Our Story
Two guys walk into a bar…
Just kidding. It was more like one guy in a freezer section. Bear Naked’s founding finance boss (aka chief financial officer), Tom Spier, ran across a pretty interesting product in early 2009, so he gave his pal Brendan Synnott a ring.
“Brendan, you won’t believe these frozen burritos,” Tom said to Brendan. “They’re actually good. Like, for eating.”
“I LOVE burritos!” Brendan replied, just back from filming Survivor: Tocantins. “Who doesn’t love a good burrito? Tell me more.” Brendan, founding partner of the wildly successful Bear Naked, was looking for his next soon-to-be wildly successful natural food brand.
Phil’s Fresh Foods, Tom explained, was responsible for these all-natural, made-from-scratch burritos of deliciousness.
The guys got curious pretty fast and tracked down the man behind the eponymous brand, Phil Anson. Like many hip brand foremothers and fathers, Phil began as a subsistence entrepreneur. Selling homemade burritos out of a cooler to fellow climbers in Colorado’s Eldorado Canyon provided Phil with the means to his desired end — living the glorious life of a hardly employed climber. But, as is often the case with entrepreneurial types, Phil was so good at making those
extra tasty burritos, he ended up with a legitimate business on his hands.
Ten years and a few million burritos later, in walk Brendan and Tom.
The ingredients list was impressive, including humanely and sustainably raised meats and proteins, hormone-free cheese, delicious fresh produce, and traditionally made tortillas. With rad recipes like green chilé for the pork to stew in, and house-made chorizo, Brendan and Tom couldn’t help doing double take.
“How in the heck can you sell a burrito with all this natural, made-from-scratch deliciousness, for $2 freakin .99?” asked the boys from Bear Naked.
And Phil said, “I may not be 20 anymore. And I may have a mortgage and an amazing wife and a brand-new baby boy, but I still have my climber values.”
Brendan took a look in every nook and cranny of Phil’s operation, and all he saw was awesomeness — inspiring, nice folks making natural products with tasty ingredients. Add to that Phil’s dogged commitment to running things green. From the extensive composting to the compulsive recycling, you might say Phil was a little zero-waste obsessed.
So Brendan and Tom kumbaya’d with Phil until a merging was met in the spring of 2009. After a little reflecting on the essential nature of all this burrito love, the new brand — EVOL Foods® — was born.
Today, countless burritos, bowls, flatbreads and pizzas are rolling off the EVOL line, with new outfits and new names, and a growing team of happy folks ensuring they get the very best.
Don’t be surprised if you start seeing EVOL in your best friend’s freezer, wrapped in foil at yo mama’s house or on your officemate’s desk, enticing you at lunchtime.
EVOL Foods. Now with countless EVOL plots to change your world…