It’s not often that you stumble upon such inspirational stories when walking home. But when you’re the Editor of a healthy online magazine and you see a smoothie stall erected in Highbury Fields, you can’t help but take notice.
Samir and Keah, the brains behind Kiss Smoothie, and one of their afternoon customers.
Keah and Samir are two London-based students who run Kiss Smoothie. With 3 Nutribullets and box upon box of fruit, they offer a selection of healthy smoothies with apt names such as Banana Breeze, Glowing Green, Very Berry and Mango Dream (they recommend starting with the glowing green). Their story is unusual – they’re on their summer holiday before they start at Birmingham University. When questioned about their motivations for starting Kiss Smoothie (I assumed it was for money) I was pleasantly surprised to hear it was more because they wanted to get people healthy. Kids after my own heart!
As they put it, ‘we don’t care about the money, we just want to do this to get people more healthy – to build a good reputation and relationship with customers.’ They could certainly teach some ‘healthy’ brands I know a thing or two about values… And whilst they claim it’s not for the money, they’re doing well for a roadside stall – they’re already making a profit.
When asked if they were going to continue the business at university, they were adamant it wasn’t to be – whilst they loved doing it here, they would need to focus on their studies, rather than their sideline businesses. I’ll bet you a fiver that by the time they finish, they’ll have started up another business…
And it hasn’t all been easy – they’ve only been running the stall for a month – their first request to Islington Council in Spring was refused. But these kids aren’t deterred by a ‘no’, and after almost three and a half months of emails going backwards and forwards, they finally got permission. Sadly, this was near the end of summer so there’s little time left to sample their creations. But watch out for them next year!
Kiss Smoothies will be in Highbury Park (near the ice cream van) until 19th September.
Please, go along and support them – we need more health conscious entrepreneurs with integrity in this world! Healthy Living London wishes you the best of luck with your studies and look forward to seeing Kiss Smoothies back in Highbury Fields next summer.
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