With a focus on creating nutritious products and promoting healthy living, Leslie Sims, CEO of Arden's Garden, joins hosts Enrique Alvarez and Kristi Porter for this episode of Logistics with Purpose.

In this interview, Leslie shares her inspiring journey of health, wellness, and entrepreneurship, while also emphasizing the importance of accessibility and education in combating the widespread issue of poor dietary habits. The conversation delves into Leslie's personal experiences, as she recounts her family's influence over her career path, her own experiences with with addiction and recovery, and illustrates how these life lessons have shaped her leadership style and commitment to community well-being.

Tune in and discover practical advice on incorporating more plant-based foods into your diet and learn about Arden's Garden's mission to provide good health for all.

Additional Links & Resources:

• Connect with Leslie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-zinn-729937b
• Learn more about Arden's Garden: www.ardensgarden.com
• Learn more about Logistics with Purpose: https://supplychainnow.com/program/logistics-with-purpose
• Learn more about Vector Global Logistics: https://vectorgl.com/
• Subscribe to Logistics with Purpose: https://logistics-with-purpose.captivate.fm/listen

This episode was hosted by Enrique Alvarez and Kristi Porter, and produced by Amanda Luton. For additional information, please visit our dedicated show page at: https://supplychainnow.com/juicing-change-transforming-health-ardens-garden-lwp115

Welcome to Logistics with Purpose, presented by Vector Global Logistics in partnership with supply chain. Now we spotlight and celebrate organizations who are dedicated to creating a positive impact.

Join us for this behind the scenes glimpse of the origin stories, change, making progress, and future plans of organizations who are actively making a difference. Our goal isn't just to entertain you, but to inspire you to go out and change the world. And now here's today's episode of Logistics with purpose.

Good day and welcome to another episode of Logistics with Purpose. My name is Enrique Alabarez and I'm here with Kristi. Kristi, how are you doing?

I am good. I'm excited for today's guest.

I have purchased her products many times, so I'm excited to get to chat with her, and she's certainly an Atlanta favorite.

So for all the people from the southeast listening, this will be somebody that you're going to be really enjoy hearing about her background, her life, and of course, more about what she's doing right now. So I am thrilled to introduce Leslie Sims, CEO of Arden's Garden, a wellness enthusiast, a pioneer in health and business excellence.

So, Leslie, thank you so much for joining us today.

Oh, I'm so glad to be here. Thanks for having me, Kristi.

Absolutely. Well, we are thrilled. As I said, I have purchased your products many times, so I know they are high quality, excellent.

You can't go hardly anywhere in Atlanta without seeing them, so you've also done a great job at getting them out there. But before we get into Arden's garden, we're going to start off with just a few questions.

I'll ask you something quick and you just respond with the first thing that comes to mind. Okay?

Okay. I'll do my best.

Right. Okay. What's one thing you can't live without?

Green smoothies.

Oh, good one. Who has been the most influential person in your life?

My mother.

Yes, we will talk about that.

Yes.

What is the best advice you've ever received from her or anyone else?

Suit up and show up no matter what.

Whoa, that's a bumper sticker.

What's your.

Favorite quote or saying?

Well, it's a quote that I made up, but I tell it to my children all the time. And that is the answer is no if you don't ask.

Ooh, yes. And what is some easy, healthy advice you would give someone to get started on a better path?

Amazing institution, inspiring company, amazing legacy. I had the pleasure of talking to Leslie, and we were talking with her before we started recording this show. And we're in for a thrill.

It'll be a fun interview. So thank you so much. Leslie, again, it's a pleasure to have you with us. Why don't you start us with a little bit of your background.

Tell us a little bit about what was your upbringing? Where did you grew up? How was your childhood like?

So I grew up here in Atlanta. I was not born in Atlanta. So true Atlantis. But I came here when I was three months old. I have one older brother. He's two years older than me.

And both my parents were super overachievers. So my father was, he played soccer on the national team for Israel and also the United States.

He got his PhD from Princeton, and he had one job in his life, and that was a professor at Georgia Tech for 50 years. And my mother, on the other hand, she was a real slacker. She skipped four grades. She graduated college at 18, and she definitely was an entrepreneur.

So the mantra in our household was be the best.

