Quest Nutrition was founded in 2010 in El Segundo, California, by Tom Bilyeu, Mike Osborn, and Ron Penna, who had recently sold their data loss prevention software company Awareness Technologies.

[1][2] Inspired in part by obesity in Bilyeu's family, Quest aimed to create protein bars and other high-protein snacks with no added sugar.

"[3] The company was bootstrapped for its first five years before accepting a minority stake investment from private equity firm VMG Partners in 2015, valuing Quest Nutrition at $900 million.

[1] In 2017, Quest underwent restructuring, closing two Los Angeles manufacturing sites, laying off 524 factory workers, and outsourcing their production and distribution to third parties.

[3] The change prompted criticism of the protein bars' flavor, causing a sharp decrease in sales and leading the company to further reformulate the recipe later that year.