CHESAPEAKE, Va. - From Thanksgiving to Christmas and all the holidays in between, this time of year can do a number on our gut.
The time for the post-holiday diet is almost here and this week's Takeout Tuesday location, Alkalicious Cold Pressed Juice Bar, is hoping you'll check them out.
Alkalicious opened in the Towne Place at Greenbrier shopping center off Eden Way North in 2016.
Owner Lisa Bey says she and her husband, Justin, learned about plant-based living while he was in the Navy and opened their business when he got out.
"Our whole thing has been about teaching people how to eat healthy and enjoy it," said Bey.
The menu at Alkalicious is packed full of natural juices and smoothies good for vitamins and digestive health and some of them contain alkaline water as referenced in the business's name. They also have vegan food options, with much of it made in-house.
Bey and her husband spent the first two years building the business and then Bey says things started taking off in 2019. The hope was to build on that success in 2020, but then the COVID-19 pandemic happened.
A lot of her customers, employees in the business-heavy Greenbrier area of Chesapeake, were sent home to work and never returned.
"We were slow starting in March and it was getting really, really scary," Bey tells News 3.
Now in December, Alkalicious is still here, employees still on staff, but with cases and hospitalizations on the rise in our area and across the commonwealth, the future is anything but certain.
"From my office I'll watch the livestreams to find out exactly what's going to be happening next. We try to follow whatever mandate is coming out," said Bey. "We are concerned, not just for ourselves as a business, but for the local community. If they're not receiving the help and assistance that they need, they certainly cannot support local businesses like us."
Bey says to help soften the pandemic's impact, she's added takeout and curbside pickup options. She's also in the process of working out a delivery option.
But none of it will matter without people walking through the doors each day.
"We have a lot of kids that work here," said Bey. "Being able to mentor them for their first jobs before they go off into the community, all of that is super important to us, so in a lot of different ways and different levels, we touch the community and the community touches us."
Alkalicious Juice Bar & Vegan Grill is open daily starting at 10 a.m.
