Nicholas Christos ’20: JucieDr., located in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, is a thriving entrepreneurial smoothie and raw food company, founded by Episcopal’s very own FJ Leto, from the Class of 2004. Just two years ago Leto founded his company, which acts almost as a milkman service by delivering juices throughout the week in freezer bags shipments to his hundreds of subscribers in Philadelphia and across the Main Line.
After graduating from Episcopal and then Saint Joseph’s University, Leto moved to California and taught environmental sciences in the mountains of San Bernardino and later worked in Berkeley. When living in California, he became immersed in the wonders of the state’s juicing craze and its many health benefits. As he began to travel between Philadelphia and Berkeley more, Leto wondered why the juice craze had yet to reach the Greater Philadelphia area, where he expected there to be an eager market. Beginning in 2012, he began research into the juice industry that eventually led to the opening of the once-small juicing and health service that has since blossomed into a much larger company.
Over the last years, Le
to has produced over eight hundred juices every week and delivers small shipments three times a week to his subscriber base. JuiceDr. also provides guided juice cleanses and free health training, and is sponsored by University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University. Leto cold-presses many different types of juices in his store in Ardmore using countless, (and some excotic) ingredients, including: ginger, dandelion, and charcoal, as well as fruits and vegetables from local 100% organic farms. Juices created by JuiceDr. contain over two pounds of produce, over fifty micronutrients, and have been developed and researched for over one thousand hours.
Through this research, he says, Leto has learned a lot about the health benefits behind it. “The whole reason behind why I got into juicing was because I was really into the science behind it and how that quantity of nutrients from fresh fruits and vegetables could not just make the general person fitter, leaner, have more energy, feel better, etcetera. But it was more for the people who suffered from these major diseases that so many people suffer from in America like heart disease, cancer, hypertension, and diabetes who in studies were on a juice cleanse and plant base diet program that helped prevent, reduce, or even reverse those diseases without medication.”
It is because of his extensive research into the area that Leto considers JuiceDr. “a health company, not as a juice company,” because “juice is just one of the tools that we use to help people find their optimal health to them. That is what makes us different; we are not just a juice bar.”
During Jterm’s two weeks, Mireya Yaros, along with Douglas Parsons, took her Escape the Western Diet students down to Ardmore to visit JuiceDr’s homebase where they learned about juicing and the health benefits of juices. Yaros, teacher in the Spanish Department and a health advocate, explains, “The objective of our JTerm was to talk about the whole cycle of our food production and in that cycle, I covered the part in how our food is created and what it does to our bodies after we eat it and how it is related to our health. I wanted to give something specific to my students so that they could start eating healthy, and one of the things is juice,” she explained.
Yaros continues, “In one glass that is quick to prepare, you can put in all of the nutrients that you need. In the Western Diet, all the essential nutrients that before, we took for granted when we used to eat a traditional diet, are missing. One of the fastest ways to replenish is to do it in a glass. I wanted to go to JuiceDr. because FJ Leto is really doing what I am trying to persuade the students to do. He already has the formulas perfected of the juices and he delivers to you at home; making it so convenient. How more convenient can it be? Right?”
Yaros explained that the trip was a huge success, and that she hopes EA students learn more about the company, as well as wonders if JuiceDr. could ever be a possibility for the cafeteria. Dallas Ryan ‘18, was one of Yaros’s Jterm students, and came back from JuiceDr. with praise. She says, “The owner, FJ Leto, taught us a lot about juicing and it’s benefits. When we went to Juice dr, I was really surprised to find out the juices taste really good. I thought it would just taste like vegetables but it didn’t and it was really good.”