Roll On Friday
A former Jones Day lawyer has left his legal career to launch a protein bar.
Lawyers seeking a new challenge isn’t a new phenomenon. But instead of inventing an ergonomic potty or becoming a pet psychic, Marcus Greet has quit his job as a junior associate to launch his protein-confectionary business, Halcyon, on Kickstarter.
Greet said he had an “unconventional” route into City Law: he lost both of his parents as a teenager and was a carer for his dad in his last months before he succumbed to cancer; he was kicked out of both his aunt’s and a family friend’s house; and said his “most impressive” grades at school included a G in GCSE Welsh and a U in AS-level Sports Science.
“I somehow made it into a non-Russell Group university to study law. My attendance was appalling and grades mostly average,” said Greet. But he committed to do a Masters at another uni, and subsequently managed to bag a training contract at Jones Day.
However, not long after qualifying as an associate at Jones Day, Greet took the plunge to start Halcyon. He told RollOnFriday that he’d been thinking about starting his own business for a while, and it dawned on him that “there probably wouldn’t be a better time to start my own thing than after qualifying: I wouldn’t ever be younger and with fewer responsibilities than at that point.”
With an interest in fitness and being “slightly obsessed with eating well”, he was aware that “a lot of gyms were looking for healthier protein bar options”.
“The traditional options are loaded with ultra-processed ingredients, and the emerging ‘clean’ alternatives I’ve tried aren’t as healthy as they claim or taste like compromise at best”, said Greet.
He went about making healthy snacks in his own kitchen, and tried to perfect a product by making “nearly 1,000 batches before locking in the first three flavours”.
The former Jones Day lawyer said that he wanted to create snacks that are “reminiscent of our favourite sweet treats whilst also using real ingredients”, adding “the fact that each bar has more protein than most widely available options is an added bonus”.
To save money to launch the business, Greet has been looking after people’s cats while they are away to avoid paying rent. The Kickstarter launched this week, and he’s already had an early win as JAB Boxing Club in Victoria has started stocking his bars for sale after a trial.
RollOnFriday put the snacks to a taste test in a FIFA World Cup (non-approved) knock-out format, judged by its resident protein bar consumer and chief whey taste-tester:
https://www.rollonfriday.com/news-content/exclusive-ex-jones-day-associate-swaps-law-protein-bars