Wow. So super low expectations.

Yeah, super low. Yeah. So my brother and I were both athletes, very good athletes. I was the number one gymnast in Georgia. My brother was a number three tennis player.

So our early childhood, it started off on the right path.

But I will say that as time went on, and we can go into this or not, but when I went off to college, my parents, well, my parents got divorced when I was twelve. And it was a very devastating situation for both my brother and I.

And I kind of got off track, although I went to a very good school and I graduated when I got off to college, I went down a path of drugs and alcohol. And that's something that we can delve into a little bit more later if you want to. But I definitely had a dark period in my life.

Yeah. So this could be something you've mentioned already, something not.

But you have so many life experiences in growing up and very high performing family as well. So what's a story that has shaped you probably from your early years until now?

So definitely. Well, my mother was an entrepreneur, so I don't know if you can see this in the background, but I have Jane Fonda.

Yes.

She's completely an idea person and a wellness. So her whole currency in life was wellness. So she ended up losing that business. She brought in a partner, and they took over.

So I learned some lessons about how to be a good business person. It's not just enough to have good ideas, but you have to have good business practices behind it. And actually, prior to my.

Me joining her in this business, my mother was doing the same thing in juicing as she did with exercise, which was give the product away. She just wanted you to be healthy. Yeah.

Well, health must have been like a big, big component of your early childhood for you and your brother.

Always.

Do you remember any other kind of rituals or habits?

Oh, yeah, definitely. So my mother, we didn't have breakfast in our family. We had something called the concoction.

And so it would be whatever my mother was into at the moment blended in a blender, in a glass on top of a plate, and we would come to breakfast, and that's what we would have every single day. And it would taste horrible, but it would make you feel incredible. Wow. And so my brother, being older than me, he was a little more resistant.

I acquiesce very easily. That was our everyday breakfast, was the concoction. Wow.

Wow, that's incredible.

Both have the aptitude for learning. That your dad did as well?

Yes.

Oh, yeah.

I skipped a grade. My brother has his MBA. We were good students.

Wow.

Yeah.

Amazing combination between the learning and the sports.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, don't worry. I went down the path and, you know.

Okay.

But you hung in there for perseverance.

There was a break in there.

Yeah.

Well, you mentioned that. If it's okay with you, you can talk a little bit more about that. Cause I feel like it was a full circle. Right.

You came from, like, an incredibly healthy family, drinking this concussion for breakfast. And you're back.

So before we go back to what your mom ended up founding, if you can tell us a bit more about your experience when you were actually on the other side, I guess, of that question for sure.

So I won't go into all the gory details, but I'll just suffice it to say that by my third year in college, I was very heavily involved in drugs, specifically cocaine. And I did not even register for school. I took the tuition that my father gave me a. And I just bought drugs with it.

And I was a dealer at the time, very small, but my life was. I lived in an apartment off campus. I didn't register for school, so I wasn't going to school. I was hardly ever leaving the apartment.

I basically would stay up for three days at a time. On the third day, I would hallucinate. I knew I was hallucinating, but you just do it anyway, like I would. And so my father came up to Boston to that.

I was in school in Boston and to bring me home, and I was shocked. I was shocked that he wanted me to lead this incredible life that I was living. But he promised me to get me an apartment, and that sounded great.

And so I came home to Atlanta, and I immediately cleaned up my act, and I got a job as a waitress at rays on the river. But I was a cocktail waitress, and that's not a good job for someone that's struggling with addiction, even though at the time, I wasn't a big drink.

But I just switched my addiction. And that's very common. I went from drugs to alcohol, and eventually the alcohol led me back to the drugs.

So I was 20 years old, and my life was a mess. And my father convinced me to go into treatment here in Atlanta. But I have this feeling that I knew better than everyone else.

And so I only followed the rules that made sense to me, not all the rules. And that's a very common trait with addicts. We think we're smarter. So that bought me a one way ticket to long term treatment in New Jersey.

And my father said to me, if you don't go, I will never help you again. And so I said, oh, I can do anything for 90 days. And so I went off to New Jersey for 90 days.

And eleven months later, I got out and they said, you can't go home to Atlanta. You won't stay sober. So you're going to go to halfway house up here, which I did for six months.

