Anthony Flynn

Early life and education

Flynn attended Boston University and the University of Southern California, where he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration. He graduated in 2006, the same year he co-founded YouBar.

YouBar

Flynn's mother, Ava Bise, began making nutrition bars in 1998, and he began making nutrition bars when he was 18 years old. The two started swapping recipes, and neighbors and friends began requesting custom bars. Just before he graduated from university in 2006, he suggested to his mother that they open a custom energy bar company and supply their recipes and concept to customers on a large scale. They founded YouBar later that year. It initially operated from their home kitchen, and later they borrowed space at Bise's synagogue. Later, they moved into a commercial kitchen on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles. Finally, in 2011, they expanded into their current 8,000-square-foot facility in Downtown Los Angeles.

YouBar has 30 employees, averages 1,250 visitors per day, and has received four-million pageviews since 2008. In 2008, YouBar sales doubled every month.

Speaking career

Flynn regularly lectures on the customization revolution in the food industry. He has lectured at the USC, the University of California at Berkeley, and UCLA. He has been interviewed by The Cooking Channel, KTLA, ABC, Fox News, The Today Show, E! News, The New York Times, and Women's Health.

Custom Nation

In 2012's Custom Nation was published and became a New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher's Weekly Bestseller. The book discusses the popularity and implications of customization in American culture.