| | Amie Petracek owns and operates Three Sisters Juicing in Lethbridge, Alberta. She produces cold-pressed, unpasteurized juices out of organic fruits and vegetables.
Three Sisters Juicing’s product line up varies to showcase the seasonality of many fruits and vegetables but they consistently have two of their most popular juices available each week: Hello Sunshine and Coulee Greens. Currently, you can access their products at the Lethbridge Farmers’ Market. To learn more about Three Sisters Juicing, follow them on Facebook.
How Three Sisters Juicing began:
In 2015, Amie was suffering from terrible allergies and decided to find relief by cleaning up her diet. She spent some time on the west coast where she was inspired by the number of places offering cold pressed juice and decided, upon her return to Lethbridge, that she’d test the waters on a juice market.
She took the small business and entrepreneurial course at Lethbridge Community College in 2016. In homage to her three older sisters, Amie settled on a business name and, with the help of some friends, began selling her juice through the Lethbridge Farmers’ Market in September 2016.
How she’s doing it differently:
Amie uses no heat when juicing the fruits and vegetables, so no phytonutrients are lost in processing. She uses locally sourced produce as often as possible. The Three Sisters’ ingredient list is very simple: purely the juice from various fruits and vegetables. This means it also has a short shelf life and customers are advised to consume the juice within 72-96 hours.
This short shelf life means that Amie has to process her product almost immediately before selling it. Often, she is processing and bottling her juices into the early morning of a farmers’ market Saturday in order to bring the freshest possible product to her customers.
Currently Amie bottles her juice in 500 millilitre glass bottles, each containing the juice of about two and a half pounds of produce. Most of her recipes maintain an 80/20 ratio of vegetables to fruit.
Her connection to her customers and community:
Amie, a full time registered nurse, believes in the power of plants to promote overall health. She has found that her product is a crowd pleaser; the vibrant colours of the juice draw many farmers’ market customers. Through samples and some education about their process, Three Sisters Juicing is quickly gathering a loyal following. The product is so well received that at their debut market, one customer called to reserve 30 units for the next farmers’ market. In their first three months of business, Three Sisters Juicing has sold more than 300 bottles of juice.
Selling juice solely once a week at markets means that Three Sisters Juicing has seen a huge demand for access to their product throughout the week. Many customers call ahead before weekend markets to order their juice.
Selling at the Lethbridge Farmers’ Market has been a great way for Amie to determine if there is a viable market for juicing products in her city. She has been able to speak directly to customers and talk to them about what they’re looking for. This direct interaction with customers also facilitates general communication with the public about juicing and its benefits.
The future of Three Sisters Juicing:
Amie is always looking for ways to increase efficiency in her process and product. While reusable glass bottles seemed like a good idea when she began, many customers forget to return the bottles and sterilizing them takes significant time and effort. As her customer base builds, Amie would like to find a recyclable bottle option that is both environmentally friendly and easier to transport and package.
Trying out new recipes and exploring new fruit and vegetable combinations is an important part of Amie’s work. She has been experimenting with cashew milk recipes and is finding a niche with customers seeking out this style of product. During the winter, her Cashew Nog was a best seller at holiday markets and she hopes to expand into regular cashew milk products in the future.
Currently, Amie composts most of the by-product (fruit and vegetable fibres) from her juicing process. In the future she hopes to see someone capitalize on the opportunity that this by-product presents. Having made crackers, dried fruit snacks, and baked goods with these fibres before, she knows there is potential for the waste from her process to be made into something more appealing than garden compost.
In the near future, Amie would love to have a commercial space so she can scale up her production. In the distant future, she envisions a mobile juice “food-truck” that would afford her the flexibility to attend events around the community.
“You’re getting jam packed phytonutrients!” – Amie Petracek
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