And at the end of that, they said, you're not going to stay sober in Atlanta. You need to stay and work up here. So I did that for another year. And so basically, I was three years sober before I ever set foot back in Atlanta.

And I did feel like life was passing me by because all my friends had graduated from college, and what was I doing? I was working, you know, just this, you know, very little job. But that experience changed my entire life. It taught me so many things.

I learned structure and discipline. I learned how to make my bed every morning. Those are things that I think are important, you know, for me, starting my day, it's an accomplishment.

I don't leave my room in a mess. So when I came back to Atlanta, I applied to Georgia Tech. They kind of laughed at me because I didn't have very good grades from my.

From Bu, and they said, well, you need to go to a community college and improve your grades. And I was insulted because I was three years sober. Well, they don't care. Life doesn't care that you're three years sober.

They're looking at your grades. And so I went off to community college, and I improved my grades, and I immediately got admitted to tech, and I ended up graduating from there.

So it's just been a series of doing the next right thing, and it's built me a life that exceeds all the expectations I had when I was younger.

Yeah, for sure.

Well, thank you.

I have two questions about that. One, did you know that you were an addict? Was that something you realized?

No, definitely not. Because I never shot up. Okay. And that was my delineation. So I thought, if you don't shoot up, you're an abuser.

So I could say I was doing too much, but I didn't think I was an addict. No.

And then two, no one can understand that unless they've actually been through the situation. So what are a couple of now on the other side of it, what are a couple of things that you've realized about addiction itself?

I think it's hard for the addict to know that they have a problem, but it's easier for other people to see it. Although I will say that the family gets very sick right along with the addict because we start changing our expectations.

It's a family disease for sure. But I would just say for most addicts or alcoholics, when we start to drink or use drugs, it's the solution. Okay. We're very anxious.

We don't feel good enough. Socializing is challenging, and so we drink, and then all of a sudden, we can talk to anybody. So it's the solution, and then it becomes the problem.

So once you start seeing it becoming a problem, that's a pretty good indicator that you might have an issue.

Yes.

Thank you very much for sharing that with us.

Changing gears now and going back to your mom, incredible force of nature has said she was the one that founded and opened the first store of Arden's garden. Right. Could you tell us a bit more about how the process, how it happened, and how old were you at the time?

And what can you remember about that memory?

Sounds like her concoctions became better tasting they did.

Not much. Not all.

You are delicious. I like the green one. That's my favorite, too.

We've gotten good. We've gotten much better.

But my mother, being a dreamer, said, someday I'm going to own this juicer. 30 years goes bye. Now. The juicer, the Norwalk costs $2,200.

She still can't afford it, you know, but she says, I don't want to go my whole life without this incredible juicer. So she does the all american thing. She gets out her credit card, and she buys the juicer.

And in order to make herself feel better, she calls all her friends and neighbors, and she says, I have this amazing juicer, and I want to use it. So if you guys want juice, I want to make it for you. And that's how she started. Now, did you hear anything about money? No.

She was making the juice and just giving it away, because, again, my mother only cared about wellness. So a health food store opened in her neighborhood, and they heard about her, and they said, hey, come to the back of our store.

We'll give you the produce. You make the juice, and we'll split the sales.

And she thought, oh, my gosh, this is incredible, because she's buying all the produce and giving it away. So off she goes to this health food store. But this juicer is tiny. It's this big, okay?

And it makes about a gallon an hour if you're trying really, really hard. And so she sees how slow it is, and she needs labor, so she recruits my brother and I to come and help her. So I was 29.

I had already graduated college. My brother was 31, and he had just gotten his MBA. And so we go in and start helping her.

Now, I was applying to med schools, so I was going back for my sciences and taking the MCAT, so I had a more flexible schedule, so I was helping out. My brother was helping her even more, and so he took one look at that juicer, and he said, mom, there is no business on this juicer.

If you want me to buy a real juicer, I will, but I want to be CEO. And my mother said, be whatever you want to be. And so he bought the juicer, and he became CEO, and we were selling juice in the health food store.

I'm just going to tell you, nobody was getting paid except for my mom. And it was a pittance, you know? So after nine months, we say to our mom, mom, go in a buckhead where people have money and try to sell this juice.

