STOKE was created by two Furman University XC/Track teammates, Wilkerson and James, during their post-collegiate running careers when they began taking a closer look at the foods they relied on most to fuel their training and racing. Like many endurance athletes, they gravitated toward familiar nut-based spreads. But after years of competing at the highest level (and studying nutrition along the way) they realized those options offered limited nutrient diversity and lacked the full range of micronutrients used to support the demands of optimal physical and mental performance.

Spending time around professional runners across the endurance community only reinforced the pattern: athletes were fueling with similar foods, not necessarily because they were optimal, but because there weren’t more nutrient dense alternatives. Wilkerson and James saw an opportunity to rethink what a pre-run spread could be.

They began formulating a spread built around nutrient density first. By combining multiple nuts, seeds, and complementary whole foods, they aimed to create a broader, more complete nutrient profile - one that naturally delivers vitamins, minerals, and bioactive compounds in the forms they exist in food. No isolates. No synthetic additions. Just whole-food ingredients working together within their natural matrices to support digestion and absorption.

After months of research, formulation, and taste testing, STOKE was born: a nutrient-dense multi-nut and seed butter built on nutritional fundamentals, not trends or gimmicks, for people who care about what they eat and why it matters.