Today we’d like to introduce you to Ajay Sharma.
Ajay, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Opening up my business has been a long journey. I was in the Marine Corps and deployed many times. I realized after my fourth deployment overseas that eating mea ready to eat (MREs) were not good for me. I had no energy and I felt like I had cancer. I am scared of surgeries so going to a traditional doctor’s office was out of the question. I went on an excursion to find self-cure for anything that was making me lethargic all the time.
Desperate, I read numerous books and watched YouTube videos on how to cure a cancer naturally. After my research, I went on a 100% juice and smoothie diet for 30 days. It changed my life. The lump I felt in my body was gone. I had so much energy that I always wanted to do something productive all day long. I was still in the Marines and I worked out like crazy and actually improved my physical fitness standards by a lot. My run time for 3 miles went from 23:00 to 19:30; my pull ups went from 21 to almost 30. I was awoken.
I left the Marine Corps in 2014 and started perusing my degree in Finance. I did really well there, but decided to open my own business instead of doing a job at a bank in my field in Finance.
I took an entrepreneurship class and an entrepreneurship course at SMU. I was bombarded with a billion questions like – what are you passionate about, what moves you, what makes you happy? I had a few ideas but owning a juice bar made a complete sense.
Just the idea of giving my community healthier option made me smile because I know how it saved my own life. . Also, while serving 100% organic juices and smoothies to my clients would mean I am connecting with my community as well. I really liked this a lot! One thing led to another and I opened my own juice bar right after my graduation from SMU.
Has it been a smooth road?
Opening up a juice bar without any prior restaurant experience has had been tough. I was a student at SMU when I decided to open my own juice bar. As a student, I only had so much money. I applied to every single bank that we have in our beautiful state of Texas – they all rejected me.
I did not give up. I kept asking investors and VCs. I even asked my professors at SMU. I finally was able to come up with the money I needed to open my first location in Frisco.
Opening up the juice bar was tough, the daily operations were tougher. Since I did not have any experience managing a restaurant, I did not know anything. I did not know where to get my organic produce, how to schedule my helpers, what equipment to use, how to set up a system. I am slowly learning and getting better and better at it.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Salubrious Juice & More story. Tell us more about the business.
What makes us different than anyone else is the fact that we put our clients first and we offer the healthiest juices and smoothies in the market. We use only organic ingredients, and don’t cut any corners. As a matter of fact, we don’t even use any ice or any powder in our smoothies. Our concept is unique this way.
As far as I know, we are the only place which offers juices and smoothies along with the whole coffee menu.
We are proud of the fact that we retain our customers. Our locations might not be the best, what keeps us going is our clients and how they always come back for more.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
We are a vegan restaurant and veganism has gone up 600%+ from last year to this year. More and more people are switching their diet from a regular fast foods to healthier options. There is a huge upward trend in our market for sure.
Contact Info:
- Address: 10990 Rolater Rd, Suite 50
Frisco, TX 750354306 N Central Expy
Dallas, TX 75206 - Website: www.salubriousjuiceandmore.com
- Phone: 972-666-8105
- Email: info@salubriousjuiceandmore.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/salubriousjuice/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/salubriousjuiceandmore/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/salubriousjuice
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/salubrious-juice-and-more-frisco
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