And our idea was to go to offices, but her idea was to go to hair salons. And that decision turned everything around for us, because hairstylists are stuck in their stations. They always had cash from tips back in 94.

They like things that are new and trendy, and they always had a new customer in their chair. And so, literally, in three weeks, my mother was selling three times the amount in these hair salons as we were selling in the health food store.

And so we quickly outgrew that space, and we needed to find our own space. And we opened our first store, wasn't supposed to be a store. We were just manufacturing out of a retail space at 10th street in Monroe. And that.

That's our belt line location. Now, we've been there for 29 years, and that was the beginning. Wow.

Was that the little Caesar pizza? What was it? Caesar?

Yes. My brother lived in Virginia Highlands, and there was a location that was open for nine months.

And we met the landlord, and he wanted $2,500, which to us, sounded like 2.5 million, because we were paying nothing. And so we were terrified. And he was desperate for a tenant. He just wanted anyone.

He said, listen, I'll give you a 30 day out, and you don't have to pay a security deposit. It was previously a little Caesar's pizza. And so we just cleaned it up. We moved all our equipment, and no floor drains, no water.

You know, we had the brown lines on the wall that are little caesars, and we were manufacturing in that space. And we hired three guys and my mom to go to these four different routes of hair salons. That was our business plan. Yeah.

So we moved in there first, and one day we drove down the street, Monroe drive to the Kroger at Ansley, and we asked for the manager, and the manager came downstairs and we said, hey, we're making juice down the street. Would you consider selling it here? And at the time, Kroger was very decentralized, and he said, well, let me see your operation.

So he literally followed us out to the parking lot. We drove down, he followed us in his car. He saw our little operation. And he said, if you give me a cooler with graphics, I'll put it in my store.

And little did we know, that was the number one Kroger in Atlanta overnight. Overnight, we were manufacturing in that tiny space 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Wow. Yeah.

What a crazy, right? Hairstylist. That's a brilliant. Now that you've explained it, that's absolutely brilliant.

Who knew? Who knew? Only my mother.

Yes. And still wasn't making. Didn't care about the money, but wanted to get people what they need. I love that.

Totally.

We've referenced your education a little bit, and I want to talk a little bit more about that.

So, actually, when you were at Georgia Tech, great school for anyone who's not familiar with it, but you got a BA in industrial management, so that's also a little bit different. So why industrial management instead of health and wellness? Clearly, you were already steeped in that.

Well, I was an economics major at BU, so a lot of it was what was going to transfer. But I always wanted to go into business.

But I really think that at the time, it was just something I was interested in, and it was going to give me a good background. But after I graduated, I went to work for a marketing company.

It was very small company, and the owner taught me a lot, and he gave me this great position. It was well paying, but at the end of the year, I didn't feel proud of what I was doing.

And I was basically selling shirts, truthfully, and I didn't care how many shirts I sold. And so I thought, I really have to do something that has meaning to me, you know, that I feel proud of what I'm doing.

There was nothing wrong with what I was doing, but I wasn't moved by it. And so I thought, well, I'll be a doctor because then I can help my community and I can make a difference.

And so I went back to school because as a, you know, management major, you don't have to take a bunch of sciences. So I had to take all my sciences, which I did. And I took my mcats, and I started interviewing for med school.

And at the same time, Arden's garden is starting. Right. So I'm helping out, but I still am applying to med schools. And when I interviewed, I didn't like the hierarchy.

It felt very constricting, and it didn't suit me at all.

And so when my mother urged me to join the company, I felt like, okay, I can have an impact here on my community with health and wellness, with the product that we're making. Or I can spend ten years in a situation that will be very, very challenging for me. And at the end, I'll be a doctor.

And I made the decision to join Arden's garden, and I'm so glad that I did.

So how would you capitalize your leadership style? Because this is a unique mix that you come from.

Yeah. Or family business. So I lead with Heartland. Right. There's nothing I would ask anyone else to do that I wouldn't be willing to do.

And I've done every job in this company. So I think that I lead by example and that I inspire other people to do the same.

And I think that that's my leadership style is just, you know, being very authentic and real with everyone that I work with.

Well, authenticity and love and caring for others.

