Merced juice bar to reopen in new location attached to hotel. What it offers
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kind Neighbor juice bar will reopen in September at 1717 M Street in Merced.
- Menu expansion includes smoothies, bowls, toast and upcoming salad options.
- Founder Rocio Gonzalez aims to boost healthy food access using local produce.
A Merced juice bar focused on helping people live a healthy life, will be opening in a new location later this summer.
Kind Neighbor, a Merced juice bar, has moved from its previous location inside the former Bitwise building, 1717 M St. Merced resident and business owner Rocio Gonzalez, said the new location is expected to open around mid-September and she plans to hold some type of re-opening event.
The business, which aims to provide healthy on the go food options with offerings such as cold-pressed juices, smoothies, smoothie bowls and soon salads, sources most of the ingredients from area farms. Gonzalez, 37, said she chose to set up her business in Merced after noticing a lack of healthy on-the-go food options.
“That was my inspiration to start here in Merced,” Gonzalez said. “I feel like when people have more access to healthy foods, they are more likely to consume it.”
If people are surrounded by a lot of access to fresh produce and healthy items, Gonzalez said that is what they are most like to consume. Gonzalez said that when she started the business, cold-pressed juices were the main items offered. The menu has expanded to smoothies, smoothie bowls, toast and soon salads will be added to the menu.
Gonzalez said her journey into the health and wellness landscape began after both of her parents got sick and struggled with their health. Gonzalez said her father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and her mother struggled with diabetes. Gonzalez said she didn’t want to go down the same path as her parents.
“I thought okay, I need to do something about my health,” said Gonzalez. “I can’t live the way they lived, so that inspired me to get into health and wellness.”
After spending some time living in both the Bay Area and Los Angels, Gonzalez said she moved back to Merced and identified a lack of health and wellness, so she thought about how she could bring health and wellness to Merced. After winning a juicer through social media, Gonzalez said she saw that as a sign to open a juice bar. After some people initially told her they didn’t think a juice bar would work in Merced, Gonzalez said she started testing recipes in 2018.
Gonzalez said she wasn’t working at the time she started testing recipes and she was helping take care of her father who had pancreatic cancer. After her father’s passing, Gonzalez said she wasn’t sure if she wanted to live in Merced or move back to the Bay Area or Los Angeles. Gonzalez said she began testing the waters to see if there was a market for her creations in Merced.
“I posted my menu items on Facebook just to see if there was a market for it, for juices,” Gonzalez said. “I remember it had a small menu, juices and overnight oats, and some nut milks. I started getting a lot of momentum, a lot of orders and I got really excited.”
After spending time in 2019 working on her business plan, and looking for a commercial kitchen to work out of, she rented out a portion of the kitchen inside Ravello’s and opened the business in August 2020.
Gonzalez said that since the business’ previous location closed, she has received weekly messages from people asking her when the business is going to reopen.
“We’ve had a good amount of people that support us, and that’s what allowed us to keep going,” she said.
Gonzalez said the business’ hours of operation have not been finalized, but that she anticipates the new location to be open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Additional information can be found on the business’s website.
