WHEN IT COMES TO SHAKES AND SMOOTIES Latoya Alleyne seems to have the right recipe. She moved from using and sharing healthy drinks with family to selling the beverages in her neighbourhood before branching out to two supermarkets about 18 months ago.
Then in mid-March this year she opened Christopher’s Shakes and Smoothie Bar, which operates from a Broad Street, Bridgetown mall.
The 31-year-old businesswoman told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY that she wants to go even further.
Alleyne said she could not have reached this stage without the help, love and dedication of her stepdad Christopher, who has since died, and as a tribute she named the business after him. The management and marketing student at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus said that the biblical translation of Christopher is “God is with you” and she firmly believed that He has guided her steps.
“When I was working about two-and-a-half years ago, I was being put on staff and I had to do a physical [exam].
“When I went, I had to do the blood test, after which the doctor told me that my cholesterol is borderline. I said ‘okay’ but she said that at some point in time it could build up in my system and cause a blood clot and give me a stroke just like that. I didn’t think that cholesterol was that serious,” she said.
“I go to the university and when classes finish at seven, eight and nine o’clock at night, you don’t think of going home and cooking a proper meal, you think about coming through a drive-through and that’s what I used to do a lot,” Alleyne noted.
So she changed her eating habits and started making oats-based drinks as the grain helps to lower cholesterol. She experimented with different recipes and concoctions and in six months her cholesterol was back to normal.
Naturally, when the opened the bar she placed the oats-based shakes on the menu and added protein shakes, fruit and vegetable beverages, as well as health teas with moringa, soursop leaves and bayleaf, and she is working on a ginger and lemon tea.
Alleyne said that her offers were healthy and made with fresh fruits such as strawberries, bananas, mangoes, and vegetables, but she has added some sweet treats (banana bread, carrot cake and brownies) to her menu for variety. Green Carnival – a kale, spinach, cucumber, apple and banana mix – is one of the most popular drinks among her clientele, several of whom are health conscious.
The decision to move to her present location was made around summer last year and she saved money from her part-time weekend job to buy the materials bit by bit. It was not easy because she was doing it from her savings, but she had every intention of realising her goal.
Getting a loan, she said, was not a thought, because she did not want to be in a situation where she had to be making monthly payments, while paying rent, buying supplies and paying staff. That apart, finding a space to operate in was “so hard”.
“I couldn’t find any space and when I did the rent was so high. People wanted $1 500 and $1 200 and when you’re doing something out of pocket, that’s not very practical. I was trying to rent a space in [a new mall], I submitted a proposal to a gym. I tried everywhere, but the rents are ridiculous,” she said.
What does the future hold for her “baby Christopher’s Shakes and Smoothie Bar? Apart from increasing the traffic on her Facebook and Instagram pages and in the store, she wants to make it a national name.
“I want persons to know about us and what we really offer. I would like to have two outlets, one out of town and one in Bridgetown so that the odd day when someone is feeling ill, he/she can come to us and say ‘can I get a ginger tea?’”
“There was a lady in the mall and she didn’t feel well. She came and got one of our shakes and incorporated raisins in it.
“About an hour or so afterwards she told my employee that she was feeling better and she would not bother to go home anymore.
“Sometimes, I research what combinations work well together and sometimes I go by what I think would taste good.
“Then I look at the science behind it to see what each ingredient is good for and the health benefits it offers,” Alleyne said. (Green Bananas Media.)
