by DEEANNA HANEY
Intern Lifestyles Reporter

If you visit Foscoe’s newly established Boone Barr facility, Elvis will greet you.

“Elvis” does not refer to the performer, but the nickname of a vacuum-sealing machine.

The machine is just one element of a steadily growing student-owned business.

Since offering his first handmade product to BeansTalk Coffee House a year and a half ago, James “Jay” Parr, a junior sustainable development major at Appalachian State University, has watched his business expand and grow in popularity.

“I wanted something that was quick, that was healthy, that I could carry around with me and take hiking that wasn’t necessarily a Cliff Bar,” Parr said. “I couldn’t afford a Cliff Bar and I didn’t think they tasted that great, so I started making my own with different recipes.

Friends and family told me that I needed to start selling them. The first standardized recipe was the banana dark chocolate.”

The original flavor has since been most popular, closely followed by Vegan Carrot Ginger. 

Owner of BeansTalk Will Bryan was one of the first retailers to sell the energy bars.

“Next thing we know, we sold out of them again and again,” he said. “A couple of people use them specifically as lunch four or five days a week.”

Formerly known as Parr Barrs, Boone Barrs are essentially the same product that originated in Parr’s home kitchen in Foscoe.

During that time, they were only offered locally and each bar was individually sealed.

Now, the vacuum-sealing machine produces multiple bars in a bigger facility and markets them to 45 retail locations that reach as far as Florida.

After Parr discovered another company already copyrighted “Par Bar,” a name change was inevitable. 

Several potential names were discarded, including Bar None and Pure Bar, when the owner settled on “Boone Barr.”

“The funny thing was that in the beginning, everyone wanted me to call it the Boone Barr and I thought it was too simple,” Parr said. “But then we came full-circle and came back to it.”

Parr said it gives the company regional significance and something people can relate to.

With three employees, Parr is still able to produce each bar by hand, now twice the original size and packaged as ready-to-eat meal replacements or energy bars.

No sugar, starch, butter or artificial preservatives are added.

During the busiest of times, Parr produces 300 to 400 bars per week to sell at Appalachian.

The remaining 600 per week are packaged and sent across North Carolina to be sold.

In an effort to compete with similar businesses, Boone Barrs are beginning to find their way onto the shelves of larger stores, including Whole Foods Market.

“There’s a regional demand,” Parr said. “I don’t want to start shipping nationally, but a business is ever-evolving so it’s hard to say where it will go.”

Parr believes his time at Appalachian taught him how to incorporate environment, equity and economics into his business practices.
In an attempt to remain as sustainable as possible, the facility composts all banana peels and recycles all cans and plastic products.

Any paper used is shredded and recycled as packing material.

As a result, the business produces a single bag of trash each week.

Parr’s friend and fellow bike rider Jeff C. Martin testifies to the quality of Parr’s product.

“You get out on the trail, you get really hungry and you need something substantial that doesn’t have a bunch of junk in it because your body’s just going to reject it,” he said. “They are better than the store ones because they are fresh.”

Parr hopes to release a fall flavor containing cinnamon, raisins, pecans and apples from his own backyard and may one day make his own various nut butters to sell to local restaurants.

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