Local trio create workout winner

HHS alumni come together to form business

Workout enthusiasts Dernell Murray, Lonnie Matherne and William Dempsey never planned to go into business together, but sometimes the best results are improvised.

The trio of Hahnville High School alumni were regular workout partners who together decided they weren’t satisfied with their regular pre-workout supplements and to do something about that.

“We just were tired of buying overpriced, under-dosed products,” said Murray. “That pretty much brought it on. It’s not that we came up with some kind of intricate business plan, saying we saw some void in the market. We wanted to make a product better for ourselves and a few of our friends.”

Thus “Havyk” was born. The pre-workout supplement is sold online and has hit multiple store shelves since the group began making the product about a year-and-a-half ago. What began as a small side project to boost their own workouts blossomed into a successful business venture.

“We never expected it to get as big as it has,” Dempsey said. “We just looked at all the stuff that we liked and thought was good and started doing some research, what was the optimal dose of everything. It started with a few ingredients and kind of grew from there. We changed things here and there and got it to where we liked it.”

While the initial idea was to simply improve their own workout regimen, friends of the three who tried it began to ask more and more about it.

“It started to grow. People would ask to buy it and ask, ‘when are you guys going to make more?’ That’s really what made us decide to go into business and start an LLC.”

While they began to each believe they may have stumbled onto something with potential, they also admit that task of expanding that into an all-out business venture was a bit intimidating, at first.

“It was gratifying, but scary at the same time,” Murray said. “Not knowing how far it could go, if people will buy it in bulk. It took months to even find a label for the canister. (It took) multiple weeks to even find a canister we liked. You don’t think things like the color or the size of the canister is any kind of big factor, but it really matters.”

It was a far cry from the beginning.

“We were selling it out of Ziploc bags before (they decided to go into business),” Matherne said. “The look of the product wasn’t even on our minds.”

The Havyk slogan is “No tricks, no gimmicks, just results.”

All three take that motto seriously.

“The main thing we really wanted was to take one supplement and have everything in it instead of spending a lot of money on all this different stuff,” Matherne said. “Another big thing for us is – it’s no BS. A lot of supplements, have it say on the front that you’re getting certain dosages of these ingredients, but then you see on the back you have to take three or four servings to get that. We didn’t want to do that. What you see is exactly what you get.”

The business the three have established to sell the supplement is called Anarchy Performance Enhancement. The Havyk supplement is intended to increase one’s energy and stamina before a workout.

Among stores where the product is sold are Muscle Barn, Snap Fitness, Gold’s Gym in Baton Rouge, Westbank Athletic Club and River Parish CrossFit. The group also sells the product online at apesupps.com.

 

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