But it's a certification inspiring entrepreneurial strategy from Harvard Business School. What is this about?

And then I'll ask you a follow up question about what did you learn throughout the certification, and how has it influenced your approach to business, and, of course, the leadership style that you were just mentioning.

Yeah, I always had that leadership style because it's just who I am. But what Harvard, going to, the strategy at Harvard taught me. So it's all case studies. Right?

And so you look at different businesses from all different angles, and initially you can see something and it looks like it's, you know, it's very obvious. So I'll just take, like, Barry's fitness. You read the case study and you're like, oh, my gosh, they're definitely going down the wrong path.

But what the case study teaches you is that, you know, it's all perspective, right? Like, if you look at it from this side, it's totally different. And then if you look at it from the other side, and so we're a scrappy business, okay?

Like, we've never had an investor. Any money we have, we put right back into the business.

But our mantra was always kind of like, a little different from my mom and dad, which was be the best. Our mantra was always, just do your best, you know, but not a lot of strategy into what will be the best thing.

And so what the Harvard course really taught me was that I have to look at things from a variety of perspectives, and I need to be looking forward, not always looking backwards. So it was very, very interesting, and I think it helped me grow as a leader.

Yeah, for sure. That is fascinating.

Well, if you weren't busy enough, you're also a board member at Jeff's place, so talk a little bit about their mission, how you became involved, and what that's like.

Yeah. So Jeff's place is a location on the belt line that was started. It's in a building that's owned by Chabad, which is a jewish organization.

They're orthodox, but they are an organization that welcomes all jews, sort of trying to keep people in the fold. And they had a young man that had joined their group, and he'd been there for three years, and he was getting very involved in his Judaism.

And then he overdosed, and he died. And the entire three years that he had been there, he had been in recovery.

And part of the recovery that he went through, which was a program here in Atlanta, required that you go to a religious institution, which is a little odd. That wasn't required where I went. So he went to Chabad, but he never felt comfortable telling any of the rabbis that he was in recovery.

And so when he died, the rabbis and his parents got together, and they contributed this space so that addicts and alcoholics could have a place to come. And also they wanted to eliminate the stigma of addiction in the jewish community.

But in the space in general, anyone that's in recovery or wanting help is welcome. So I was asked to join the board. Well, because I'm in recovery for a long time now. It's definitely one of the pillars of my life.

I'm active in twelve step programs. I sponsor people. I'm very involved. And it just was something that's very dear to my heart. I want to eliminate the stigma of addiction.

It's just a disease. This is. If you had diabetes, nobody would say, what's wrong with you, that you can't have control your sugar or cancer or anything like that.

So, yeah, I was very pleased and honored to be involved, and I hope that I'm furthering the mission to normalize and get help for people that need it.

And how do you feel like that's gone the last? I mean, I feel like we are in the destigmatization process. How do you feel like that's going ish?

I think that it's not like it was in the maybe fifties and sixties. But I think that there's a lot of stigma around being a drug addict or an alcoholic, either one.

I think that people think it's a weakness and or moral lacking. You know, if you really loved me, you wouldn't do this, and you don't understand that there's no choice involved at a certain point.

And so I think there's still a lot of education that needs to happen.

Absolutely.

And we'll put all the information about Jeff's place in the notes of this interview so a lot more people can find out what they do, how they do it, and they can help as well, because as you mentioned, right when the addiction, you mentioned that it was a family. Everyone in the family struggles, and everyone goes through this.

I feel like if you take that and even extrapolate it a step forward, I feel like the whole community is affected by all these addictions, and I think it's important for everyone to try to help if we can. So thank you.

I totally agree with you. Yeah. You know, there's a saying, and that is that our secrets keep us sick, you know?

Well, we appreciate your candor. First and foremost, you came right out the gate to share this amazing personal story, and so thank you once again for doing that.

Going back to your company and amazing, nutritious products that you sell, your mission is good health for all. Good health. So making healthier living easy. Trying to provide these nutritious drinks and products to everyone, just like your mom intended it. Right.

How do you ensure this commitment goes beyond just offering the. The product? How do you empower individuals from all backgrounds to just really try to be healthier?

And, I mean, today I feel like health is a big, big topic, but we still have tons of things to do because we're just not living in a healthy society.

