WELCOME TO THE LIQUID CORE® STORE
The Liquid Core® Store is the one stop shop for the unique functional chewing gum with the liquid center! Whether you are chewing your ENERGY, your HEALTH or your WELLNESS - you are unlocking potential brain-boosting benefits that no pill, tincture or beverage can provide simply because you CHEW it. As an added benefit to the range of functionality of our products, you can count on fresh breath and oral health benefits due to each piece containing more Xylitol than any other chewing gum brand in the world.
Liquid Core® and Apollo Energy Gum® was born from the success of GoFast! Energy Drink. Our background in extreme sports, health, and fitness, provided the passion to build GoFast! into a brand with distribution in numerous countries, but it was our innovative side that led us to experiment with a better, more efficient delivery system.
Apollo Energy Gum® is made in-house at our Liquid Core Gum® factory in Denver, Colorado, and is the culmination of 10 years and over 700 formula experiments.
Our belief is that a Liquid Core® surrounded by a xylitol gum shell was the best way to provide consumers with a clean, dental-friendly, and portable energy supplement for those in the pursuit of a healthy and productive lifestyle.
Controlling manufacturing has been critical to the development of Apollo® as a premium energy gum. Each ingredient, each supplier, and every part of the production process is analyzed, refined, and perfected in order to provide athletes, professionals, and go-getters with the absolute best everyday energy possible. Instead of using trendy buzzwords and hard-to-pronounce ingredients, Apollo's formula is simple: If it doesn't provide a benefit to the consumer, it is not used.
Apollo Energy Gum® is quickly expanding outside of the home territory of Colorado into select regional markets throughout the US, and into more international locations such as Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland and New Zealand. In Colorado, Apollo® is available in convenience, nutrition, and specialty sports stores, with more retailers being added every week.
The Apollo Energy Gum® Team is a small group of passionate, hardworking people with one mission: To Empower People with the Best Energy.
LIFE WAS A DREAM
Skydiving at a world-class level and training for the US Nationals, Liquid Core® Founder Troy Widgery and Teammate/Best Friend James Layne were living a life that was almost a dream. They were competing at the highest level, with much credit to the legendary Teammate & Coach, Dan B.C.
- Prior to starting the exit count Coach Dan B.C. would calmly say, “GO SLOW.” What Troy now understands he meant was, Be in The Moment™.
- Dan was trying to get the Team to mimic what athletes and professionals do when the game – or a deal – is on the line: Getting in The Moment “slows” everything down & actually makes people perform better.
- THE PLANE CRASH
Troy and James turned the coach’s admonition into something of a game: When they were clinging to the outside of the airplane ready to jump, amid the deafening wind and droning engines, they’d make eye contact and mouth the words “GO FAST!” to each other. Hundreds of jumps later, feeling invincible and already pondering the World Meet in the coming year, they boarded a plane at Perris Valley, CA. Minutes later, Fire Trucks, EMTs and Flight for Life rushed to the scene of one of the most catastrophic skydiving plane crashes ever.
- Only six out of twenty-two people on the plane survived. Troy later would name a business he started in memory of his fallen friend: GO FAST!® Energy Drink.
GO FAST!® built a Lifestyle Brand that invented & performed some of the most amazing events and stunts, including Jet Packs, the Human Slingshot, the GO FAST! Games at the Royal Gorge, B.A.S.E. jumping and many more. The energy drinks sold well, but the hard truth was, energy drinks were essentially a jittery sugar rush in a can, with many unwelcome effects & ingredients. Troy began to focus on what had started as a line extension of GO FAST!® – a better-for-you gum with a liquid center to hold the functional ingredients.
Building the Liquid Core® Team!
Eventually Troy totally stepped away from the energy drink, selling to a group out of Dubai. Encouraged by many years of R&D on Liquid Core® gum and its potential to be the Next Energy Category, he came to realize that the very thing that brought success and a profitable exit – Energy Drinks – was something that he had to renounce in order to really develop the product he intended to create – THE BEST ENERGY!®
- Troy set out to assemble a New Team to develop the Liquid Core® Gum Company. He did not have to look far: Most of the Team came right out of the skydiving community. These friends already knew how to “Be in The Moment™.”
