The two Montreal triathletes who went vegetarian, then built UTMB's endurance fuel from cricket protein in a kitchen

A kitchen, a cricket, and a question about protein

The story does not begin on a shelf. It begins on a triathlon course. William Walcker and Minh-Anh Pham had raced at the Triathlon World Championships and were doing the math most endurance athletes eventually do on their own diets. Both wanted to cut meat out of their training without losing the protein density a heavy training block demands. They went looking for an alternative and landed on cricket protein, a complete protein with a fraction of the land and water footprint of livestock.

In 2016, Walcker started making bars from cricket protein in his Montreal kitchen. The acronym they chose for the brand, Näak, stood for Nutrition for Adventurous Athletes who run Kilometers. The first bars were not a marketing concept. They were a working answer to a question two athletes wanted answered for themselves.

The cricket origin is the part of the Näak story that gets written about most often, and that is partly the point of this paragraph. Cricket protein was a real engineering choice, not a novelty. It is also no longer the whole story. As the company grew, Näak added a plant-based protein line that now sits alongside the cricket SKUs. If you read the ingredient panel on a current Ultra Energy bar in the Peanut Butter and Chocolate flavour, you will find pea protein isolate, soy protein isolate, and brown rice protein concentrate carrying the protein load, with cricket protein available on a separate set of SKUs. The pivot is not a rebrand. It is a brand that adjusted to what its customers wanted on the bike and on the trail.

“Made by athletes for athletes.”

What they actually make

Ultra Energy bars. The flagship. Roughly 200 calories per bar, 27g of carbohydrate, 7g of protein, and a stack of electrolytes large enough that Näak puts the milligrams on the front of the wrapper. The bars are formulated to a 4:1 carbohydrate-to-protein ratio, which is the working ratio for sustained endurance fuelling. Current flavours include Peanut Butter and Chocolate, Berries and Nuts, Banana and Chocolate, Chocolate Almonds, Caramel Macchiato, and a Mocha bar that adds 65mg of caffeine for the late-race grind.

Energy waffles. Soft, thin, easy on the gut at race intensity. These are the SKU you will most often see in a UTMB aid station.

Hydration and Ultra Energy drink mix. Powders mixed into a bottle for fluid plus carbohydrate plus electrolytes. Näak puts the macro breakdown on the label rather than burying it in a PDF.

Energy gels and purees. Single-serve formats for athletes who do better with liquids than with chewing at race pace.

Recovery protein powders. Sit-down nutrition for after the session, available in both plant-based and cricket-protein formulations.

Apparel and accessories. Smaller adjacency line. Not the centre of the brand.

The product page for each SKU lists ingredients, allergens, and macronutrient profiles in full. Näak does not lean on superlatives. The packaging reads like a spec sheet, which for an endurance reader is the right register.

The UTMB partnership, and why it matters

Most independent food brands do not get to sponsor a sport. Näak does. In January 2026, the company extended its partnership with the UTMB World Series through the 2029 season, taking on the role of Official Premier Partner and on-course sports nutrition and hydration supplier. At UTMB races in the United States and at the UTMB Mont Blanc finals, the aid stations are stocked with Näak Boost Energy Drink Mix, Boost Energy Gels, and Ultra Energy Waffles. That is a four-year runway of athletes eating Näak product at the moments their performance is most exposed.

The athlete roster carries a similar weight. Ultrarunner Courtney Dauwalter, who has won UTMB, Hardrock 100, and Western States 100, signed with Näak through the 2029 season. That is the headline endorsement an endurance brand spends a decade chasing.

A note on the wider category. Ironman racing in 2026 leans on different official suppliers, and we are not going to claim Näak in places it does not belong. The story here is UTMB and trail-ultra, where Näak is doing the work.

The provenance and the certifications

Production is anchored in Canada. Näak is a Certified B Corp, accredited in 2021, which puts a third-party audit on its environmental and labour claims rather than leaving them on a marketing page. The investor base is heavily Quebec-rooted. The 2023 pre-Series A of $3 million was led by Walcker and existing backers, with a $750,000 contribution from the Government of Quebec through the Impulsion PME program, alongside earlier support from Futurpreneur, BDC, and PME Montreal. The August 2024 Series A added $5 million in fresh capital from Investissement Québec, High Flyers Capital, Nàdarra Ventures, Kaloma Capital, and PME MTL Centre-Ville. Total disclosed funding sits in the neighbourhood of $7.3 million, which is small enough for the company to still feel founder-shaped and large enough to support international expansion.

Canadian-made here is provenance, not a marketing claim. It is the supply chain. The closest parallel in our series is the Calgary brand Stoked Oats, another founder-led, Canadian-grown endurance-adjacent line covered in Maple Made #021. Stoked Oats fuels the breakfast table. Näak fuels the race.

How it compares on the bar shelf

If you are a runner or a cyclist standing in a specialty shop in 2026, the Ultra Energy bar is competing against a fairly narrow set of products. GU, Clif, Maurten, and Honey Stinger are the most common shelf neighbours. Näak makes a different bet than any of them. Maurten is a hydrogel-first brand built around a single carbohydrate technology. GU sits in the chew-and-gel zone with a long sport-nutrition history. Clif aims at a broader mass-market positioning. Honey Stinger leans on the honey origin story. Näak sits between the engineering-led brands and the food-first brands, with a bar that reads more like a clean-label snack than a sports-science product. For a reader, that often translates into better gut tolerance on long days, with the caveat that gut response is individual and the only reliable test is a training session, not a label.

Categories and positioning reflect publicly listed information on each brand's site as of June 2026. Pricing intentionally omitted because it varies materially by retailer. See the live product links below.

What people are saying

Where to actually buy it

The most reliable path in the United States is the Näak NA storefront and a small set of specialist retailers who serve the endurance audience directly. Each link below goes to a live product or collection so you can add real fuel to your cart without hunting:

For the full range, including gels, hydration mixes, and recovery powders, browse naak.com. The Näak storefront on Amazon is the path of least resistance for first-time US buyers. Availability varies by retailer and region, so the direct site is usually the fastest way to check what is in stock today.

Bottom line

Näak is the proof that a Canadian endurance brand can earn the most scrutinised aid stations in the sport on the strength of the product, not the marketing budget. Two Montreal triathletes started with a question about protein, answered it in a kitchen, and built a B Corp that now fuels UTMB through 2029 and Courtney Dauwalter on the trail. The bars are the easy sell. The decade of patient sourcing, certification, and athlete partnership behind them is the part worth studying. If you want to try it, the Ultra Energy Bar in Peanut Butter and Chocolate is the place to start.