Muscle Milk Racing Exit

A story about how Muscle Milk started and grew into a massive success, as told by Shaan Puri who heard it from his barber.

"My barber tells me this story about Muscle Milk. The family that started it lives down the street from me. They started back in 1998 when the founder bought a sub-brand from his employer. He named it Muscle Milk because he wanted to name it after mother's milk - after breast milk. He was convinced breast milk was the most nutritious food ever. That's not what ended up working, but that's how it started.

What's cool about this business is they built it as a family. It's Greg Pickett and his kids. They built it as a 'cul-de-sac company' - he lives in one house, the son lives in another house, his daughter lives in another house, all in one cul-de-sac. The kids play together, and they just built this behemoth that way.

Years later, Muscle Milk becomes a household brand and they end up selling it for $450 million. While building the company, the founder had this amazing hobby - he races cars. He created his own racing team and competed at Le Mans.

What's interesting is after the sale, they kept their flavor business separate. They have this flavor house called Flavor Insights where they do flavor technology, like spray flavoring that doesn't add calories. The whole family still runs this business together."