‘Fueling for Performance’

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

When Olivia Zelon sets out to do something, rest assured it will get done. Whether in the athletic arena or the business world, the Palisades Charter High School alum is all about results—and now she is growing her business beyond her wildest imagination.

Zelon is the CEO and founder of OUTPLAY, a snack company for athletes. Since she officially soft-launched the company in 2022, her passion project became a full-time job and a labor of love.

“I made the decision not to work with any investors and instead started consulting for other smaller companies,” she said. “Within a year I’d saved up the initial amount of money that I was planning on raising and launched the business myself, owning 100% of it. This was the best decision I ever made, but it wasn’t easy.”

Over the last year, Zelon explained, OUTPLAY has grown in the college and NFL space, with Los Angeles Chargers, Las Vegas Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles, NY Jets, Atlanta Falcons, USC Athletics, TCU, LSU, Mississippi State and several others on its list of customers.

“We also just had the Marine Corps order OUTPLAY products, which was super exciting,” Zelon added. “I’m proud to say we’re now in club, professional and college locker rooms across the country, and we keep growing. We now have a manufacturing facility and fulfillment house that helps with orders.”

The mission statement is straightforward: “To create a brand that simplifies sports nutrition, making it safe, easy and convenient to fuel up before you go out and play. We hope OUTPLAY products help keep you fueled, but more importantly, our goal is to inspire you to take risks, believe in yourself and dream as big as you can—because anything is possible if you have a vision and put in the work.”

The 25-year-old from Santa Monica was an All-City libero on the Pali High volleyball team, helping the Dolphins win the City Division I title as a sophomore in 2014. She graduated early after being recruited by University of Texas, one of the top NCAA programs under coach Merritt Elliott, a Palisades native and Pali High alum.

Upon redshirting her first year, Zelon quit the team and in February 2018 wrote a departing blog post titled “Why Walking Away Was The Best Decision” in which she described how her attitude toward a sport she played competitively for 10 years changed. She studied abroad in Spain in 2019 and earned her bachelor’s degree at Austin in 2020.

“I initially called the brand Pregame, but after meeting with lawyers we decided that would be too hard to trademark,” Zelon explained. “For a few months it was essentially nameless until I found something I really loved and, more importantly, was available to trademark. I wrote down everything that would make sense for the brand—hustle, grind, sport, etc.”

One night, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Zelon was cleaning out her room when she found a letter her father, David, wrote the day she left for college.

“The last line said: ‘You have a unique ability to outwork and outplay anyone,’” she recalled. “I read it a few times and realized that was the exact motto I wanted the brand to encompass. I filed the trademark the next day. It’s one of my favorite things about the whole business.”

The genesis of Zelon’s journey to entrepreneurship dates to when she was still a freshman competing for playing time on the Longhorns’ roster. Her parents met at a bodybuilding camp, so she grew up learning about the importance of sports nutrition, but it wasn’t until she got to college that she understood its impact.

“I started making snacks in my dorm room,” Zelon said. “I didn’t set out to start a business, it was more a hobby. My days consisted of working out, going to school, practicing and study hall. As you can imagine running a business didn’t fit into the schedule.”

At that point, Zelon reached out to nutritionists to get as much feedback as she could on what was recommended to eat. Then she started cooking.

“I learned to make easy and convenient pre-game snacks that would keep me fueled during long matches,” Zelon said. “I’d give whatever I made to my teammates, friends and other college athletes I knew, thinking nothing of it.”

Zelon would alter the macros (protein, carbohydrates and fats), depending on the type of workout. Eventually she added in vegetables and vitamins.

Zelon said it took two and a half years—and “a lot of long nights”—to finish the recipe.

“I had based it on these banana protein bars my mom used to make my siblings [Luke and Sophie] and I for sporting events, but I had no idea at the time how hard it was to make a recipe shelf stable and FDA approved,” she explained. “During COVID I worked on it every day in my parents’ kitchen. At the same time, I was taking food science classes online and was working in a food lab, so I learned a lot about the whole business while I was trying to perfect the taste, texture, shelf life, etc.

“What makes OUTPLAY so authentic is that it’s essentially me, in a brand. I did all the design myself, which allowed me to really put my personality, style and voice into it. If you know my family, you know that OUTPLAY just makes sense. Family comes first, sports second and food in close third.”

Flavors include Mint Chocolate, Cookie Dough, Snickerdoodle, Birthday Cake and Peanut Butter Chocolate.