Today we’d like to introduce you to Tesse Redman.
Hi Tesse, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
During the COVID layoffs of 2020, our family began greatly focusing on wellness at home. We began juicing to help improve our family’s immunity and provide our children with an easy and delicious way of consuming a great amount of fruits and veggies! Once we saw the improvements in our own health, we began sharing juice with friends and family and began to witness what raw, living juice could do for anyone at any stage of life. We began looking at our own small-town community and decided we needed to share it with everyone! After a few months of planning, lots of research, and hours and hours of crafting juice recipes that anyone could enjoy, we decided to debut our creations at the local farmer’s market. And it was a hit!
Every market we went to, we sold more and more juice and got to have more and more conversations with folks about the why of it. We discovered even in our little rural small town, people were eager to learn about what juice could do for them and how it could affect their lifestyle as whole. Our juicing community grew, and we soon began partnering with other small businesses, a wonderful university, and our local hospital! Our supportive community and partnerships enabled us to quickly move from a table at farmers’ markets to our own brick-and-mortar shop that is a direct neighbor to the market where we very first began.
It’s been a fierce and wild ride going from learning the basics in the kitchen with only our children to a full-fledged and thriving business serving our entire community with fresh, raw, and living juice. And we can’t wait to see where this journey takes us!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
As a raw, unprocessed product, raw juice has a lot of stipulations and red tape to get through, more so than any other food/beverage business. And with being the only producer of raw juice in Licking County, Ohio, it took months just to get our local Health Department on board with licensing us. We ended up turning our own garage into a commercial kitchen space to meet the needs of licensing requirements. The renovation itself was a lot of work!
We did not have a lot of funds to invest in our business start-up. So, we started out with the most basic and smallest commercial juicer we could find thinking that as demand slowly increased, we’d hopefully be able to purchase a larger capacity juicer in the next year or so. Demand did not slowly increase; it skyrocketed. This led to lots of late and long hours juicing on a machine that really should have been only serving a third of the demand we had and trying to balance the needs of our four young children and household along with it. But we stuck to it! After about 6 months of grinding work, we were able to purchase one of best commercial juice presses on the market.
We’ve been impressed with Roots Wellness Bar, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Roots Wellness Bar is a family-owned and operated juice and elixir bar. We specialize in family-friendly cold-pressed juice, lifestyle-changing juice cleanses, mushroom coffee, superfood lattes, and wholesome snacks. We prioritize gluten-free and dairy-free food and drink options that are enjoyable for folks at any age or any stage of their wellness journey. We always strive to meet people where they are on their way to wellness by always taking time to talk with every friend that walks through our door, answering questions in a manner that’s relatable and easy to understand, and promoting an atmosphere that is welcoming to the entire family.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out.
Take help when it’s offered, seek advice from those that know more than you or have done it far longer, say yes to every opportunity (within reason), and make lots of friends!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rootswellnessbar/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rootswellnessbar
- Other: https://linktr.ee/rootswellnessbar?fbclid=IwAR2xkY0ytF_32TNMK7aBR40Pf8JBXxvEkFTHsHVHcpmcGuG6ziB7f_Gpx4s
