Mentor's First Juice And Smoothie Bar, Pulp, Opens

After opening Pulp, a juice and smoothie bar, Tage (pronounce Tag) Oscarsson has only one regret: That he didn't know about Mentor's thriving business community years ago.  

“My wife (Alise) and I were familiar with Macedonia so that's where we opened our first juice and smoothie bar four years ago. But when we became aware of Mentor we said, ‘What were we thinking? We should have come to Mentor four years ago,” said Oscarsson, who grew up in Hudson but never ventured north.

Through his own market research, many things about Mentor impressed Oscarsson, including the city's ranking as the sixth largest retail district in the state that attracts consumers from all over Lake County as well as Geauga County and some of the eastern Cuyahoga County suburbs.

“On a scale from 1 to 10, how happy am I with business right now? I’d have to say a 10,” Oscarsson beamed. “It has far exceeded my expectations.”

He also appreciated how easy it was to work with city officials and the warm welcomes he has received from other Mentor businesses.

Since the 1,200-square-foot store opened at 9227 Mentor Avenue, Pulp has been drawing about 200 customers a day.

Pulp offers more than 30 different types of fresh fruit, no-sugar added smoothies including classic smoothies such as the Mentor’s store best-selling Three Berry, which contains strawberry juice, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and raspberry sherbet.

The menu also features tropical smoothies, citrus smoothies, soy smoothies, high-energy smoothies and super smoothies such as the Guava Burner, a concoction of Guava juice, mangos, strawberries, bananas, orange sherbet with fat burner and fiber blend enhancers.

“The smoothie bar industry is a health-oriented industry,” explained Oscarsson. “We give you a healthy option as opposed to all of the fast food restaurant options.”

A 24-ounce smoothie contains two to four grams of fat, said Oscarsson. By comparison, a Clif (energy/protein) bar that some people eat when dieting has six grams of fat.

“A lot of people look for zero calories when they diet, but they should be looking for healthy calories, which includes fruit,” said Oscarsson. “That’s why Weight Watchers assigns zero points for fruit and vegetables because they are healthy for you.”

(The Weight Watchers diet program assigns point values to portions of foods. Foods that are high in fiber as well as low in fat and calories have low point values, which can help you lose weight.)

“My average employee loses weight because they are eating much healthier,” he said.

In addition to smoothies, Pulp also offers nine different wraps, a garden salad and soup of the day.

Currently, Pulp is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mon-Sun. In the fall, new hours will be 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mon-Fri., and 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.