Juice and smoothies company The Juice Laundry opened a new location on the Corner Thursday, adding to its first location on Preston Ave. Co-founder and -owner Mike Keenan said he and his wife Sarah Messer Keenan saw the new location as more accessible to University Health System staff and students.
“Preston … lets us reach some of the student population, it lets us reach a lot of the people who live and work downtown, but it’s not ideal for students and people who work at the hospital, and those are two crowds that we really want to make our products accessible to,” Keenan said. “So when the opportunity to open up a location on the Corner came around, it was really just a no-brainer.”
Wedged in between Insomnia Cookies and the Public Safety Substation on University Ave., The Juice Laundry is a cold-pressed juice bar. All ingredients are vegan, organic and raw, and products range from acai smoothie bowls to nut milk.
Keenan said the business started out as a juice delivery service, delivering to homes, offices and markets. Keenan said The Juice Laundry has maintained the same principles since the beginning — to be “transparent” and to source certified organic produce.
“Partly, I decided to open a juice bar because I was very passionate about eating healthy, but also just a frustration with the restaurant industry as a whole, in terms of not really being able to always fully understand or find out what you’re eating, where it came from,” Keenan said. “Obviously, that’s something that has continued to take hold as people start wanting to understand more where their food comes from and how it’s grown or how it’s raised.”
The Corner location focuses on smoothies and smoothie bowls, also selling juice made at the Preston Ave. location. Keenan said the new location is set up to be more efficient.
“With opening that second space, we had a lot more knowledge and a lot more ability to say, ‘How can we get people out quicker? How can we streamline the process?’” Keenan said. “I think it’s going to make both locations operate a lot more quickly and efficiently and smoothly, having this one geared towards the production of smoothies and smoothie bowls.”
But Keenan said The Juice Bar is more than just a place to get food. During the summer, Keenan said, the Preston Ave. location even offers free yoga classes with mindful eating discussions on Monday.
“We’re really trying to make more of an impact on the community in terms of bringing that awareness about healthy eating, mindful eating, healthy living, all of those things,” Keenan said. “I think success on the Corner for us is going to be as much tied into that as getting new customers and bringing our product to a new crowd that maybe hasn’t been able to experience it before.”
Keenan said The Juice Laundry is always happy to talk to people who are skeptical about the juices, which range from $9 to $11 for a 17 ounce serving.
“There’s a certain segment of people who view it as a trend or almost a fad and what I say to people like that is once you start eating healthy and feeling how these life-giving organic ingredients make your body feel, there’s really no going back,” Keenan said. “We’re also about balance and life. It’s not about, ‘You have to be perfect, you can never go out and have a drink or eat a pizza,’ it’s not about that. It’s more about the overall lifestyle of incorporating these healthy ingredients into your diet and the way it makes you feel.”
When asked what product the University would be, Keenan, a Law alumnus, said it would have to be a smoothie bowl.
“It’s going to be the Coco Verde Smoothie Bowl because it is a perfect combination of health and nutrients and all of the good things we want to be putting into our body,” Keenan said. “And at the same time, it tastes great, it’s a fun flavor — coconut, mango is what you feel. It’s that combination of really nutrient-dense health that we’re all about, but with a lot of fun and a lot of flavor and a lot of deliciousness, too.”
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