There’s an undeniable sense of togetherness surging in the local wellness scene. It seems every week, we hear of another group of health gurus partnering to launch a fitness festival, soul summit or holistic pop-up. We do better together, these groups recognize, and everything’s more fun when done with friends. Juicelation founders and life partners Alexandra (Zan) DiCicco and Steven Chavez have long championed that idea at their Naples juice bar.
Since they started selling their organic, cold-pressed juices at farmers markets 10 years ago, the duo has collaborated on creative gatherings, ranging from yoga-and-juice pop-ups at Baker Park to pet-adoption events to Community School of Naples’ Earth Day celebrations. During a recent ‘me-time’ morning, VersaGym provided the workout, Face Foundrié doled out mini facials, and Juicelation kept everyone hydrated. These aren’t your run-of-the-mill health fairs; these are holistic gatherings done with style and intention, making everyone want to jump on the health train.
Juicing—extracting the liquid from fresh produce—was already entrenched in popular culture when Juicelation started selling their cold-pressed sippers in 2014. Knowing a regular intake of fruits and veggies is key to healthful living, Zan and Steven wanted to make juicing more accessible (if you’ve ever gone through the saga of buying and prepping pricey organic produce, pushing it through a watermelon-sized juicer and then cleaning the five-piece contraption, you’ll know juicing isn’t exactly easy). “We started small with the baseline of helping people, and that led [into] a swing in the popularity of juice in general,” Steven says. “Next thing you know, it’s not just people needing a health change reaching out to us.” A decade later, the team has two storefronts, a contract to make private-label juices for The Ritz-Carlton, Naples, and a new 5,000-square-foot production facility to make it all happen.
Their two Tamiami Trail storefronts (near Pine Ridge Road and in Mercato) exude a hipster-chic vibe, with neon signs, velvet sofas and plants galore. Zan and Steven’s youthful energy shows through in the company’s photo-worthy spaces and playful juice names referencing pop culture, like Barbië (watermelon, pineapple, orange and strawberry). Gulfshore Life associate publisher Mindy Roosa—a Juicelation fan for seven years—loves the Juice of Life (mint, fennel, moringa, romaine, apple, cucumber and lemon) and Beetox (beet, carrot, apple, lemon and ginger) blends.
