Kristen Gilkison has worked in the healthcare industry as a physician’s assistant and has always been passionate about preventive medicine.
After a diagnosis of celiac disease and several food allergies nearly a decade ago, she started thinking about an untapped market – protein bars that taste good.
“I’ve always loved being in the kitchen and I found there weren’t a lot of good options out there,” she said. “I needed gluten free and that typically meant it didn’t taste very good. So I started baking gluten-free items in my kitchen.”
She needed something simple and easy while working at the hospital, and a quick look at the ingredients on packages of protein bars at the store told her many of them were packed with sweeteners and sugar.
Gilkison created timbar, a small business offering healthy snacks, including a protein bar.
“I started making my own protein bars with all real ingredients,” she said. “They are plant based and gluten free. They are delicious and they quickly became one of my bestsellers.”
As life got busier for Gilkison – she had children and was still working full time and attending local farmers markets with her product – it became clear she wouldn’t be able to keep up.
In 2023 she took a leap of faith and hired a gluten-free manufacturer to mass produce timbar.
With her entrepreneurial spirit, she’s enjoyed the shift from baking for hours in the kitchen to learning about the mass-production process, marketing and so much more.
“The last year has been so interesting,” she said. “I worked with a food scientist to make sure all of the recipes were shelf stable, and we launched the first flavor, peanut butter chocolate chip.”
Today she’s still attending farmers markets in Westfield and Whitestown, but customers can buy protein bars on her website at thetimbar.com, through Market Wagon, and via Amazon.
A few things have changed since Gilkison started her business several years ago, but one thing remains the same. The avid healthy living advocate and baker wants to ensure anyone can grab a timbar, feel full throughout the day and not cave to unhealthy choices out of habit.
“My kids love the protein bars and that’s a pretty good litmus test,” she said. “It’s exciting because I really want to create something the whole family can enjoy. When I was first diagnosed I thought, ‘This is not how I am going to eat, and we don’t have to.’ I think so many of us are worried about the numbers and the fad diets, and we really just need to pay attention to what we’re putting in our bodies.”
Up next, the chocolate brownie timbar will be released any day now, and in January we can look forward to the cinnamon roll flavor. All the flavors are her favorites from baking in her home kitchen.
Gilkison anticipates continued growth over the next few years and is currently in talks with local retailers, but mainly her goal is to share the product and ask people to give it a try.
Loyal customers haven’t been disappointed yet.
She’s even partnering with the Butler girls basketball team this year. It’s a part of their Name, Image, Likeness program, allowing student-athletes to represent and promote brands, so we may see the team unwrapping timbars on the court soon.
“I feel blessed to have the health care background,” Gilkison said. “The average person hears a lot of mixed messages about healthy eating and nutrition. I hope timbar can set the record straight. God is stirring something and we’ll see where it goes.”
