Today we’d like to introduce you to Alireza Asefi
Hi Alireza, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My wife, Viola, and I opened Wonky Blends about two years ago, although our story goes back further than that.
Viola and I come from very different professional backgrounds – Viola spent her career in business consulting, while I’ve been a serial entrepreneur all of my life. We always played around with the idea of doing something together, but it wasn’t until two things happened – we had our daughter and Russia invaded Ukraine (Viola is originally from Ukraine and has family there) – that we decided that life is too short and unpredictable to not do what you believe in or are passionate about. And we happen to be passionate about food, and its ability to nurture communities, positively impact our health and environment, and bring joy. So that’s how our family business, Wonky Blends, was born.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Every endeavour, business, industry has its own challenges, ours isn’t any different.
Current macro-economic climate isn’t particularly favourable to small food businesses like ours, with things like rising food costs and labor shortages putting a lot of pressure on us and our peers.
Then, there are industry-specific issues, like the way delivery platforms – which are big, global tech businesses – squeeze the margins of small local businesses like ours.
More specific to Wonky Blends – we’ve found it relatively hard to source organic produce in Austin, at a wholesale level. Based on what we’ve been told by local food wholesalers and distributors, there is not enough demand for organic produce from local restaurants and other food businesses. This means that local distributors don’t source organic produce consistently, and when they do, this produce is very expensive. That’s why we do most of our shopping ourselves at retailers like Whole Foods, Sprouts and Costco, but that’s not scalable and will need to change as we grow.
We’ve been impressed with Wonky Blends, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Wonky Blends is a juice and smoothie bar based in South Austin, TX.
Wonky Blends is quite different to a typical juice & smoothie shop. Instead of promoting juice cleanses, detox smoothies, and other remnants of diet culture, we focus on making drinks and bowls that are delicious, fun, and something people actually want to drink and eat. For example, we serve a dual-toned cold pressed juice that has blue spirulina foam and pink grapefruit granita, or shaved ice, on top. You can’t get that in a typical juice bar.
Importantly, we deliver the fun and the flavor without compromising the quality or nutritional integrity of our products. We source highest quality, primarily organic ingredients, and make virtually everything in-house to avoid refined sugar, seed oils, concentrates, “natural flavors” and other questionable additives.
To take things even further, we cold press our juices to order, resulting in drinks with maximum flavor and minimal nutrient degradation. This is a really hard thing to do, which is probably why it’s not done by anyone else in ATX and is extremely rare to find anywhere in the US. But to us, it makes sense because it’s how we get the best quality product.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
There are a few ways people can get involved –
1. Visit us at our South Austin location and give our drinks and bowls a try.
2. Engage with us on social media, especially Instagram. Our handle is @wonkyblends.
3. If you like what we do, let your family and friends know about us and leave Wonky Blends a review on Google and Yelp.
4. We love to hear from our community, so please reach out to us if you have any feedback, a new product idea or just want to chat. One of us is always at the shop, so you can grab us there, or get in touch by email (hello@wonkyblends.com) or an Instagram DM (@wonkyblends).
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.wonkyblends.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wonkyblends
- Yelp: https://yelp.to/0axA1PZ6DW
