Inside the Whistler startup making caffeine quick, cheap and accessible

Marie Thiffault’s dad wasn’t thrilled about her rebranding his invention—a buccal absorption system for caffeine he’d been hyping up to pharmaceutical companies for years—as “energy gum.”

“My dad would want to die,” she says with a laugh. Joey Thiffault had spent over a decade trying to get his research and development company in front of the right people. At one point he was ready to give it up altogether and spit out the idea for good. But Marie knew the system was a great idea. She took the reins from her dad to try a fresh approach.

When the family moved from Quebec City to Whistler during COVID, Marie found even more inspiration. She had earned her degree in international commerce from New Mexico State University, where she’d attended with a tennis scholarship. On the West Coast, she was surrounded by athletes (hikers, cyclists, skiers, snowboarders and more) who could benefit from caffeinated gum. “I realized it was the perfect market for it,” she says. She paired her product with bold orange branding and a fun, snappy marketing campaign, and officially launched Sunii Energy Gum in fall 2024.

Moving mountains

From the beginning, Marie’s business strategy focused on simplicity: “It’s just caffeine in gum,” she says. While the concept is very new to most people, she doesn’t typically get into the weeds about the science of it all. We will, though: the gum works sublingually; in other words, the caffeine is taken up by your bloodstream through tissues under your tongue. Unlike with a pill (or latte) that you swallow, there’s no need to wait for your digestive system to kick in in order to feel a boost. Marie notes that while a cup of coffee can take 30 to 45 minutes to wake you up, her gum works almost instantly.

This quick hit of caffeine is part of what makes the gum a good fit for the Whistler community. It’s easy to slip a pack into a bicycle pannier or the pocket of a ski jacket, and it doesn’t need to be kept warm or cold. Plus, without all the liquid that comes along with chugging caffeinated drinks, there’s less need to factor in bathroom breaks (all-important for any mountain adventure). Add in the fact that a pack of eight pieces of Sunii gum is $6, and that each piece has about as much caffeine as half a cup of coffee? It might just be the peak of accessible alpine energy.

Beyond the e-commerce bubble

Marie’s post-secondary education focused on digital marketing, so it makes sense that Amazon sales were a top priority when Sunii launched in fall 2024. The brand was achieving steady growth until the site inexplicably delisted the product just after Christmas. Three weeks later, the listings were live again, and the founder got a vague apology from the platform—but the damage was done. The company had lost its organic search ranking and inventory was moving more slowly. And what was to stop the Amazon powers that be from blowing it again?

“I realized I really want control over my own business,” Marie recalls. She started giving boxes to local Whistler shops for free, engaging with owners and telling her story in person. “The Sea-to-Sky community was amazing; I got into so many stores very quickly,” she says. “Now, that’s the avenue that I’m 100-percent focused on—the retail world—because I got amazing support.” Before Sunii’s one-year business anniversary, the gum was in 30 brick-and-mortar stores; by September 2025, Marie had also scored distribution through Circle K Ontario. It’s a huge milestone, and it’s expected to fuel exponential growth. “I’m getting a national distributor who is going to open up a lot of independent stores’ doors, so that will add over 1,000 stores within a couple of weeks,” says the Sunii founder.

Espresso yourself

Marie readily admits that she hasn’t given up coffee herself. “I drink cappuccinos, but I take them decaf,” she explains. The 30-year-old isn’t out to replace the ritual of making coffee; rather, she turns to espresso for a soothing, meditative and delicious routine… then has a piece or two of Sunii. “If I want energy, I’ll do my gum,” she says. Her marketing background comes through in the brand’s bright, punchy and to-the-point personality (the website is splashed with the phrase “F* being tired”). Despite his initial feelings about the new look, dad Joey couldn’t be prouder. “He’s obsessed now; he loves it,” Marie confirms. “I’m very grateful.”

And while she still emphasizes that her hyper-local company (based in Whistler, made in Langley and packaged in Richmond) is, at the end of the day, “just caffeine in gum,” she’s also all about the active, flexible lifestyle that Sunii supports. “I’m trying to get people to get outside and move beyond their nine-to-five,” she says. “It’s the little magic that gets you out there to do something more—that’s the vision that I have for this project.”