Healthy eating with Crestige

Liselle Bishop, owner of Cresitge Enterprise, which produces edible arrangements and blended fuit and vegetable drinks. Photo courtesy Liselle Bishop
Liselle Bishop, owner of Cresitge Enterprise, which produces edible arrangements and blended fuit and vegetable drinks. Photo courtesy Liselle Bishop

It is never easy trying to carve out a space in a niche market but Liselle Bishop has managed to do just that. Bishop is the owner of Crestige Enterprise, an edible fruit and vegetable arrangement company that uses unique blended fruit and vegetable drinks and arrangements to tell a story.

Located in Tacarigua, Crestige was opened in 2016 and aims to help people maintain a healthy lifestyle. Eating healthy is a passion of hers, especially as a mother who has had to juggle a busy schedule, watch what she eats, as well as encourage her son to eat the right way.

Crestige offers products such as carrot cake smoothies filled with nut protein; fruit and vegetable juices, which feature exciting combinations like soursop and lime; and detox juices with ingredients like kale, spinach, pineapple, ginger, lemon and water.

None of the products has any chemical preservatives and customers can place weekly and monthly orders for health drinks and desserts, and even have them delivered.

“I always had a creative side and I was also health conscious, but it was not until I had my son that I had my first challenge. I had to be creative with my cooking and how I prepared food to get him to eat and snack healthy,” she told WMN.

Edible arrangements by Liselle Bishop, owner of Cresitge Enterprise. Photo courtesy Liselle Bishop

However, it wasn’t until 2014 that her love of healthy eating became a necessity.

“Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is not always easy, sometimes just one bite of junk food can lead to 100 bites, the struggle is real. After a doctor's visit back in 2014, I learned I had a health condition that would only get worse if I didn't maintain healthy eating habits.”

Bishop used this news to get serious. She started trying different methods of creating fruit drinks and edible fruit arrangements. One of the things she chose to focus on was presentation. She tested her new-found methods on her friends.

“Whenever I had guests over they could not resist. My passion is encouraging people to eat healthy. I'd experimenting with fruits and vegetables and giving samples to family, friends and my brethren at church.”

She used their feedback and soon perfected her product.

Next was finding the right name that would complement her business. Crestige, she explained, is a portmanteau of creative and prestige.

“I wanted more than just a business name. I wanted a name that represented our creativity and who we are, one that would become well-known and respected in the industry. I wanted a brand.”

Healthy eating can be fun, she said, and that's what she wants to promote with her edible arrangements.

Blended fruit and vegetable drinks by Liselle Bishop, owner of Cresitge Enterprise. Photo courtesy Liselle Bishop

They tell a story and are so eye-catching that they often become the centrepiece of an event. This is the fun part of doing what she loves.

But, she admits, owning and operating a small business comes with a lot of obstacles, especially for a sole trader.

“It can be challenging to manage all the responsibilities that demand your time such as financial management, marketing, competition, risk management and sales on your own.”

This is true as business grows.

“Unless you can afford to hire a consultant to do it for you, you will need to add time management skills to that list and have a good support system, maybe family members or friends as this helps a lot.”

Another challenge is generating a proper cash flow.

“Cash flow generation proved to be a big challenge in the beginning and still is today because I did not start by having cash reserves to handle downturns and emergencies that would arise.”

Bishop credits her strong faith for helping her to not only be successful but to stay in business as well. Faith is needed when a person opens a business, so they don’t lose courage, she says. Researching your industry and being up to date with the trends are also very helpful, she added.

“Be prepared to work hard, once you’ve have started the journey, you will be faced with challenges but they should not discourage you. Instead, learn from your mistakes so that there is continuous improvement. An entrepreneur must possess resilience.”

Bishop believes her greatest accomplishment to date is her growing customer base.

“I learned how to target customers, identify their needs and be consistent with the release of information and with the quality of our products and services.”

Her favourite job so far since was a bridal shower.

“It was a mermaid theme. I created a coral reef fruit presentation, using fruits to carve the sea creatures and vegetables for the reef. It really was amazing to see it come alive to tell a story, listening to the positive comments an watching the guests (interact with it). It was extra special because it was my first big event and it was really exciting to share in and help create that memorable moment.”

Bishop doesn’t intend to stop now and hopes to keep finding new ways to grow her business. She is looking for a way to provide her products nationwide in leading retail stores.

“I don't use chemical preservatives and would like to keep it that way. However, since I would like my products to be on shelves in the future and I’m currently researching how to preserve my products without the use of chemical preservatives.”

Once she can figure this out she hopes within the next five years to have a juice bar up and running so that she can share even more juice combinations with people to help them enjoy a healthier lifestyle.

* For more information visit #crestigeenterprisett on Facebook and Instagram.

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"Healthy eating with Crestige"

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