Gechijian1 — Sophie Gechijian

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Making Food Functional: Concord Native out to Transform Nutrition Bar Industry

November 7, 2019

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The Armenian Mirror-Spectator

294

By Rob Fucci

CONCORD, Mass. (Concord Journal) — Sophie Gechijian admits her first days as an entrepreneur were quite scary.

The Concord native, who works as an electronic trader in Boston, felt she could make a difference for those who crave nutrition bars. But without a background in business, she knew it could be a rough road.

“I decided to jump in and start teaching myself,” she says. “I’m figuring out every hurdle and challenge as they come.”

Those first hurdles and challenges happened on October 2018 when she launched her nutrition bar company, f(x) foods. Pronounced “function foods,” Gechijian said the goal is to make nutrition bars that “serve a greater function than just filling you up.”

The Concord-Carlisle 2012 graduate says it was hard to find a good nutrition bar on store shelves that met her requirements. She wanted a bar that was functional, tasty and healthy. She often searched for a bar that would fuel her brain, but those typically came away with an unappealing taste.

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“There are tons of bars on the market,” she says, “but no one seems to be satisfied with the current offerings.”

What’s that name again?

Concord native Sophie Gechijian is an admitted math nerd.

So when it came to time to name her nutrition bar business, she used that math background she honed as a student at Northeastern University.

“It’s a calculus term,” she says of f(x), which is pronounced “function foods.” “I was thinking about a name I wanted … the whole purpose was to have a snack with a better function than just filling you up. The math nerd in me wanted to spell it in the calculus way. I learned a lot of people don’t’ think that way.”

The explanation of the company name can be found on the nutrition bar packages.

The Armenian Mirror-Spectator

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Gechijian began making her bars in 2018 in her parents’ kitchen. During nights and weekends, she researched and experimented with ingredients, bringing in samples of her granola bar recipes to work for her coworkers to critique each day.

From there, she rented commercial kitchen space and now outsources production, which allows her to scale and grow her distribution.

Despite continuing to work her 8-to-5 finance job, she’s able to put in 25-30 hours for f(x) foods, which has allowed her to expand the business.

Her first product was Brain Food. She says it’s a soft and chewy bar made with just 11 ingredients known to fuel your brain properly. The main ingredients include almonds, dark chocolate and coconut.

Her second product is Heart Food, which is similarly made with only cardiac-friendly ingredients.

Her ultimate goal, she says, is to create a national brand and disrupt the nutrition bar industry.

“I am selling in over 20 places around Boston in companies, fitness studios, coffee shops, boutique markets and online,” she says. “It doesn’t feel like work because it’s so much fun to build my own company.”

To learn more about f(x) foods, visit https://fx-foods.com/.

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