No, totally. I mean, we're surrounded by white, processed food, and that's what we've normalized as food. It's not even real food.

Anything that can last on a shelf for a year, we shouldn't be eating. So, you know, our mission is education, and we want to be an oasis of health.

So when you walk into one of our stores, we want to meet you where you are. There are some people that have never had a smoothie or a juice or a plant based food, and they're intimidated.

You know, it's scary to walk into these places and not know what's going on. So we want to meet that person exactly where that person is. And say, come on in. Here's our beginner, you know, juices. Everyone loves these juices.

It'll be a great start for you. And at the same time, we want the raw vegan for six years to come in and have something hardcore that they want.

So they want a cruciferous smoothie, water based with flaxseeds. We want to make it for them, you know? So education, I mean, a lot of people just have no idea, like, how should we be healthy, what is right?

There's so much mixed information. So we really want anyone to walk into our store and feel comfortable. Like anything they get there is going to be putting them on the right track.

At the time, we only had three stores, and we were like, yeah, I don't know about that, East Point. And today, that store is the number one store of all of our stores, and it's number one by a lot.

And what did that teach us is that food deserts need access to fresh food and people will come. And so our last three stores that have opened have all been in food deserts.

In fact, we just opened one a month ago on old national, and it's been incredibly well received. And so it's. That is really what makes me excited in the morning to see a real impact between what we're doing and the communities that we're serving.

So, yeah, education and accessibility, I think, would be the keys to our community.

There's many food deserts, right? Even here in Atlanta and most of the cities here in the US. More than we probably even know about, I'm guessing.

Well, if you don't live in one, you don't know. But I happen to live on the south side, so I moved to the south side in zero five, and I see it every day. I mean, it's very sad.

I can tell a story of my mother taking my children to the playground, and she brought snacks out and all the kids come running, right. And she had cucumbers, celery and carrots, and some of the kids didn't know what it was.

Yeah, that is heartbreaking, for sure. And then also terrible for the health of the community. Well, it seems like a good strategic plan.

Now that, you know, the correlate with the success of the stores, you can just go find out all this food deserts around the world and try to open one of your stores.

Well, it's definitely one of our strategies, without a doubt. I mean, we want to be part of the change. I think that we're in a crisis in our country, quite honestly.

And if we don't shift, the cost of healthcare is going to be a huge burden for everybody to bear. So, yeah, prevention is the answer. There's no doubt. You know, we do not need to be as sick as we are.

So I always think it's strange to go to a grocery store and have to see something labeled, like, x amount, real juice or real food. Or I was like, why isn't this the opposite way? Why aren't we labeling, like, so much as not natural juice or 100% food or whatever?

It's such a strange place to be. So for our listeners, who are on their beginning stages of their healthy journey, what are those? Popular first timer smoothies.

Oh, my gosh. Sunrise smoothie. If you want something that we make, pre bottled sunrise, super green, complete recovery.

But if you come into one of our stores, we have so many smoothie. Okay, so, for example, we just got two new smoothies into Publix, and one is called Spinach Slam, which is pineapple, mango and spinach.

It has been one of our most popular smoothies in our stores for over a decade. We just got the machinery in that we can make it in mass. So that's super exciting. And, you know, it's a little scary, but it's delicious.

Then we also, for the total beginner, we have one called PB and J. And what it is is apple juice, blueberries, strawberries and peanut butter. And it's delicious. Yeah. So no sugar, nothing, no sweetener added.

Delightful.

That sounds good. I think peanut butter should be its own food group.

I totally agree with you.

I have a Pinterest word for it.

Yes.

Well, let's talk about COVID We're still having those conversations. You were very supportive of essential workers during that time. So reminds me, just to a whole other group, that one needed care.

Two, there were a lot of demands and kind of the same thing that you mentioned about hairstylists on their feet, busy not having time for themselves, and certainly during that time, like never before.

So you were helping essential workers at places like Emory healthcare by offering the smoothies and juices to healthcare workers and first responders. So how did that come about?

I mean, it seems, you know, logical looking back, but we were all sort of in crisis mode there for a long time and sounds like you're somebody who's always willing look for a place and a need that you can help out in. But how did that happen? And what were the kind of the results of it?

