Racing through Whole Foods after an exhausting soccer practice, you scavenge the store, searching for something to quench your thirst. Instead of choosing your typical Gatorade drink, you grab a bright pink bottle of KRĀ.
Whitman parent Dan Trainor launched his new organic sports drink company, KRĀ (pronounced kray), in April. The drink is intended to peak buyers’ athletic performance while keeping them hydrated with four fruity flavors: berry, fruit punch, orange and lemon.
Trainor, with the help of lawyer Sarah Koleno, was able to build the company due to his years of business experience. After earning a bachelor’s from Notre Dame University for undergrad and Illinois for law, he has been involved with helping to kickstart other manufacturing companies in the Midwest.
In hopes of appealing to all athletes, the drink differentiates itself from mainstream sports drinks as one of the few that are natural and organic. KRĀ’s main competitors are the big sports drink companies, Trainor said; many of the smaller athletic drink brands have trouble attracting customers who normally reach for Gatorade and Powerade.
Trainor hopes to attract student athletes who are aiming on making healthier and nutritional choices.
“We use all organic ingredients, no dyes, no artificial sweeteners, and only have about six to seven ingredients, all that people will recognize,” Trainor said.
Leaving no sugary aftertaste, the drink provides athletes with a healthier alternative to the artificially sweetened big-brand options. Athletes train hard but when they consume lots of sugar and sodium common in highly processed foods and drinks, they miss out on beneficial vitamins and natural performance enhancers, Trainor said. KRĀ is a product athletes can purchase to help them continue to fully develop and make the most of their workouts.
“Athletes are making good choices all the time,” Trainor said. “Those are the people we want to invest in better nutrition.”
Through KRĀ, Trainor hopes to inform young athletes about the organic options that are available to them. Student athlete Olivia Matthews is open to trying a less mainstream, yet flavorful product.
“I think it sounds healthy and tastes good,” Matthews said. “If it’s organic then its not full of chemicals that are bad for you.”
After watching his father build a glass company from the ground up, Trainor took note and is now following in his footsteps. He has learned to take chances to help create products that will benefit a group of people.
“With barely two nickels to his name, [he] turned it into something that supported his family for five decades,” Trainor said. “It’s good to take the calculated chance, to play the smart odds.”
After officially launching their first product in April, the two year developing company has begun selling its product mainly online, at local Whole Foods and other speciality markets.
Junior Miller Aucamp is excited to try a Whitman parent’s product.
“I think it’s cool that a Whitman parent is selling the product,” Aucamp said. “It shows how the Whitman community is innovative and wants to find solutions to problems.”
