Food trucks are nothing new in the Boston area. You can find anything from ice cream to crepes to grilled cheese on wheels. But what you don’t see around Beantown is a juice truck. That’s where Claire Schlemme and Ellen Fitzgerald come in. Mother Juice is the brain child of the two environmental consulting company co-workers who hope to start Boston’s first juice truck, selling juice concoctions made from Massachusetts’ own produce.
“The cool thing is that everything is local in Massachusetts during growing season,” Fitzgerald says of the products the ladies will use for their Mother Juice drinks. “There is so much in our backyards that we can use.”
The truck will offer juices, as well as vegan baked goods made from the extra pulp. Schlemme, a vegan herself, gained experience with vegan baking while in high school, finding that juice pulp is one of the key ingredients to making a luscious vegan bread or muffin. A vegan myself, I can attest to this.
After graduating from Yale and Tufts, respectively, Schlemme and Fitzgerald began their current jobs at an environmental consulting firm on the same day. Since then, the two have taken lunch breaks together. It was during one of those lunch breaks that the girls realized there was nowhere to get a smoothie or juice in the area, and wanted to start their own juice-making business.
Unfortunately, the health department told the duo they are not allowed to produce food onsite. If they wanted their juice-making dreams to come true, they would have to take it on wheels.
Fast forward to today. Schlemme and Fitzgerald have contracts with local farmers who will supply them as soon as they say the word, access to a commercial kitchen, all of the proper certification, including food safety and allergen information, and a complete plan for the layout of their truck. The last thing on their checklist? Funds.
Using Kickstarter, the duo has started a campaign to raise $13,000 in order to purchase a truck and the necessary juice-making equipment. Thus far, they’ve raised over $7,000 with the support of 77 backers, and hope to close the rest of the funding by August 9 if their juice truck is to become a reality.
“We’ve been overwhelmed by supporters,” says Fitzgerald. “It shows that the Boston community is a perfect place for Mother Juice.”
All I can say is that I’m glad they chose Boston as the place to set down their roots. Check out Mother Juice’s Kickstarter video below to learn more.
All images via Sumit and Kadakia.
