Be Smoothie Cafe in Willowick has been life changing, owner says

Nov. 9—Since bringing Be Smoothie Cafe to life, Elizabeth Veres says it has changed her life and feels it will change many others.

Located at 30480 Lakeshore Blvd. in Willowick, Be Smoothie opened Oct. 21 and offers alternative, healthy, fast food options with customers' selection of whole food, smoothies, wraps, salads and juices. Amid the many regulars who frequent Willowick's first smoothie cafe, many families come in on the weekends, something Veres was not expecting.

"I love it because I have young kids in elementary and my oldest is in high school," she said. "I definitely will never have another location. This will be the only one. This is my baby, my community and where we live, so my biggest goal is to always remain present.

"I'm here because I want to be here. Be Smoothie is a lifestyle and it should be. It changed my life."

Prior to owning Be Smoothie, Veres graduated college in 2017 with a business management degree and minor in marketing. For roughly 15 years, Veres worked in restaurants and it was how she put herself through school, she said.

"After graduating, I thought I had to go work in corporate America in some office and that's what I did, and it was not for me," Veres said. "I needed human interaction, so I went back to restaurants and started managing. I didn't love the hours anymore. My kids were getting older and I wanted to be with them in the evenings."

With her husband being a Type 1 diabetic, Veres recalls when they started doing a juice, smoothie cleanse prior to opening the business.

"It had helped his blood sugar levels immensely," she said. "He was able to regulate his blood sugar better. At the same time, I ended up figuring out, through that cleanse, I had an overactive gall bladder and I didn't digest meat enzymes. I stopped eating meat and we incorporated smoothies into our daily routine, and a lot of our health issues went away. It became a part of our lives."

After working out at Planet Fitness in Willowick, Veres and her husband found that when they weren't feeling like making their own smoothies at home, they would have to commute to Willoughby to get them.

"On our way there or back, we kept saying we need one closer to our house," Veres said. "We kept waiting and waiting, and nobody was doing it, so I reached out to the landlord. We originally were supposed to be one of the local franchises, but decided to do our own concept. I tried to take what I knew was popular and do a healthier version of that because that was important to me."

Originally, Be Smoothie was supposed to be located behind where it currently is. In 2020, Veres had a consulting company do a business plan and once she sought after a business loan, the coronavirus shut everything down.

"We couldn't get any loans," she said. "Had that not happened, we actually would have been in a different location. During that time period, the landlord started doing construction on these two parcels here, so once those were completed, it was right about when banks started loaning money again.

"Our landlord reached out to me and said. 'Instead of going in the older building, why don't you come over to the newer buildings. It'll be right next to Starbucks and Chipotle, and you'll get some overflow.' "

When customers come in, it's important to Veres they feel welcome.

"I grew up in this neighborhood and I love this community, and it's important to me to be welcoming as soon as people come in," she said. "In regard to the menu, it's important to me that all of our smoothies are dairy free. A lot of people have a hard time digesting dairy products, so our yogurt is made from a coconut milk. It doesn't taste like coconut, but it is a nonfat, dairy free, probiotic yogurt. It helps with the creaminess of the smoothies."

Almond milk, oat milk and pressed juices are also used for smoothies, Veres said.

"Our apple juice and oranges are pressed, and the pineapple juice is 100% pineapple juice," she said. "I also wanted things to be affordable. I hate that every time we try to diet or eat healthy, it always costs more. I'd rather make less money and be able to have customers. I'm not doing this to be rich. I would feel more rich if my community was healthy and they came here to find healthy food."

Be Smoothie's hours of operation are weekdays from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and on Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

"We've gotten great feedback on everything on the menu, so I think everything will stay probably through the winter and then we'll be introducing some seasonal smoothies," Veres said. "We're also getting ready to launch our soups for the winter."

Orders are able to be made online via the website or through DoorDash and Uber Eats.