Barry Turner

Barry Turner is the co-founder and current head of Lenny & Larry's Protein Snacks, the high-protein baked goods brand whose products are now distributed in more than 30 countries worldwide, with a majority stake held by private equity firm Lion Capital. He is best known for refocusing the brand on its flagship product, The Complete Cookie, after returning to the company years after his initial departure to build the consumer-facing label he had always envisioned.

Turner's path to the food industry began in the early 1990s, when he was working as a competitive bodybuilder and had secured a spot as an American Gladiator before an injury sidelined that promising opportunity. It was during this period that he connected with his close friend and fellow bodybuilder Benny Graham, and the two began experimenting with adding protein powder to baked goods, a concept that was virtually unheard of at the time, as protein-fortified food was not yet a mainstream consumer category.

In 1993, Turner and Graham officially co-founded Lenny & Larry's, starting by selling protein-packed breakfast muffins around the Los Angeles area. They quickly expanded their product line to include brownies, cookies, and cinnamon rolls, but operated mostly as a white-label business for years, selling their creations under other brands' names without building broad public recognition for their own label. Turner eventually sold the company, but remained passionate about the core mission of making high-protein,…