Hello Juice and Smoothie is a small business that we are incredibly proud of. It all started on our honeymoon in Hawaii, when my wife and I were brainstorming ideas for a business we could start together. We landed on the idea of a craft juice and smoothie bar, and decided to pursue it upon returning home to St. Louis. Despite being a small business, we have been able to achieve great success in our first few years of operation. We have two locations, and have grossed over 500K in that time. We have also been able to create jobs for over 20 people at a time. Our focus has always been on offering locally sourced, organic juices and smoothies that are crafted with intention. We wanted to create a space where people could slow down, listen to their bodies, and feel seen and loved while they were with us. The experience our customers have when they walk into our space has always been a top priority for us.
My wife and I had a really wild idea when we first got married to start a juice bar. Kayla (my wife) is incredibly passionate and knowledgeable about naturalistic healthy lifestyles. Cold pressed juice and craft smoothie bowls that were superfood focused was unheard of in St. Louis, much less the midwest. We saw the spaces from the coastal cities and knew that St. Louis needed something like that. We started piecing together recipes in our south city kitchen and doing pop ups at small businesses around town. We didn't realize the power in this organic built community. Quickly growing a social media following close to 10K followers before we even opened, was unreal. People were messaging us every day asking more details about our space. It seemed like the community was dying for something like this to open. We did a quiet soft opening and didn't realize how quickly word would get out. We ended up selling out that day before noon and had a line out the door the entire morning. We were in way over our heads, and had no idea how to run a small business much less a high functioning cafe. We scrambled and quickly hired more passionate people, ordered a ton more inventory and rode the wave of hype for the next few months.
Over the span of three years, Hello Juice and Smoothie became a sandbox for invention. We got to try things clients would never say yes to. We took risks and never took the easy way out. Everything in our mind was trial and error. This might not have been the most business friendly decision at times, but it taught us more than we could ever learn regardless. We ended up eventually selling the entire business to our partners that we brought on in year two of opening. It's now under their ownership and continues to grow and spread a health focused lifestyle across the city and beyond.
Employed over 20 people and grossed over 500K in our first year
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