Well, our business never shut down. We were considered an essential business, and so we never stopped coming to work. And so immediately, the first thing.

So the thing that we promoted the most was something we make called a grand slam, which for those that don't know what that is, it is a shot of wheatgrass, a shot of ginger, lemon and cranberry. It is very hardcore, very. But it is so incredibly healthy and really great for your immune system.

And so we made it free for all of our employees immediately.

And then we also made it free for the essential workers and the firefighters and all those people, because those are the things that are going to boost your immune system and keep you healthy. I mean, I can tell you, I drink one of these every day. I haven't been sick and I can't even tell. I used to get sick twice a year, no matter what.

You know, I would get something, a cold, whatever. It really works. So if you take care of your immune system, you know, our bodies are incredible machines. There's nothing that compares to it.

And if we give our bodies amazing fuel, it will heal itself. It doesn't need anything else. So I just wanted to give everybody the best chance to be as healthy as possible.

We were going to be in the office, in the plant manufacturing anyway. And so I just felt that it was part of our mission and our obligation to support our community, and that's why we did it.

You've always been very successful in partnering with other suppliers and grocery stores and things like that. I mean, you mentioned Kroger and how you started selling in the first one and then Publix, you just mentioned a little bit a while.

So could you tell us a little more about your supply chain? And have you seen your supply chain growing and kind of like, forward looking?

What's your expectation or how you see the strategy going forward to continue growing from your supply chain standpoint?

Yeah, well, in the beginning, I think that my mother was in her van with a cooler and dropping off orders, quite honestly. Then we got, like, one refrigerated truck.

And at this point, we have a fleet of trucks that we deliver throughout the Atlanta area with retailers that we're delivering outside of Atlanta. We're obviously partnering with other logistics companies.

I think that the biggest thing with us is that we establish relationships and we nurture them. And so we have grown with our suppliers.

Anyone that's been a vendor of ours, we've been with for a very long time, because people like to work with people that do what they say they're going to do. We like to, and they like to. So we make a great partnership in regards to technology.

You know, everything used to be pen and paper, you know, and now it's into handhelds and technology and ERP systems that are helping us, you know, better supply. So we're definitely working with technology to improve the quality and the on time and everything else, but it's just all a journey.

We're always trying to grow and try to improve the processes that we have in place so that we can offer people the best price and the best quality and work with the partners that are there to support us.

That's fantastic. And certainly there's been a lot on your side through this and a lot of innovation, starting with your mother too.

So have no doubt that it will continue to grow. So we've covered how drastic the juicing health industry has changed in the last couple of decades.

Arden's garden was at the forefront of that and has witnessed all of this and continuing to see the changes that will continue to come. So what changes and innovations do you think could revolutionize the industry? What's headed this way, or what do you wish would head this way?

Well, I think that we're still catering to people that are new to health, and that's just the first step, and we need to get people into the middle step and then into the last step or the optimal step. So, in my opinion, cruciferous vegetables are the most densely nutritious foods on the planet, bar none.

And so the more cruciferous vegetables that we can get either into people's juices, smoothies or foods, the better off that we will be.

So, yeah, and we get an example of what cruciferous vegetables are.

Spinach, cabbage, arugula, cauliflower, broccoli, they're all cruciferous vegetables and they are truly the answer to optimal health.

A lot of things we put with ranch dressing in this house.

I ate cheese, quesadillas, you name it. But I saw a movie called forks over knives. It changed the way I ate and I saw how hard it is to be plant based.

It's very, very difficult, especially to be healthy plant based. You can now be vegan, but not healthy. And so what are we doing?

So we have a whole plant devoted towards food now, actually, it'll be coming out next month. We just put out plant based dips. So everything we make is no oil because oil is densely caloric and unnecessary. So we're making plant based dips.

And next month we will come out with a plant based ranch, which you will have to try with your crucifix vegetables.

We're veering more into food also in three of our stores currently and the two new stores that we'll be opening, we have made to order bowls and wraps. So all plant based, all no oil, very low salt and so. And they're delicious. And so you can eat them and you will not go to sleep afterwards.

You will feel empowered and energized. And, you know, we're just trying to get the community realize that we have it and get them on board with trying it because it's new and different.

