Gormley– Community Entrepreneur Profile: Lonnie Atkinson
Finding one’s passion is not always easy to do. However, as Lonnie Atkinson found, sometimes it has been there all along. You just need to know where to look.
Atkinson, a Winston-Salem native and mother of three, discovered her passion for healthy juices and foods while working as a photographer in California. But it took her mother’s cancer to bring her back to her hometown. Then with a bit of prodding from her husband and some help from local food advocates, Atkinson found a way to bring her dream to life. As founder and co-owner of Village Juice, she now draws cold-pressed juice fans from as far as High Point University, a half hour drive away, to her juice bar and cafe.
This wasn’t always her dream though. After graduating from Savannah College of Art and Design, she moved to California to pursue a career in photography with National Geographic.
“The work was pretty slow,” said Atkinson about her photography career. “I did some freelance stuff from weddings to bar mitzvahs to local magazines, but there was no job security and my heart wasn’t in it.”
To supplement her income, Atkinson first took up a part-time job as a sales representative for a shipping company. Her heart wasn’t in this either though, so she looked for something else that would be more enjoyable. Eventually, Atkinson decided to apply for a job at her favorite raw-vegan restaurant.
That’s where Atkinson discovered her passion for raw-vegan food. “I realized I wanted to be there everyday,” Atkinson said. “I would even get up early and stay up late at night reading books about the food.”
It didn’t take long for Atkinson to realize she had to make a change. “The thing you just can’t wait to do when you get off work, that’s your passion,” she said. With this revelation, she began to think about how she could make it into a career.
Shortly thereafter, in 2010, Atkinson’s mom was diagnosed with cancer and she flew home to be with her. While in Winston-Salem, she helped her mom recover by switching her diet to raw-vegan meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Within two weeks, Atkinson’s mother had lost 10 pounds that she had put on while in the hospital and her cholesterol dropped 100 points.
This further stoked Atkinson’s passion.
“Holy cow,” she said to herself. “This is real. This is not just a fad. You can really make a change in yourself just by what you put in your body.”
While home taking care of her mother, Atkinson met her husband-to-be. They soon got married and had a child, but Atkinson never let go of her dream.
Eventually, in mid-2014, her husband convinced her to give the business a shot.
She spent the next few months developing recipes, establishing a business plan, getting permits and licenses and creating her brand. She barely saw her family at all for the first six months. “When I first started, I remember having my baby strapped to my chest with carrots slices stuck all over her hair and in the ceiling” Atkinson said.
She then moved her operation to the beta-verde kitchen, a local industrial kitchen owned by a mother and daughter who rent it out to local foodstuff startups, including local startup UpDog Kombucha.
Social media was also important. She began growing the business by word of mouth and via her Facebook page. As word spread, the orders she received skyrocketed. For the first few months, customers could place orders on Sunday for delivery on Tuesday and on Wednesday for delivery on Friday. She then opened up a booth at Cobblestone Farmer’s Market, a local market which she ran by herself every Saturday.
Atkinson soon realized she needed help keeping up with demand. First, she enlisted her father and brother, who would help her squeeze fruits and vegetables into juices for 12 to 16 hours a day on weekends.
She also needed help on the administrative side. Although she retains full control of everything related to operations, creative development, recipes, and customer interfacing, there was still more to do.
She first partnered with her husband, who is an attorney in Winston-Salem. He handles business development and expansion. Next, they partnered with her husband’s best friend, who serves as chief financial officer. They then partnered with a third friend, who invested enough money to get the company on its feet.
With her support network in place, Atkinson was able to lease her current location on Stratford Road and grow it from a smoothie bar to a restaurant, featuring all sorts of healthy bowls, salads, toasts, and sandwiches.
“Super busy but still pretty laid back,” Atkinson said, describing the work environment at Village Juice. “We like to blast music and have fun.”
Meghan Grigspy, an international business major at Forsyth Technical Community College, is also a big fan of the friendly environment. Grigspy has been working with Village Juice for over a year now and is a “front of house leader.”
“I absolutely love working here. It’s the best job I’ve ever had,” Grigspy said. “Lonnie is the coolest boss ever and I love the girls I work with. It’s a great vibe everyday.”
Grigspy even seems to have fun working at Village Juice when things go wrong. “The worst part about working here is when we have keg explosions during rush times,” she said. “Kombucha goes everywhere, even on customers sometimes. We generally start to panic but it always turns into laughter.”
Store manager Arianna Ayuso, head store manager since last year, also loves working at Village Juice. She graduated in 2015 with a master’s degree from Wake Forest in sustainability. “I love working here,” Ayuso said. “It’s very hands on and we get to try new things.”
Ayuso had lots of praise for Atkinson’s innovation in starting her company in Winston-Salem and is proud to be part of a company that sources most of its produce from local farms, one of which Ayuso also works at herself; Fairshare Farm.
Although Winston-Salem was not where Atkinson had envisioned opening her first juice store and restaurant, she has since realized this tester site in a small market was exactly what she needed. She even surprised herself by the success they’ve had so far. “I knew it would completely bust or it would be awesome, we lucked out,” Atkinson said.
It wasn’t all Luck though. Atkinson also benefited from solid brand development and pop-culture trends of healthy eating. As Kathryn Hurd, a junior at Wake Forest University and Village Juice enthusiast, puts it, “I feel like Village Juice is the only place around to get fresh, local, and super healthy food.”
This seems to be a fairly common opinion considering Atkinson estimates 30% of her business comes from college students.
Although she wouldn’t give any details, Atkinson says there is certainly more to come from Village Juice. “There’s still lots of room for this company to grow,” Atkinson said. “Keep an eye out for us.”
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