These Brothers are Building the First Latin-Inspired Endurance Gel

Welcome to another edition of Latino Owned, a newsletter for first gen and Latino entrepreneurs and creators. We have so many new readers, my name is Jonathan. I’ve worked with DTC brands and Shopify apps and just launched this community July 1.

It’s been so fun to interview founders and brands for these editions. Connect with me on Linkedin and Latino Owned on Instagram. Now for this awesome interview with Rayo! 👊

In this fast-paced world of endurance sports, most energy gels are copy and paste. Same formula, same concept…plain and boring. Rayo Energy is changing that with the best flavors, and a killer brand!

Brothers, Eric and Kevin Mendez were inspired and asked themselves, what if energy gels actually tasted good, and reflected our culture? 🇲🇽

From that thought, came a journey that would blend Eric and Kevin’s Mexican heritage, athletic background, and startup experience into a flavorful brand aiming to redefine endurance fuel, and change the market. ⤵️

From Collegiate Athlete to Startup Founder

Eric played Division I soccer at San Jose State, where 99% of his life revolved around the sport. But like many former athletes, life post-soccer, hit hard.

“I think myself and a lot of athletes end up hitting this culture shock or this identity crisis that hit me super hard,” Eric says. “As soon as I stopped playing I was like, great. I spent my whole life doing this, what happens now? What do I do now?”

That identity crisis turned into momentum. Eric eventually pivoted into tech, where he led and consulted sales teams at early-stage startups, helping companies go from zero revenue to $5–10 million, especially within the Shopify ecosystem, helping founders scale their own businesses.

Going for it - Chasing the Dream

After working and consulting other founders, Eric decided it was time to go for it. “I've always believed there's something else for me, outside of my corporate world,” Eric says. “I've built all these businesses for other folks, and I got to the point of saying, let me give it a swing for myself too.”

 “Whether it works out or not, regardless of that I'd rather give it a solid shot, than to live with the what if.

One day I was just riding my bike and I remember it being a really hot day and I took an energy gel.  I thought to myself, this would be a lot better if it was a cucumber lime or horchata, or Jamaica. That would taste super good right now. Then I went home and I just started Googling things,” Eric says.

Finding the Right Manufactures

Eric had no clue where to start. He started searching for manufacturers that could handle the unique gel-like texture with flavors all too familiar in the Latino market.

“I messaged probably 50 plus manufacturers. I didn't hear back from 90% of them, and the handful that I did hear back, were just like, yeah, we don't do that.”

Eventually, after a lot of persistence, Eric was introduced to a manufacturer that specializes in custom formulations. “They loved the challenge, and from day one, they’ve helped me dial in the flavor, ingredients, and overall formulation of the product.”

After 15+ iterations and nearly a year of testing, they had a product ready to go.

“I didn’t want to be that guy who’s been ‘working on something for four years. I just wanted to get it out, get feedback, and improve,” Eric says.  

Doubting if Rayo would Happen

Before finding the right partner, Eric doubted if this would ever hit the market. A similar wave all business owners go through. “It took us a year and I think once I had the first samples, that's when I started telling people hey, this is what I'm working on,” Eric explained.

“Then month 2, 3, 4, 5 would come, and they're just like, Hey, are you still working on that thing? Manufacture issues kept prolonging timelines where I thought, shoot man, is this even worth it?”

Launching Rayo

Rayo just launched a couple weeks ago, with their Horchata flavor energy gel. “It was a little bit of a slower start,” Eric says. “I thought, this isn't flying off the shelves. What are we doing wrong? Do people just hate it?

“My wife said to me, how could they hate something they don't have yet, just tweak some stuff and you're good, dude,” Eric explained. “So then it was tweaking stuff, just focusing on getting it into people's hands and continuing to get feedback.”

Eventually things started to pick up for Rayo, and Eric and Kevin are hitting a good stride now. “We're again looking at different things to test and continue just to get in front of people.”

Eric and Kevin work on Rayo while balancing family and both having full time jobs, often grinding on the weekends, after a run. 🏃‍♂️

The Balance of Culture and the Brand 🇺🇸 🇲🇽

Every latino knows the vibe of a good carne asada surrounded by family and friends. Eric wants to bring that certain vibe to the brand, a vibe that is engrained into Latino culture.

“I want to bring the carne asada vibe to the industry, and be able to highlight the things around our culture which are really hard to highlight,” Eric says. “The feeling of hanging out with your family and friends after a run.”

Rayo Energy is Just the Beginning

Eric envisions Rayo to be the go-to Latin supplement brand, and wants energy gels to be just the beginning.

“ I wanted to build that cult following of folks that are the diehard fans of us and start expanding from there. I want us to be the go-to Latin Hispanic supplement brand,” Eric says.

“So you could look at protein bars, protein powder, hydration and other types of supplements where we're bringing in the flavors of our culture and be able to harness that under one umbrella. Where if you want a hydration mix, protein powder, creatine,  energy gels, you're gonna come to us for that.”

Rayo plans to release three more flavors, including another caffeine flavor, and two non-caffeinated flavors. All while continuing to grow the brand and expand its customer base.

“This is for everyone, not just us. We want to get it in front of more people and try to optimize what that looks like. Does that mean more popups? More ads? More content? I'm not sure yet. We're testing a little bit of everything right now.”

Be sure to check out Rayo (they launched an awesome website this week) and give them a follow on Instagram. Don’t freak out when you see them become the next big brand in the market. 🔥 🙌

We’ve grown this community to 500 subscribers in one month. That’s huge! I just want to say a big thanks for reading and connecting with me. 🙌

I have been thinking of doing a content series. Send me ideas on what type of stories you want to read up on, or any specific business topics I should cover. Lastly, I have been super active on Linkedin, so connect with me there.