Two Nurses Just Launched an Energy Drink– And It Makes Sense!
At first glance, it doesn’t add up.
Why would two nurses start a performance brand and then launch an energy drink into one of the most saturated markets on the planet?
For Alex and Loftin, co-founders of Üni Performance, the answer is simple. They weren’t trying to compete. They were trying to solve a problem no one else was addressing.
Both registered nurses and endurance athletes, Alex and Loftin spent years working in environments where sustained performance wasn’t optional. Long shifts, high cognitive demand, and constant pressure were the norm. From the beginning, Üni Performance was built around one core mission: elevate the performance of healthcare professionals and industry workers using products informed by real-world experience, not marketing trends.
So why an energy drink?
As Üni evolved, a pattern became impossible to ignore. Caffeine was everywhere.
“As nurses, we don’t get to choose when we’re tired,” Alex says. “You always have to be on, making decisions fast and using our time efficiently. But most of the stimulants getting us through a shift are actually doing more harm than good.”
During a normal day, you see coffee at the start of a shift, energy drinks in the middle, and sometimes even another cup or drink just to make it through the final hours. For swing and night shifters, caffeine isn’t a choice, it’s a survival tool. But Alex and Loftin also saw the downside play out daily, with jitters, energy crashes, elevated stress, and most critically, disrupted sleep once the shift ended.
“I would crush coffee or energy drinks just to survive the shift,” Loftin says. “Then I’d get home and lie awake for hours. The energy helped short term, but it wrecked my recovery on the back end.”
The Gap
Most energy drinks are built for intensity, not sustainability. They are designed to spike stimulation quickly, often stacking high caffeine doses that overwhelm the nervous system. That approach may work temporarily, but it creates a familiar cycle: overstimulation during the shift, followed by exhaustion and poor sleep afterward.
Alex and Loftin decided it was time to break that cycle.
“ØCAF is the product of innovation. It is fueled with Paraxanthine, the metabolite of caffeine responsible for energy, focus, and mental clarity,” explains Alex. “By isolating this ingredient and removing the other metabolites responsible for crashes, jitters, and insomnia, we’ve seen staggering improvements in performance and recovery.”
It’s A Supplement
Rather than trying to replace caffeinated beverages, ØCAF was engineered to supplement them. It is designed to replace that second cup, as an afternoon pick-me-up, or towards the end of a long shift when focus is still required, but sleep cannot be sacrificed.
“We never set out to replace your coffee or favorite energy drink,” Loftin says. “ØCAF is there for the gap. When you still need to be on, but you do not want to pay for it at 3 a.m. when you’re trying to sleep.”
ØCAF delivers clean, controlled energy that supports alertness, mental clarity, and sustained focus, without the crash or overstimulation that defines most caffeinated energy drinks. The goal isn’t to push harder. It is to perform better for longer, then actually recover when the work is done.
This is where ØCAF stands apart in a crowded market.
“There are a ton of energy drinks out there,” Alex says. “But none of them were built for how we actually work. ØCAF exists because that space was empty.”
Energy With Intention
For healthcare workers finishing a night shift, swing shifters navigating the late afternoon slump, or athletes who need to perform without jacking up their heart rate, ØCAF becomes a strategic tool for everyday performance.
It is energy with intention.
This philosophy mirrors everything Üni Performance builds. The brand is not focused on trends or extremes. It is focused on real people, real schedules, and real consequences. In professions where clarity and endurance can impact lives, performance cannot come at the expense of recovery.
“At the end of the day, performance means nothing if you cannot recover,” Loftin says. “ØCAF lets people excel at their job and enhance recovery so they can come back even stronger the next day.”
ØCAF represents the next evolution of Üni Performance’s mission, extending beyond physical support into cognitive and metabolic performance. It is not about replacing what already works. It is about supporting professionals where existing solutions fall short.
Every decade or so, a new product comes along that turns “the way it’s always been done” on its head. We are looking at one of those products.
ØCAF isn’t just another energy drink. It’s a new approach to performance, built for how people actually work.
Learn more at www.drinknocaf.com
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