Today we’d like to introduce you to Hattie and Jesse Vork.
Thanks for sharing your story with us. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Of course, thank you for speaking with us! Let’s see… so ever since we first met, we talked about wanting to start a small business – something we’re both passionate about that we can build together. We would go on long road trips driving for days through different states brainstorming concepts, inventions and watching Shark Tank religiously.
Jesse deployed to Afghanistan with the Texas National Guard when I was pregnant with our first child. It was tough to be apart, but we would face-time and talk at all hours of the day and night about our future business dreams. We wanted to help people lead a healthy lifestyle; we toyed with Gyms and Health Food ideas… but mostly, we just looked forward to working together all day, every day!
We have always enjoyed playing an active role in our Community – Jesse was a Firefighter with the Houston Fire Department; I worked in the Energy sector and in our spare time we volunteered with local charities and fostered rescue dogs. We love the daily interactions and meeting different people. Whilst Jesse was away, I tried not to worry; I’d tell myself ‘he’s highly experienced, multiple combat deployments and coming up to 20 years in the Military – he knows what he’s doing!’ … so I focused my mind elsewhere, to open us up to new opportunities.
It was very tough – there was a lot of news traveling back as they had multiple close calls. What really convinced us to take the leap of faith was on April 1st, 2019 I got a devastating phone call and was informed of a situation that had happened overseas causing several men on the team to receive Purple Hearts, including Jesse – it dawned on me that life was too short and we must pursue our dream! We managed to get Jesse back from Afghanistan for 8 days to see the birth of our baby girl Delila, and then once he returned Home for good we set out to start our business. We had finished up our research and landed on our new venture. We sold everything, packed up our life in The Woodlands and moved our family into an 800 sq ft apartment in the Heights, to be close to where our store would be. We put everything into our new business together and never looked back…
Has it been a smooth road?
Hahaha…not in the slightest. March 18th (just days before we were to collect the keys), the airport’s closed down due to COVID-19. We didn’t know what was happening, nobody did, but we decided to press on as we believed strongly in what we had to offer. Helping people build their immune systems and stay healthy was more important now than ever, plus we had lined everything up and we didn’t want our dream to end. Over the next few weeks, the pandemic swept the Nation, non-essential businesses were ordered to close and all small business owners had to adapt quickly. We faced a ton of challenges – family matters, business operations, financials and everything in-between but we took them on day by day… we can laugh about it now, but starting your first ever business at the start of a global pandemic is not for the faint hearted! It’s taught us resilience for sure and we’re humbled and thankful through this whole thing.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Absolutely! So Clean Juice, Heights is a certified Organic Juice and Smoothie Bar located in Heights Central Station next to Dish Society at the corner of 11th & Yale. We make our own Cold Pressed juices in-house and make fresh to order Toasts, Wraps, Salads and Acai Bowls. We are part of the Clean Juice franchise headed up by Kat & Landon Eckels; yet we maintain a local family business feel. We’re open every day of the week and can be found at local fitness studios on Saturdays and the local Farmer’s Market every Sunday. We position ourselves as a quick and convenient option for health conscious on-the-go families and we’re a great place for Veggies/Vegans and Dairy/Gluten Intolerants. Our Organic Juice Cleanse is popular amongst those looking for a Rest & Reset, and we’ve had a few amazing success stories with people fighting health issues. To us, our store, employees and guests are like family and we just love engaging with all our customers and doing what we can to make them happy.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Houston is constantly growing and ever-changing for the better. It’s a vibrant and thriving City for businesses and we feel very blessed to be a part of this diverse and successful environment. We are lucky to live 4 blocks from our store so we start every morning on a family walk to work. It’s a daily grind but we are in it together and we wake up every morning excited to see what the day will bring. We’d say it’s a dream job!
Contact Info:
- Address: 1051 Heights Blvd Suite 120, Houston, TX 77008
- Website: www.cleanjuice.com/locations/heights
- Phone: 832-582-5633
- Email: heights@cleanjuice.com
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