Offering the "only hydraulically cold-pressed juice in Hertfordshire", Laura Margo is passionate about health, community and sustainability.
Laura, from Harpenden, started her unique juice business The Juice Program in 2019, and has thrived ever since.
With 95 per cent of her customers in Hertfordshire, The Herts Advertiser sat down with Laura to discuss the inspiration for starting the company and how it has blossomed in challenging times.
"I've always been really interested in the link between what we put inside our bodies and the impact that has.
"Over the last few years, more and more people have been looking into gut health, but for me - when I first launched the business - it was more about people finding things to put inside their bodies that would affect their mental and physical health.
"I went travelling to Asia and saw how much people were drinking more natural products over there, and it wasn't so much over here.
"We lived in London for a long time, and there were cold-pressed juices available, but in Hertfordshire - when we moved out - I just couldn't find anything that was raw, which is the most important thing to me."
Laura explained how her juices, unlike others, are not heated. This is thanks to her cold-pressing machine.
The 43-year-old businesswoman continued: "When you buy juices at the supermarket, they are 'cooked juice'.
"In order to sit on the supermarket shelf, they need to be pasteurised, because they need to have a long shelf life.
"The main argument for hydraulically cold-pressed juice is its not heat-treated in any way.
"When you take a Nutribullet and you wizz it all together, there is a certain amount of heat produced and that has an impact on what's inside.
"When it's cold-pressed, there is no heat involved at all, so you are keeping all of those vitamins, minerals and friendly bacteria that we want for our gut-health.
"With cold-pressed, as you can imagine, you only get a certain amount of yield (juice) from each ingredient.
"You have to have a lot of produce to get quite a small yield of juice. That's why its a 'luxury' product really because for each juice bottle you need about 0.4 kilos of fruit and veg.
"Whereas, if you were to take the exact same amount of produce and blend it together in a blender, you'd get a much greater yield.
"The point is that in one of those 300ml juices you are giving yourself a huge dose of vitamins and minerals."
The Juice Program founder also spoke of the affect of Covid-19 and the cost of living crisis on her business.
She added: "During Covid, lots of businesses were really negatively impacted.
"But, I think the one (good) thing that Covid did was, I really think a lot more people have focus on their health now.
"Wealth is one thing, but health is the one thing that you can't buy.
"When I say you can't buy it, you can invest in your health. I think since Covid, more people have understood that.
"I think a lot of small businesses are struggling, but I think some of those more niche businesses in areas like health and wellness are really thriving.
"I've found that my small business has gone from strength to strength, despite the fact that you open the newspaper and all it talks about is the cost of living crisis.
"It's all quite depressing when you read the news at the moment, but if you find the right market you can still find a business that thrives in this environment."
Laura was quick to praise the community in St Albans and Harpenden, citing it as a reason for her success.
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"A big thing (since Covid) is that more and more people want to buy local.
"This is why I am doing particularly well, there is nowhere else to buy hydraulically cold-pressed juice in Hertfordshire."
The Harpenden entrepreneur also runs a number of community sessions and has a focus on sustainability, delivering her juice in glass bottles.
Further information can be found at www.theprogram.org.uk
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