- Over several years the Team engineered and perfected the Liquid Core® Factory.
Liquid Core® Perfection
All-in, it took more than a decade to perfect the form, center-fill, equipment, formulas, production, etc.
- It wasn’t until recently that The Team came to understand how to best market to & educate people on why Liquid Core® is the ideal delivery vehicle.
- When Tiger Woods won the Masters in 2019, while chewing gum for the duration at Augusta, we knew the Cognitive/Smart component would finally be more mainstream. Smart business people and serious athletes like Tiger chew gum before and even during the events that require clarity and focus for a reason…to slow down time…to Be in The Moment™!
Chewing a Liquid Core® Gum vs. coffee, shots or energy drinks
Chewing gum with the Liquid Core® of energy is better than any other form of energy, because it is multi-dimensional, and because of this it can help the person chewing it Be in The Moment™. Every other energy source is one-dimensional. Drinks, gels, pills, shots – they provide just the energy component.
- Major University and NIH science on this is clear: There are cognitive benefits from chewing gum that no beverage can deliver.
- These benefits include:
- Enhanced Memory Recall
- Reduced Stress
- Improved Concentration
Liquid Core® Energy Brands provide the complete package:
A discreet, perfect-sized chewing gum that promotes an hour or more of smooth chewing that helps you Be in The Moment™.
- Size, Ingredients & Form Matter! The small “dry pressed” gum product that many brands offer cannot compare with our Liquid Core® gums, which you want to chew longer & more often.
- Only ingredients that serve a specific purpose or provide a certain benefit are used in the Liquid Core® gums.
- We chose to take a more technical route by placing our functional ingredients in the liquid center. The taste, texture and performance of Liquid Core® gums are unmatched!
- We are Smarter Energy with an Edge!™
Introducing New Liquid Core® Wellness Brands
- The Liquid Core® energy gums are amazing, but sometimes you want to Chew Your Relaxation. At the end of the workday, after a run, following midterms – any time you want to wind down. The “New Normal” worldwide make this an ideal time to try the Liquid Core® wellness gums that can reduce mild or temporary anxiety in addition to the other cognitive benefits you get from chewing.
- Announcing SPACE STATION® Countertop Vending Technology
Since we had this amazing, growing family of Liquid Core® brands, and we had the technical skills to build the world’s first jet-powered Flying Motorcycle, we were fairly certain we could develop a truly remarkable distribution system that was no bigger than a Keurig machine.
In less than 20 months, the Liquid Core® Technology Lab designed, built, engineered and programmed SPACE STATION® and the App!
- SPACE STATION® is to Liquid Core® what the miniature fridge was to Red Bull. It’s iconic!
- Touch-Free purchasing & sampling
- – including Tap-to-Pay and Text-to-Dispense.
- In the era of COVID, SPACE STATION® is the Ideal Sampling Device that does everything except reload itself. Scan a QR code, and it dispenses. Boom! Truly touch-free.
- Autonomous technology monetizes 24/7 in places like hotels, resort & clubhouse changing rooms, private airports, sports complexes – anyplace where self-serve is key.
What’s Your CORE? We Made our Customers the focus of our Corporate Philanthropy
- Lots of companies support many great causes, ours included. While trying to decide which cause to support in the coming year, we had an epiphany: Let’s celebrate and Empower our greatest asset: Our Liquid Core® Consumers.
Everyone has something or someone that they are passionate about. For many of us, this CORE is something we love to talk about. So, in October 2020, we debuted What’s Your CORE? to celebrate Your Kids; Your Hobby; Your Philanthropy; Your Classic Car; Your Amazing Dog; Your Awesome Neighbor.
ANYTHING that moves you, that you’re proud of, that inspires you or defines your CORE.
Marketing Manager - Kait
Unlike most of the team, Kait prefers to keep both feet on the ground. She moved from Florida to Colorado in 2019 and brings to Liquid Core® a great can‐do attitude and organization that is key to all business operations. In addition to innumerable core functions at Liquid Core®, Kait also is known for her creative writing skills as our resident blogger, social media coordinator and advertiser, and jumps right in and handles inbound sales inquiries, both retail and wholesale. She brings Apollo Energy Gum® on epic hikes throughout Colorado almost every weekend, and loves to camp and overland in the summers with her family. She also is an avid chewer of Life’s Gum® BerryDefense to align with her healthy lifestyle!
