Goji – an eco-friendly juice bar – to open an Ocean City location
The beach community loves eco-friendly swaps. Use canvas bags instead of plastic? Sure! Carry around a reusable water bottle? You’ve got it! By Memorial Day Weekend, Ocean City will have a new eco-friendly juice bar- Goji.
“We are looking forward to bringing more cold pressed juice and plant based goodness to the beach community while still using our Somers Point store as our main hub,” said Julia Lindsay, founder.
Goji started as a stand inside J.R.’s Fresh Market on Fire Road in Egg Harbor Township. When the market closed in 2018, Goji moved into their own space- ironically, an old Burger King in Somers Point. They opened in May 2019.
Goji’s menu is plant based- simple foods; great taste. They also offer a milk alternatives (mylk) made from nuts.
“We are best known for our cold-pressed juice. We offer smoothies, bowls, and vegan eats. Our passion has always been to expand our plant based foods. We are continuing to innovate and explore ways that we can make foods that not only taste great with a lower environmental footprint. Our menu has evolved rather quickly over the last year to include a handful of salads, sandwiches, baked goods, guacamole, and soups,” said Julia.
These cold-pressed juices have names like Paradise- a blend of pineapple, apple, orange, and lemon- and Spark- a blend of carrot, orange, pineapple, apple, ginger, and turmeric.
Goji is eco-friendly, focusing on sustainably sourcing their foods and sending their treats out the door with minimal waste.
“We pride ourselves on utilizing sustainable, environmentally-friendly options for every aspect of our business possible. Glass reusable bottles are our most notable sustainable practice. However, some others include (the) utilization of locally sourced produce when possible and the use of biodegradable food containers and utensils. We are a certified Ocean Friendly restaurant. In addition, we utilize a rain barrel donated by The Surfrider Foundation at our Somers Point location in order to water our raised bed garden. We pride ourselves on leading our community through sustainable business practices as much as possible,” Julia said.
Since Goji opened in 2019, their eco-friendly practices have saved 35,000 bottles from the landfills.
“Goji, at its core is a cold-pressed juice company. When we looked at our highest volume of product sales, juice stood out. It was clear from the start that the quickest way for us to reduce product waste was to design an eco-friendly alternative to the traditional plastic juice bottle – thus, the refillable bottle system was born! We offer three sizes of glass bottles – 13 oz., 33 oz., and 64 oz. There is an initial purchase price which includes a pass-through cost for the bottle to our customer. In turn, for the life of the bottle, both Goji and our customer enter into a sort of social/environmental contract resulting in the following: 1) more affordable juice for the customer and, 2) less waste for the customer, Goji, and the community at large,” said Julia.
If you’re looking to visit and don’t know what to order, Julia offers some suggestions.
“Our staff is great at guiding customers towards a choice that meets their health goals and taste,” said Julia. “Our go to favorites are the tranquillo (nut mylk, coconut, pineapple, turmeric, mango, orange, banana, honey, and cashew butter) and chocolate monkey smoothies (chocolate mylk, banana, peanut butter, cacao, pink salt, and honey), tiger smoothie bowl (chocolate mylk, strawberry, banana, peanut butter, and pea protein, topped with granola, banana, blueberry, peanut butter, coconut, and honey), buffalo chickpea salad, and raw Reeces.”