Why they win
Our strategic read on the brand: the founder, the launch, the voice and the idea it owns, and how it differs from the commodity players in its category. This part is opinion built on linked public sources. It is not part of the Brand Tested Score.
The RXBAR guy came back with one rule: don’t be fragile
Peter Rahal cofounded RX, the egg white bar with the ingredients printed big on the front, and sold it to the snacking giant now called Kellanova for $600 million (Food Dive, Aug 26, 2024). He’ll tell you the lesson wasn’t the exit. When keto took off, RX was caught on the wrong side of the trend. “That was a vulnerable position and it was hard for us to adapt,” he said. “In the strategy with David, I’m building a business that is less fragile in the face of trends” (Food Dive).
So he picked a macro instead of a diet. Protein isn’t a fad you can wake up out of. The brand is named after Michelangelo’s sculpture (Food Dive), and the parent company is Medici Brands, after the family that paid for it. That’s a founder telling you the size of the plan.
One bar, sold direct, then every aisle at once
David launched direct to consumer with a single product, the 28g protein, 150 calorie, 0g sugar bar, and has since moved into frozen dessert and ready-to-drink shakes. The company says it’s now in more than 35,000 retail locations, including Walmart, Target and Costco, and on track to pass $300 million in revenue in 2026 (Medici Brands, Sep 2, 2026). Early backers named at the seed round included Peter Attia and Andrew Huberman (Food Dive), and Huberman still shows up on the homepage as a “David partner.”
The real moat is under the label. Medici owns Epogee, the company behind EPG, the plant-based fat substitute that lets the bars hit those numbers (Medici Brands). That turns David from a bar into a platform: the same playbook now runs HallPass, a 70-calorie candy line that went nationwide at Walmart on Aug 30, 2026 (HallPass release), with a third brand, Rowdy, planned for later this year (Medici Brands).
Black, gold, and a little bit of a gym bro, on purpose
The look is a museum at night: black backgrounds, a serif wordmark, gold and bronze bars. The copy is short and a touch smug in a way that works. “Protein has a new bar.” “Bodies deserve David.” “Discipline never tasted so good.” It talks to someone who already counts macros and is proud of it.
What we like: Two named experts with real bios, not a wall of logos.
Source: davidprotein.com, Oct 10 ’26
What we like: Creator clips with a Shop Now under each one. The voice, said out loud by customers.
Source: davidprotein.com, Oct 10 ’26They made protein per calorie the only number that counts
Most protein bars lead with grams of protein. David picked a fight with the calories that come along for the ride. The homepage chart, “Designed for protein efficiency. Nothing else.”, puts its Gold bar at 75% of calories from protein and Bronze at 53%, next to Built Puff at 49% and Barebells at 40%, named right there in the footnote. That’s the one idea they own, and they’re confident enough to name the competition on their own homepage.
What we like: Their rivals, named in the footnote, on their own homepage. Few brands are willing to run this chart.
Source: davidprotein.com, Oct 10 ’26The pack setup keeps it simple. Every carton is $39 for 12 bars, Gold means 28g of protein and Bronze means 20g, and the offer is one sentence: buy four cartons, get the fifth free. David walked onto a shelf already full of names like Clif, Kind and Quest (Food Dive). Instead of out-shouting them on grams, it sells a ratio.
Fresh money, a sister brand, and new flavors on the homepage
On Sep 2, 2026, Medici Brands raised a $250 million Series B at a $2.25 billion valuation (Axios Pro), co-led by Greenoaks and Valor Equity Partners (Medici Brands). Its sister brand HallPass went nationwide at Walmart on Aug 30 (HallPass release). As of Oct 10, the store is live, the bundle builder takes orders, and the homepage is pushing shakes and a limited Pumpkin Spice bar.
Why now: a $2.25 billion valuation on Sep 2, 2026 (Axios Pro) makes David the protein brand every founder in the aisle is studying, so its storefront is worth a close read.
