REMERTON — Healthy can be tasty too. The Main Squeeze at 1001 Baytree Road opened the first week of June to offer fresh juices and smoothies from real fruits and vegetables and no sugars.
Spence Romine, the owner of The Main Squeeze, quit his position as a banker to dedicate himself to a new endeavor.
“I wanted something healthy for Valdosta,” he said. “My thought is, if you deal just with fruits and vegetables, it’ll taste better. We can get you fruits and vegetables in a cup, basically.” He bought the facility, which was previously a hair salon, next to Boardwalk, and opened after a month of hard work.
The bigger cities, like Atlanta and Nashville, Tenn., have plenty of places to offer drinks full of vitamins and minerals, Romine said. Valdosta was not one of them until recently.
“I got tired of Valdosta not having a place like that, so I decided to do it myself,” Romine said. He explained that people have the wrong perception about smoothies thinking that they are always healthy. However, smoothies are in the top five “healthy” foods that are not really healthy because there is usually a lot of sugar added in them.
In addition to the vitamin-loaded juices and smoothies, this place offers organic snacks, power bars, natural chips and vegan cookies. He plans to add more variety to the menu in the near future. Romine’s confidence for a successful business comes from his belief that “everybody wants to be a little healthier no matter who you are.”
He must have been right since for as little as three weeks, The Main Squeeze already has its regular customers.
“I’ve been amazed to see that people want to be a little healthier,” Romine said.
To encourage a healthy diet, The Main Squeeze has discounts for gym members, students and military. Customers just have to bring and show their identification cards.
For those in a hurry, there is a drive-through. Romine explained that they are slowly starting to deliver to businesses if the order is big enough.
Q: What do your regular customers usually order?
A: “We get regulars every morning who drink their carrot juice. We’ve got a lady who comes here every morning. She wanted a smoothie with a lot of protein in it after her workout, so we developed a smoothie for her that has peanut butter and other protein ingredients. We have somebody who is here everyday to get a smoothie with spinach in it, but you don’t taste the spinach at all. Since we are not franchised, we can do whatever we want to do, so we can better deliver to our customers. ”
Q: Which is your favorite smoothie?
A: “Probably Trip to Kenya because it has freshly squeezed apple juice, pineapple, mangoes and strawberries in it.”
Q: Was the recession an obstacle for your business?
A: “We’ve got a great location. I knew the prices were good too. I’m a little bit of a risk taker by nature while my wife is not, so we try to balance each other out. Also, people might not be going to vacations as much, or they might not be buying cars for example, but they are still treating themselves with three- or four-dollar treats. I felt like there was a need in Valdosta, and wanted to do something on my own.”
Q: What are your working hours?
A: Right now it’s Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. until 7 p.m., and Saturday, 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. We’ll probably stay open later, especially when college starts.”
Business
Related Photos
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Spence Romine, owner of The Main Squeeze, serves Emily Lucht a freshly made smoothie at his new smoothie and juice bar located on Baytree Road in Remerton.
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The Main Squeeze located at 1001 Baytree Road in Remerton.
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