Blended with love:

Mix your favourite home-style juice recipes, sweeten it with fine dining flair, add a dash of love from social media and bottle it with a sound business model, and what do you get? You get the freshest juice on Frederick Street, Blended with Love.

The blended juice brand, growing in popularity, was founded by two San Juan natives Jamal Bonnet and Christon James. The duo told Business Day that they don’t only intend to be the freshest juice on the block but have dreams of bringing their all-natural blended brand of juices to grocery shelves and restaurants all over the world.

Freshly-squeezed business

Bonnet and James told Business Day that they started their business at the beginning of February, planning to catch the high level of foot traffic for the Carnival season.

“It has a market for fresh juices,” said Bonnet. “Some juices are more natural than others in terms of the ingredients and some are just more refreshing. The place is hot, and the market is out here on the street. Most times people would have to walk into a store to get juices so being innovative we decided to bring it to them.”

The duo serve a wide range of blended juices and punches such as the LOL - a mix of lemon, orange and lime, and the Lush Lemonade, which James described as “high style lemonade.”

“Well, you see it's pink. You normally don't see that, right?” he said. "That’s because it has a maraschino cherry in it. This is the same style you get in restaurants when you go to dine. We bring that high style to the streets.”

They also provide home styled drinks such as the Cool Ruler, a blended cucumber drink. James said this was to attract people with a taste pallet for traditional drinks that people would not find in a restaurant or store.

The duo said so far they are gaining more attention and recognition through word of mouth and social media representation. On the labels is a QR code which links customers to their social media pages. They added that several well-known people have plugged their product on social media, giving them even more popularity.

“People like Johnny Bravo the bodyguard, I noticed he posted one of our seamoss drinks on his socials, and there were other people,” James said. “Everyone is on social media nowadays, and when they get something nice they like to show it to their friends and to the public. We’ve noticed that once people taste it they take pictures with it.”

A recipe for quality

Bonnet and James said consistency and quality are two of the pillars of their business model, and with the help of their family in the kitchen, they ensure that everyday their drinks have the same freshness, flavour and quality as the same day they started.

“Just like Solo or Ramsaran or these other beverage businesses we keep it professional the same way. Everything is weighed or measured, everything is fresh.”

They told Business Day that they hunt for fresh produce regularly, and as much as they can, keep their suppliers strictly local, even when an alternative is cheaper. James said that every day they ensure to make a fresh batch of juices for people to enjoy.

“It's not like we make a whole set and we push from that for the week. We know the numbers we make for the day. If Bonnet sells 200 for the day and I sell 200 for the day, we try to make 500 to re-up for the next day,” James said.

They said overall, the number of juices they have to make to meet the demand continues to grow, but they usually have to depend on the taste palettes of the people on the street on that day to have a sense of which of their juices to focus on for the next day.

“Some days you might sell more of one thing right and the next day you may say well I have to bring out plenty cucumber because they sold out fast. But the next day that might not be the people's choice again every day we just switch it up,” James said.

The juices come at a price range of between $10 and $20. Bonnet said, as part of their commitment to remaining consistent with the product and brand, Blended with Love also maintains its consistency with price, even if that means a reduction in profits when prices of raw materials fluctuate.

“Most times we would bite the bullet to maintain the price,” Bonnet said. “The business is not that old, so we haven’t experienced any major fluctuations, but so far any little costs that change we absorb it.”

Bonnet and James said by next year they are hoping to get their brand of blended juices on grocery shelves across the nation, and beyond that, they hope to be exporters.

To James, their time selling the juices on Frederick street is only one phase of their business plan, which is for engagement and brand education.

“We are selling our products wholesale while we distribute on the streets,” James said. “What we are doing here is promoting our product so we would have better reach.”

They said they are already speaking with a few wholesalers and distributors, and with the help of social media they are gaining traction.

James said it is even getting popularity outside of the country.

“People are asking for it outside the country because they tasted it while they were here during the Carnival,” he said. “People are saying if they had it in St Maarten’s and Barbados and other islands, it would be very successful.”

Bonnet said Blended with Love is already on the way to expansion, and are looking for business partners, but they are still holding out for “the right deal.”

“We need the right kind of deals. Not with anyone trying to undercut us, take the business out from under us or wanting to be part owner. We believe that this has the potential to be the number one juice in the country.”