The storefront, screen by screen
What our dated captures of the live storefront show. This is the part the Brand Tested Score is built on.
The bar is in the page heading. The hero is selling shakes.
David’s value prop scored 91, and the reason is simple: the page heading in our capture is the whole product, “High Protein Bars - 28g Protein, 150 Calories, 0g Sugar.” Nobody has to guess what this is.
What a first-time visitor actually sees, though, is the first slide of a rotating hero: “Drink David.” and a pair of bottled shakes. The bar promise shows up in later slides (“Protein has a new bar.”). New products deserve a push, but I’d keep one fixed line in the hero that says 28g, 150 calories, 0g sugar, because that’s the reason people came.
Worth noting: Shakes up front, and the ticker underneath carries the proof. The bar’s numbers aren’t on this slide.
Source: davidprotein.com, Oct 10 ’26One offer, said the same way everywhere
The offer score came in at 82, and it’s earned. The top bar says “Add any 4 cartons to your cart, get 1 FREE.” The homepage bundle block says “Buy 4 cartons, get 1 free.” The bundle page says “Buy 4 cartons and get your 5th free.” Same deal, three places, no fine print fight. Their consistency score of 90 tracks with what we saw.
What we like: A clean nav. Store locator is up here, but buying direct is still the main path.
Source: davidprotein.com, Oct 10 ’26
What we like: The offer in three short lines and one button.
Source: davidprotein.com, Oct 10 ’26Every card carries the macros, so nobody has to click
The Shop All tiles split the store into bars, shakes and pints with big product photos. Then the best seller row puts calories, protein and sugar on every card, plus the price and the count: $39.00, 12 bars, 150 calories, 28g protein, 0g sugar. For a buyer who shops by numbers, that’s the whole decision on one card.
What we like: Four doors into the store, all photo led.
Source: davidprotein.com, Oct 10 ’26
What we like: Macros, price and count on the card. The shopper never has to open a product page to compare.
Source: davidprotein.com, Oct 10 ’26The reviews are back on the homepage, honest ones included
Proof was David’s weakest area when we scored it, 64, mostly because our audit couldn’t find a review count. The Oct 10 homepage has moved: a ticker says “19,000+ positive reviews,” and a row of review cards, dated Oct 8, sits above the footer. I like that they didn’t cherry-pick. One card says the vanilla frozen dessert was “A little bitter.” Real reviews read like real people.
What we like: Dated cards with the product named on each. Reviewer names blurred by us.
Source: davidprotein.com, Oct 10 ’26The page that takes the money has the least proof on the site
The Build a Bundle page is a nice piece of design. Nine flavors in a grid, Gold and Bronze tabs, “Add to bundle” on every card, a “Pick for me” button for people who can’t decide and a counter that says “0/5 Selected.” It makes a $156 order (four paid cartons) feel like a game.
Worth noting: Smooth to use. No stars on any flavor card, and no review count anywhere above the footer.
Source: davidprotein.com, Oct 10 ’26There’s one new piece of proof here, a “Verified safer products” badge from Light Labs. When we scored David, our audit flagged that its third-party line didn’t name a lab. Now one is named, right in the panel. Good fix.
What we like: The Light Labs badge sits right in the bundle panel. Put the star rating next to it.
Source: davidprotein.com, Oct 10 ’26On a phone, it’s fast and it’s all black and gold
The phone homepage fits the logo, the category chips, the shake hero and the button on one screen, with the review ticker peeking in at the bottom. The bundle page starts with “Build your bundle.” and the Light Labs badge before the first flavor card.
What we like: Category chips under the logo get a phone shopper to bars in one tap.
Source: davidprotein.com, Oct 10 ’26
What we like: The bundle builder works on a phone. The stars are missing here too.
Source: davidprotein.com, Oct 10 ’26A grown-up stack behind a simple store
Their tech stack scored 92. Our scan picked up Stay AI for subscriptions, Klaviyo for email and its forms, Yotpo for reviews, Superfiliate for referrals and creators, and Elevar for tracking. That lines up with what the store does: the creator videos, the email and SMS signup in the footer, the review cards. Yotpo is already there, which makes the next move a settings change more than a project.
