10 Apr Matt Williams Inspiring Story from Rock Bottom to FroPro
FroPro: A Chilled Revolution in Healthy Snacking
Matt Williams’ journey from personal struggle to entrepreneurial success embodies the transformative power of resilience and reinvention. In 2010, following a pivotal wake-up call, Matt embraced sobriety and later founded FroPro Snack Bar—an innovative company that would go on to redefine the healthy snack market while simultaneously supporting the recovery community that helped save his life.
The origin story of FroPro is refreshingly genuine and unplanned. Unlike many brands that begin with market research and gap analyses, FroPro started simply as Matt’s personal solution to his own snacking needs. While cycling around town (having lost his driver’s license due to what he candidly calls “poor decision-making”), Matt carried homemade peanut butter snack bars in his backpack. When he shared these treats with clients and their children during his work as a personal trainer and tutor, their enthusiastic response planted the first seed of what would eventually grow into a thriving business.
The turning point came when a nutrition-conscious client suggested improvements to his recipe. Taking her advice, Matt reformulated his bars to be plant-based, eliminating dairy to make them more digestible for a wider audience. When she requested 100 bars for her juice bar, FroPro took its first tentative steps into commercial territory. Three days later, having sold out completely, she ordered another 100—and a business was born through word-of-mouth referrals across the local juice bar community.
What makes FroPro particularly distinctive in the crowded snack bar landscape is Matt’s deliberate decision to create refrigerated products. While initially this choice was simply based on his personal preference (“I like my food cold”), it unexpectedly became a strategic advantage. By positioning FroPro in refrigerated sections, the brand competes with only five or six similar products rather than the hundreds crowding typical snack aisles. This placement also aligns with nutritional wisdom that encourages shoppers to “shop the perimeter” of grocery stores where fresher foods tend to be located.
Today, FroPro operates from its own manufacturing facility in South Florida, produces multiple flavors (with Toasted Marshmallow being the consistent bestseller), and is available in Whole Foods and other retailers across 36 states. The company maintains complete control over production, eschewing co-packers in favor of in-house manufacturing that ensures quality control and provides employment opportunities, including for those in recovery seeking a fresh start.
Beyond creating a successful product, Matt has infused FroPro with purpose and community impact. Now approaching 15 years of sobriety, Matt balances his role at FroPro with work as a recovery coach, personal trainer, and podcast host. His “Wake Up The Sun” podcast explores the morning routines, rituals, and consistency patterns of successful people from various walks of life—another platform through which he shares stories of resilience and transformation.
FroPro stands as testament to how personal challenge can fuel innovation, and how business success can coexist with social responsibility. As Matt poignantly reflects, after “wasting 12 to 13 years being a selfish asshole” in his addiction, he now embraces the opportunity to, as his sponsor would say, “be a lighthouse” and guide others through their own journeys of recovery and reinvention. In the crowded marketplace of protein bars and snacks, FroPro offers something truly refreshing: authentic purpose paired with genuine taste.
Learn more at: https://twinteriors.com/podcast/
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