FEATURE FRIDAY: NEW FOOD SPOT IN HOUGHTON CALLED THE B.WELL CAFE
b.well café + juice bar is made up of three family members: Lisa, John, and Hailey. Lisa is the brains of the operation and the one with all the ideas + creations. Her daughter Hailey is the marketing + social media guru as well as the friendly, happy face you’ll see entering the café. Hailey’s husband John has years of kitchen management experience and keeps our recipes and kitchen in ship shape!
Tell us about the b.well cafe!
b.well is a grab’n’go café and juice bar with the mission to provide food and drink options that promote a healthy lifestyle opening soon in Houghton, Michigan.
b.well was founded with the intention of helping people realize the power of food and that what you eat and drink really matters. It is our belief that whole, organic, unprocessed foods create the most healthy and delicious food available. Far more than a trendy juice bar, b.well is in the business of turning health into a lifestyle.
What sparked your idea and dream to open up a juice bar + cafe?
Eating well should be simple, but it can be very complex. Like many other things in our lives, most of us have the opportunity to make a choice of what we eat and drink each day. We can choose to nourish our bodies with ingredients that support a healthy lifestyle, lower or reduce inflammation (a known underlying cause to many illnesses and diseases), boost our energy, increase mental clarity, and uplift our mood. Food that feels good. Unfortunately, in our fast-paced time-crunched world with an overabundance of information, many lack the time needed to plan, gather, and prepare wholesome meals and snacks; let alone sift through the latest data on what one should or shouldn’t eat. We want to help simplify that process by providing healthy grab-and-go options that have been carefully selected and prepared to optimize their benefits while tasting delicious and satisfying. We could say that the stars have aligned and brought the three of us to this place at this time. Each with our own unique talents and strengths that fit together well in order for us to serve you. After all, isn’t that why we are all here? To share what inspires us and use it in a way to help others.
We love the name! How did you come up with it and is there a special meaning behind it?
Our wish for all is to be well and enjoy life. Although we can not make any promises with our offerings, thus the play on “b.well”, we’d sure like to give it our best shot.
What will the menu look like at the cafe?
Our cafe menu will be very fluid + mainly grab’n’go. This means that most of our items will be ready for you to grab and take on an adventure or open up & eat at the cafe. We will be changing things up often! Some items might stay longer than others depending on the demand. We will be offering coffee from Velodrome Coffee Company out of Marquette, MI who shares likeminded values.
We know you did quite a bit of renovating, what is your favorite before and after, and why?
We were very fortunate to purchase the restaurant in wonderful working condition. The kitchen was recently renovated which saved us a lot of time and money and gave us the opportunity to do a lot with the dining area. This area has seen some major change; From removing the carpet and switching to faux wood plank flooring, painting the ceiling black to create a larger feel to the space, removing old chairs and tables and replacing them with new, more spacious seating options. We were lucky enough repurpose some items as well such as painting the chairs to fit our café style and an old bakers table that we discovered in the basement which is now our checkout area. Some of our favorite before and afters would be the flooring and the green leaf wallpapering that leads your eye to the outdoor wall of trees.
When will you be officially open?!
We are open!! We had our first day open on Monday, October 21st!
Come and grab a juice or coffee, something to eat, and check out the new space!
Where can people find you online for updates and more information?
You can check us out on Instagram @b.wellcafe and also on Facebook at b.well cafe. We are finalizing our website and will be sharing a link soon!
And for some more excitement...head over to our Instagram to enter to win a free juice sampler pack—six 8 oz juices from b.well!!