The Prelude to a Gum – the history of
Jolt Gum and GumRunners
The two founders of GumRunners, Kevin and T, set out to save the planet. They soon discovered most of the really good & useful ideas like "saving the environment," and "facilitating democracy, self-determination and a free press throughout the world," were already taken, so they moved to the "B" list which included caffeine-energy gum.
As the line of thinking went, if they could just give the U.S. Special Forces, Daniel Craig, and tax accountants working on April 14 more awake hours, then there would be more time for butt kicking, world saving and on-time filing to avoid unpleasant government intrusions. Kevin explained that, "From a business standpoint, the particularly good news was that even non-super heroes think energy gum is a pretty great idea."
Turns out it was almost as hard to create a good tasting, effective caffeine gum as it would have been to save the world. "Hey, we could have short-changed the caffeine-loving world like so many other marginally caffeinated gums and mints, and simply put a light dusting of caffeine in the product," said T. "But if we did that, then WE wouldn't even bother chewing our gum."
Kevin added, "We tasted other caffeinated products and they were…errr… nasty. We resolved we wouldn't sell a single piece of gum until our gum tasted good from the first minute to the twentieth."
So after 2 years, tests with 1,000+ consumers, and 43 failed batches of chewing gum, GumRunners is now able to offer you the word's first and only good tasting AND effective energy gum. 2 pieces of gum provides the energy/alertness boost of a cup of an energy drink or coffee. One piece = a "regular" cola. A pack of gum will energize even the most weary of crime fighters.
The you-must-really-care-if-you’re-still-reading history
GumRunners was initially an army of two. Kevin and T met while working at Colgate-Palmolive a few years back. T moved on to some other companies while Kevin stayed at Colgate. They both still use Colgate Total toothpaste because, according to Kevin, "12 hour protection is hard to beat, and equally important, we've still got toothpaste left over from shopping at the Colgate company store."
T went on to launch funky new children's shampoos at L'Oreal and then to lead the world of Frosted Mini Wheats (if you had any idea how many mini-wheats are actually sold in a year it just might blow your mind). Concurrently, Kevin moved to Central Europe and started a few new companies in a few countries for Colgate. Undoubtedly, Kevin's most valuable contribution was being the guy who launched the first anti-perspirant in Central and Eastern Europe. How do you top that? Answer: Energy Gum.
So, despite their having acquired offices with an impressive number of ceiling tiles, they both simultaneously pushed the ejector button to found GumRunners, the "world's most useful gum company."
Contact us
GumRunners, LLC
P.O. Box 201
Lebanon, NJ 08833
General Info and Product questions:
Info[at]JoltGum.com
Press and Media questions:
KevinG[at]GumRunners.com
Internet and phone order questions:
Orders[at]GumRunners.com
Become a retailer or distributor of Jolt Gum
GumSales[at]GumRunners.com
