It all started with bike racing. The Juice Papi founder Raul J Rodriguez M.D., also known as “Dr. Rod”, is an avid road and mountain bike racer, in addition to being a physician. He is who would be regarded as the original and actual “Juice Papi”. Bicycle racing is a physically and nutritionally intensive sport and proper food consumption is critical. Eating a very healthy diet is essential for physical recovery as well as for providing fuel for hard training. Dr. Rod, who is also a spirited “foodie” and culinary enthusiast, came up with over 40 elaborate smoothie recipes over a span of 6 years, made from the absolute highest grade premium ingredients, as his primary source of nutrition following his daily hard training. There was endless trial and error in the development of these recipes. The signature “French Kiss” alone had over 90 recipe revisions before achieving the perfect flavor. It was when he started to make them for other people that interest in these recipes developed.
Dr. Rod was also a medical school professor for a time and used to have medical students rotating with him at his center. As part of the rotation, he used to teach the medical students the importance of diet and exercise as it pertains to physical health and would actually make them train every day at the PFN (Performance Fitness & Nutrition) Training Center and would then make them a recovery smoothie after. The students absolutely loved the smoothies and started to plead with him to open a juice and smoothie bar. The idea developed further as more and more people tried the smoothies and then jumped on the bandwagon. Dr. Rod then partnered with Greg Fainman, a professional chef, and Sondra Braude, a Registered Dietician, to develop the 100% organic cold pressed juice and shot recipes and Juice Papi was born. Greg brought advanced culinary training and experience while Sondra provided professional nutritional oversight to ensure the best tasting and most nutritious delicacies possible. Over 2 years of product refinement passed where even more recipes were developed, including the now famous Acai bowls. Almost 100 recipes were perfected but only the best cold pressed juices, smoothies, shots, and Acai bowls made the final cut for the opening day menu. All of the existing recipes are constantly being refined further and many new recipes are being developed every week in anticipation of Juice Papi menu 2.0. This is the difference between “good” and “GREAT”. This is the Juice Papi way!
To learn more about our organic sourcing, please click here.