Technical Design Engineer - Matt
A Colorado native, is a veteran skydiver and jetpack test pilot, has nearly 1,000 airplane jumps on his resume, and nearly 1,000 B.A.S.E. jumps as well. There isn’t a valve he cannot unstick, or a part he cannot fabricate from scratch, or complex circuitry he can’t understand – including SPACE STATION®. If it’s mechanical or electrical in nature, he understands it in an instinctive way. Outside of Liquid Core®, Matt is perhaps best known for his impressive and creative rope rigging as well as his skills in paragliding, which he uses FLY GUM® to fuel those adventures.
Product Design Specialist - Miles
Moved to Colorado from Iowa and brings a keen eye for detail and unique creativity to the team. In addition to product and packaging design for Liquid Core® and our Global Partners, Miles also has a role on our social media team creating infographics, videos and assisting with influencer communications. When not in the office, Miles likes to get outdoors to hike, mountain bike, snowboard or play baseball. He brings Apollo Energy Gum® with him on those long road trips home to Iowa or before a workout to maximize his time in the gym.
Founder & Lab Guy - Troy
Troy has a background rooted in marketing - and skydiving. He founded GO FAST! Energy Drink™ and built the brand not only by having a better‐tasting formula, but by orchestrating a close association with extreme sports including B.A.S.E. jumping, skydiving, jetpacks, motocross and more. GO FAST!™ became synonymous with the most exciting – and death‐defying – sports and special events around the world. Troy coordinated a sale of GO FAST!™ in 2016, which allowed him the freedom to focus full‐time on Liquid Core® Gum Company Energy, Health & Wellness Brands. He now spends his days refining the formulas, adding to our Global Partner program, and expanding our line of products to help empower people all over the world!
- COO & Communications Director - Scott
Scott by contrast, has never jumped out of an airplane. Or off a cliff. But he did survive a stint in politics in New Jersey and Washington, DC – meaning, he simply has a different kind of battle scars and stories. Scott has been a PR professional, political consultant, inventor, and founded or co‐founded several businesses since he arrived in Colorado in 1993. He has bootstrapping as well as 7‐figure fundraising experience. He recently coordinated a successful exit for a pet product that he patented, which had a distribution of several thousand retailers. Scott chews Life’s Gum® Coffee™ daily for a clean mid-day boost, and SYNAPSE® for post-yoga inflammation.
Operations Manager - Scotty
Scotty runs the Liquid Core® Gum Factory and oversees fulfillment and other key functions, is another skydiving aficionado. Scott grew up in Illinois and has more than 4,000 skydiving jumps and counting. He is also a prolific B.A.S.E. jumper with over 600 to his name, and on a given weekend he can be found hurling himself off a thousand‐foot precipice in the foothills of Colorado. He is also an expert rope rigger and enjoys spending free time rigging slack lines, rope swings and nets to hang up in the trees! Scott brings Apollo Energy Gum® on his adventures because it is lightweight and effective.
Controller - Cindy
Cindy has been at the financial helm of Liquid Core® since inception, and previously held the same role at GO FAST!™. In addition to overseeing all accounts receivable & payable for Liquid Core® Gum Company, Cindy also manages the Liquid Core® formulas and complex ingredient process. Cindy doesn’t miss a thing, and her sharp attention to detail has been the glue that has kept it all together. She does all of this – and more – with an energy and positive attitude that is her trademark.
Factory Mission Specialist - Tom
With 20 years of experience in the automotive industry and four years of smartphone repair, Tom brings a wealth of specialized mechanical expertise to the factory operation team. In addition, as the fastest barefoot finisher in the 2016 Boston Marathon & holder of three barefoot running world records, Tom serves as the unofficial Extreme Wellness Coordinator, establishing efficient and ergonomic production routines and ensuring maximum health and safety for the entire Liquid Core® Factory Team.