make it more shelf-worthy.”
“It’s self-sufficient,” Austin said of the business. “It pays for itself.”
There are no Food and Drug Administration regulations on supplements. But getting blends verified by a third-party is a good marketing tool to stand out from the dozens of supplement brands on the market. Gym Flo will look to verify its ingredients once it has established a bigger following.
“People can put whatever they want in this stuff,” Austin said. “Our ingredients are pure – we don’t hide ingredients behind proprietary blends.”
Gym Flo began working with No Limits Nutrition after the shop’s owner heard about the supplement startup and reached out to the Page brothers. There are currently about 36 Gym Flo tubs on No Limits’ shelves. The store didn’t buy the product up front, but gets a cut of each sale.
Eventually, Gym Flo, whose tagline is “Party in the gym,” hopes to get on the shelves of other independent shops and build up its online sales.
“We’ve just been having fun with it,” Austin said. “We’re still going through a learning phase.”