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Leon Wolek, part III.Just about the time you believe that Wolek and his improbable tale of creating a sugar-free sports drink will go away and die, the free-spirited entrepreneur from Hobart calls.
'You won't believe what's happening,' Wolek squeals over the phone, laughing like a little kid. 'We have sooooo much energy going.'
A quick refresher. Wolek's sports drink, which he basically developed with the help of a research and development firm in Georgia, is called Q-Blast. It's the only sugar-free sports drink out. Wolek and his dog Arriel have defied conventional wisdom for the last couple of years by driving around in a motor home and personally delivering the stuff to various shops and stores, mostly in Northwest Indiana. The beverage industry, particularly the sports drink portion of it, is controlled by a few key players like Gatorade and Power Ade.
You have to be certifiably crazy to try to personally break into that segment of the market.
Well, most people believed that Q-Blast would suffer the same fate that 99.9 percent of the new products in that industry do: That it'd be dead within a year.
In October, I wrote about Wolek's whole saga, from him hopping onto his Versaclimber and then sampling products until he found one that tasted good, to him driving around the country trying to convince someone to bottle the product.
In December, Wolek was in Minnesota handing out Q-Blast to professional snow mobilers who were looking for a new drink for hydration.
So, how is Wolek vs. Goliath going? It's hard to tell for sure because filtering Wolek talk (which requires the use of the term 'positive energy' in every sentence) is no easy task.
Here are some facts.
Sales have spiked from roughly 25 to 50 cases a week to about 240 a week since fall.
You can now pick up Q-Blast at the Wal-Mart in Portage, various 7-11's across Northwest Indiana, the Town & Country in Portage and a smattering of Walgreens in Northwest Indiana. (There are other places, too.) Q-Blast isn't everywhere in Northwest Indiana. Which is a problem for people who like the drink but who can't find it easily.
The news that Wolek was so giddy about was the sampling he had at Sam's Club in Hobart. The product was such a hit that they'll soon be carrying Q-Blast.
He has smartly positioned Q-Blast as the only sports/energy drink for diabetics. Wolek has also targeted schools for his marketing scheme since they've been criticized for providing kids with too many bad eating and drinking alternatives. River Forest, his alma mater, plans to carry the drink. Other schools in the Duneland have sampled it. A school district in Los Angeles will have it available. He also sampled the product with UPS since the company spends a good chunk of money on beverages for its drivers who need to keep hydrated. He has created a concentrate, too, that he hopes athletic teams (like football and baseball) will use.
Wolek's biggest challenge is finding a national distributor to pick up the product. If that happens, he'll have help delivering his product and Q-Blast will be certifiably big time.
Reporter Mike Hutton can be reached at 648-3139 or by e-mail at mhutton@post-trib.com.
