Juice girl moves
After years of being a regular fixture at farmers markets and pioneering the streets of Houston in her tangerine-colored van, Juice Girl Gretchen Todd parked the mobile juice bar on 238 19th Street to set up shop in her first 300-square-foot brick-and-mortar. This summer, Todd is ready for the big leap as her business has outgrown her tiny juice bar in the Heights.
The Juice Girl earned her moniker working the juice bar at Whole Foods Market back in 1992.
“It’s become part of my identity,” said Todd. It didn’t take long for her to discover the benefits of juicing, “I fell in love with the whole process.”
Growth would be unimaginable without her team, and in particular long-standing employee, Eric Sauseda, who runs the 19th Street juice bar. Todd claimed, “Eric is my most valuable resource and I could not expand without him. It’s my first build-out so that’s the real challenge,” said Todd who also plans to transform her current juice bar into an all-organic snow cone or ice cream shop.
Space is not the only expansion. Most excited about her commitment to using all organic produce, she is creating a delectable new line of Juice Creams—dairy-free ice cream, similar in texture to sorbets, sweetened with dates in lieu of sugar. The Juice Girl’s menu is getting some other additions, including dairy-free herbal lattes, more acai bowls (thick smoothies that you eat rather than drink), organic healthy snacks and salads.
> Brick-and-mortars aside, you can also find Juice Girl at Urban Harvest Eastside Farmers Market Saturdays 8am–noon.
