Down on your luck? Try standing next to Ankit Goyal for a bit. The owner of South Side's Fresh From the Farm Juices seems a magnet for good fortune — and ideas.
A Long Island native, Goyal's parents served him fresh juice every day. Fresh From the Farm Juices is his attempt to bring his beloved, healthful habit to the public.
It began when Goyal was working in New York. "[What] depressed me more than anything was the way that people were eating," says Goyal, who thought to himself, "The reason people are eating like [this] is the availability of what's around them."
So Goyal brought juice to his coworkers. "They [began] drinking it like crazy," he says, even giving up their consumption of energy drinks in favor of what Fresh From the Farm now calls "Restless Red" (apple, beet, carrot, lemon, ginger, parsley) juice.
Feeling like he was on to something, Goyal and wife, Danielle, moved to Ligonier for its proximity to organic farms and lower startup costs. "I fell in love with it," says Goyal, who launched the company in October 2012.
Months later, Goyal was delivering bottled juices — which now include Limey Green (apple, spinach, kale, carrot, lime, cilantro) and Black and Yellow (pineapple, orange, blackberry lavender) — to a café when he fortuitously met a satisfied customer who wanted to invest.
Goyal acquired a South Side space, and a costly GoodNature X1 Cold-Press, which can juice 40 to 50 gallons per hour. "It's the best," he says — which is why there's ordinarily a five-to-six-month waiting list to purchase one. But not for Goyal: Within hours of his inquiry, the company offered him an available machine due to a cancelation.
"My life is not always that amazing," Goyal insists.
So if you want to see what two pounds of organic produce, the crème de la crème of juicers, a healthy dose of luck, and Goyal's passion can create, stop by the store, check out a monthly themed party, or order a case to be delivered.
"This is a relatively new thing in the city of Pittsburgh," says Goyal. "The response has been great."
