Designed for beleaguered imbibers, Lure’s special off-the-menu marg combines health-boosting ingredients like vitamin-packed fresh-squeezed juices (yuzu, blood orange, clementine, nectarine, grapefruit, navel orange); proteinaceous egg white; John McDonald’s new Acai-Pomegranite flavored EBOOST (everything from green tea extract to B-12 to promote focus); and premium silver tequila, for the opposite of all those things.

Click here to see Thrillist’s video of the EBOOST cocktail being made.

EBOOST was featured on the Haute Magazine blog. Click here to read the article.

EBoost

By Haute Living on June 18th, 2008

In the mythic past, alchemists toiled to discover the elixir of life and brave explorers sought the fountain of youth. Today, scientists labor to deliver the ultimate energy potion designed to jolt the modern consumer out of the day-to-day doldrums. Now, Vitalize Labs brings us EBOOST, a premier energy supplement. The effervescent formula launches a comprehensive attack on all that ails, packing green tea extract and Vitamin B-12 for energy and focus and Vitamin C and sundry other minerals for immunity and recovery. Unlike other energy supplements EBOOST had earned its stripes among a demanding clientele and the lab counts Bruce Willis, Gisele Bündchen and Heidi Klum as loyal fans. First introduced in 2007, EBOOST first found its niche in mini-bars at W Hotels but the brand has since exploded and can be found at high end health clubs, spas, hotels and fine retailers.

EBOOST contains about as much caffeine as a cup of coffee and hence assures users of an energy spurt without the jitters and subsequent crash that first-generation energy supplements users couldn’t avoid. Also, the product, primarily a vitamin supplement, is designed for daily use.

EBOOST’s pedigree is a prestigious one. New York City restaurateur and publisher John McDonald and Josh Taekman, president of the exclusive Los Angeles marketing firm, Buzztone, united to found Vitalize Labs and create EBOOST.
Look for the tangerine orange packet for 10 effervescent tablets for $11.50 or 24 packets of effervescent powder for $22.50.

For more information, visit www.EBOOST.com

The Shape of Things: Fully Supplemented

We can all use a little boost now and then–and EBOOST (10 tablets, $11.50) is a good choice. Its combination of vitamins, minerals, and botanicals (green tea extract, vitamin B-12, potassium, sodium, selenium, copper, and grape seed extract) promises to deliver what founders Josh Taekman and John McDonald call the “four elements of performance”–energy, immunity, recovery, and focus. Fans of the bubbly orange-flavored supplement include Bruce Willis, Giselle Bundchen, Heidi Klum, Victoria Beckham, and Molly Sims.

Available at Ricky’s, 50 Main Street, East Hampton, 329-7588; eboost.com

-Ingrid Skjong

Read the article here.

Get Well Sooner

EBoost Energy Powder

Pssst. Yo. Did you get it? Six and a half grams, right?

Heard this powder makes you feel invincible. Energized, vitalized, immunized. The word on the street: You want some EBoost.

It’s a side project from publisher/restaurateur/jet-setter John McDonald, who was looking for an immune booster — along the lines of Emergen-C or Berocca (a UK pharmacy fave) — with energy enhancing qualities. He ended up with effervescent powder packets and tablet tubes that turn a glass of water into a fizzy, orange-flavored wellness drink.

The mixture of essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrients has zero sugars and no preservatives. It’s loaded with vitamin C, calcium, potassium, B6, and 41,667 percent of the recommended daily allowance of B12 (is that all?). Plus, it has fewer calories (five) and carbs (1 gram) than similar potions. (Models everywhere are cheering.)

One taste will keep you healthier and a little sharper — without making you paranoid.

Okay, maybe hooked.

Available at Ricky’s NYC, 44 East 8th Street, at Greene Street (212-254-5247); 332 West 57th Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues (212-247-8010); 1380 Third Avenue, at 79th Street (212-737-7723); online at eboost.com.

Read the full story here.

Supplement firm puts fizz in sales

Fledgling firms’ key moves

By Lisa Goff

When his plan to market a line of vitamins fell through, marketing executive Josh Taekman turned to his friend John McDonald to brainstorm new ideas. Oddly enough, Mr. McDonald found inspiration in the number of staffers calling in sick at several Manhattan restaurants he co-owns. In June, the partners launched E-Boost, an all-natural supplement that bolsters the immune system and fights fatigue.

“There was nothing on the market that boosted both immunity and alertness,” Mr. Taekman says. Sales of the effervescent tablets–a pack of 10 retails for $11.50–hit $300,000 in just the first three months. Mr. Taekman projects first-year revenues of at least $1.2 million. The Manhattan company has three full-time employees.

HITS – DAILY REGIMEN

Two marketing decisions have had a big impact. First, the partners pitch E-Boost as a supplement to be taken daily as a preventive, not as an occasional fix for a pesky cold or hangover. Second, the product is sold not in drugstores or supermarkets but at upscale hotels like W and Mondrian, as well as a few high-end spas. It can also be ordered online.

Another smart move: The company provides free samples to hotel and spa staffers, who peddle the revitalizer with the zeal of the converted. “They’re all hooked on it,” Mr. Taekman says.

MISSES – SLOW TO SPARKLE

The partners wasted a year trying to develop the product with a pharmaceutical lab that didn’t listen to them.

“We told them that it had to violently dissolve–to erupt in the glass–and they gave us a prototype that took three minutes,” Mr. Taekman says. Another lab delivered the goods in six months.

The partners also had to focus their distribution more tightly, targeting high-end outlets that cater specifically to singles. “We tried it at a family beach resort in San Diego, and it didn’t move,” Mr. Taekman says.

Read the full article here.

One Fewer Reason for Models to Sniffle

It’s not easy to keep underfed women healthy while they toil through sittings and strut endless runways, all at the height of cold-and-flu season. “Everyone gets sick during Fashion Week,” says 1 Models president Scott Lipps, whose agency reps Angela Lindvall and Helena Christensen. Enter John McDonald, the restaurateur behind Lever House and Lure Fishbar, who’s now in the haute anti-sniffles business, too. He says he has spent the past two years developing E Boost, a slickly packaged powdered drink that contains vitamins B-12 and C, magnesium, zinc, potassium, and amino acids. How’d he get the right mix? “It was hilarious,” says McDonald. “I would get white packets from the lab every day and pop them in water. We would see how many particles floated. We thought of adding ginseng, but it clumped.” The product has been available for only two weeks, but he’s distributed it via model agencies and at Grammy events; soon, it’ll be aboard NetJets time-share planes and at W hotels. You know, the kinds of places where you simply couldn’t pop a comparatively unchic Emergen-C.