Worth noting: Email and SMS in one toggle. We saw no popup in our captures, so this footer is the main signup.
Source: davidprotein.com, Oct 10 ’26Huge respect to the David team. They landed at 83 on our board, an A-, good for #2 of the 182 brands we’ve scored. See the full David Protein score.
The one next move
Put the stars on the bundle builder
The homepage now runs a ticker that says “19,000+ positive reviews” and a row of review cards dated Oct 8. The Build a Bundle page, where a shopper commits to five cartons at $39 each, shows flavors, macros and a Light Labs badge, and in our Oct 10 capture no star rating or review count anywhere above the footer. Pull the rating and count onto each flavor card, or at least one line under “Build your bundle.” The proof already exists. It just isn’t on the page where people pay.
What the read stands on
- Brand Tested Score 83 (A-), #2 of the 182 brands we rank: Brand DNA 80 (B+), Site Experience 85 (A). Site Experience parts: first impression 91, point of view 86, proof 64, offer 82, consistency 90, site 88, tech stack 92.
- Retail-first check, Oct 10, 2026: “Store locator” sits in the desktop top nav, but the Build a Bundle page sells directly with “Add to bundle” buttons and the site doesn’t send shoppers to a retailer to buy. You can buy from David’s own store, so it’s graded and ranked like every brand we cover.
- Homepage text on Oct 10: page heading “High Protein Bars - 28g Protein, 150 Calories, 0g Sugar”; top bar “Add any 4 cartons to your cart, get 1 FREE.” and “Free shipping over $40.”; ticker “19,000+ positive reviews • Satisfaction Guarantee • Free shipping over $40”.
- Homepage chart on Oct 10: calories from protein of 100% (Wild Caught Atlantic Cod), 75% (Gold bar), 53% (Bronze bar), 49% and 40% for the Built Puff and Barebells bars named in its footnote.
- Build a Bundle page on Oct 10: nine flavors, each “Reg: $39.00” for one carton of 12 bars, Gold at 28g protein and Bronze at 20g, “Buy 4 cartons and get your 5th free.”, “Pick for me”, “0/5 Selected” and a “Verified safer products” Light Labs badge. No star rating or review count above the footer.
- When we scored David, our audit found no review count and no named testing lab. The Oct 10 captures show the homepage ticker and review cards and the Light Labs badge, so both have moved since; the bundle page reviews gap has not.
See David Protein’s full score and the checks behind it How the Brand Tested Score works
No brand or app on this page paid to be here, and none of the links on it earn us anything. How we make money.
Sources
- David Protein homepage, davidprotein.com, captured Oct 10, 2026, desktop 1440 and phone 390, logged out.
- David Protein Build a Bundle page, davidprotein.com/products/build-a-bundle, captured Oct 10, 2026.
- Axios Pro, “David Protein parent raises $250M at $2.25B valuation,” Sep 2, 2026, axios.com.
- Medici Brands, “Medici Brands Raises $250 Million in Series B Funding,” PR Newswire, Sep 2, 2026, prnewswire.com.
- Medici Brands, “HallPass Launches Nationwide at Walmart With 70-Calorie Candy,” PR Newswire, Aug 31, 2026, prnewswire.com.
- Food Dive, “RXBar founder ‘betting everything on protein’ with new venture,” Aug 26, 2024, fooddive.com.
- Brand Tested Brand Tested Score audit and storefront scan, methodology v2.0. The full score and the checks behind it.
The Brand Tested Score measures how well a brand’s own online store sells, from the first impression to checkout. Scores are Brand Tested’s opinion, built from public storefront pages and the apps we detected on the scan date and our published v2.0 methodology. They aren’t statements of fact about any company. See something wrong? Request a correction. Brand names and page images appear only to identify and comment on the brand we cover; David Protein has not endorsed or sponsored Brand Tested.