Yeah. A lot of people have heard plant based diets.

Now that you've made the switch, probably, you know, I think it's still a big trend to get people just to do meatless Mondays or something like that. So what are a couple of your go tos for people who want to take that next step or at least start incorporating more plants?

Okay, so I think the easiest, I do work in a smoothie company, I acknowledge that. But the easiest way to get the most cruciferous vegetables is in a smoothie.

You can do it at home, you can make your own, you can get a juice base fruit and throw in kale or cabbage or napa cabbage. You cannot taste at all. And you can make your own smoothie.

Or if you don't want to do that, you can come into an arden's garden and we would make it for you. So that's easy. Like that should be, in my opinion, part of everybody's day.

At least once a day, once a.

Day have a cruciferous smoothie. It is just a shot of pure goodness.

And it's really with the fruit, it's not too bad, it's not super sweet, but it's so incredibly, you'll feel the difference. So that would be my first recommendation. But as I said earlier, just try to incorporate more plants. I don't like to say, oh, get rid of this.

Just try to add good stuff. Plants, fruits and vegetables.

You have a very dedicated following in Atlanta, clearly, as you've continued to grow and grow throughout Georgia as well. What are some of the you talked about just feeling better? Why do people keep coming back?

What are some of the success stories, I guess you'd call them, that you continue to hear?

So in our old plant, my office was literally off the store and my door. I could hear everything that happened in the store.

And there is nothing better than to watch people change their lives, you know, transforming people's lives. We have had people that came in with high cholesterol, and they were told to go on Lipitor. And we said, we used to teach cleanse classes.

We still offer a bunch of cleanses. And this individual did a cleanse with us. You cannot imagine how much you can affect your health.

In six weeks, her cholesterol dropped over 100 points, and we had the data to show it. We've seen people lose weight. We've seen people get new jobs. People that couldn't get pregnant get pregnant. It's just. It's phenomenal, you know?

Again, our bodies are incredible machines. We just have to take care of them. If you've never felt this way, you don't know how good it feels.

But when you wake up in the morning and you're energized and you have mental clarity, and you can remember that thing you couldn't remember, it's really great.

It's definitely worth it, not only to improve your quality of life, but then, as you pointed out, this will reduce the cost of our healthcare. So it's like a win win for everyone. And, of course, if you're listening to this amazing episode, Leslie, thank you so much.

It has been inspiring, and I'm pretty sure that everyone's ready to just go and at least try one or two smoothies and incorporate more kale into our diets. I'll start myself, actually. Thank you so much. So how can our listeners connect with you? Learn more about what you're doing?

Learn more about Arden's garden.

Well, we're active on social media. We're at Arden's Garden ATL, on Facebook and Instagram, and our website is ardensgarden.com.

we would love for you to come and visit us and share feedback and interact with us all the time. One of the greatest things about our company, and we opened stores, it was by default. You know, when.

When we outgrew the Monroe store, we were selling enough juice at that location that we said, let's just keep it. And we moved and we kept the store.

But the great thing about having stores is that we have direct contact with our customers, and our customers tell us they want. And so that informs us as to what we can start offering in wholesale through our customers. So we always want to hear from our customers.

What is it that's working for you?

What is it that you're looking for because we want it to be a partnership so that we can work together to, you know, improve the health of our community and just elevate each person as an individual.

Thank you so much. It has been a real pleasure. One call for action that you want to leave our audience with.

Eat more plants.

Eat more plants.

Well, of course, we've highlighted multiple times our beloved Atlanta on here. But for those who do not live in Atlanta, how else can they access your products?

So we are in six states through Publix, Whole Foods. We also have offer almost nationwide shipping through our website. So we would love to see our friends that are outside of the southeast.

And who knows, maybe we'll grow up the east coast and we'll be able to serve more people.

Absolutely. Well, again, thank you. This has been so fun. And it's always fun to talk to people whose products we know and love as well.

And getting to highlight Atlanta, too. So thank you so much for your time. Leslie, this was a blast. Thank you, everybody for your time and listening to this conversation.

And if you liked this conversation, please hit subscribe because there'll be another great one in two weeks. Thanks, everyone.