Gre3n Superfood & Juice Bar

Oct 29, 2019

Hi I’m Julienne Petherbridge (Julz). My connection to Ngāi Tahu is through Te Hapū o Ngāti Wheke at Rāpaki – I am from the Couch whānau. My mum, who is sadly no longer with us, was passionate about her whānau and sharing her connection to Ngāi Tahu.

My partner, Carlos Moa and I, together are the powerhouse, driving force and co-founders of Gre3n Superfood and Juice Bar. We are so focused and passionate, and we work well together. Carlos has the vision and creative design and I’m the business, marketing and food development component of our team, doing ongoing research on trending superfoods. We have been on a journey to get to this stage in our lives. We are both very ambitious people who have been led to Gre3n by our life journeys so far, various careers paths and passion for health and wellbeing.

Gre3n is a superfood and juice bar with a focus on plant-based offerings. We have a huge range of smoothies, fresh juices, smoothie bowls, clean-eat food options and organic fair-trade coffee. Our kaupapa is delivering health and wellness to whānau and the wider community while focusing on sustainable business practices.

Carlos had a nasty mountain biking accident and on top of that developed chicken pox. He was bed bound and I was away on the Gold Coast. It was while on the Gold Coast that the first exciting milestone of Gre3n occurred. I had the epiphany that Christchurch needed a one stop shop juice & smoothie bar with fresh, delicious and quality clean-eating food options. Christchurch didn’t really have one, and I was very clear in my vision about what we needed to do to open one, including what it was going be called… Green. The name came about from so many different connotations of a fresh and simple brand.

I called Carlos and he ran with it. When he started brainstorming the design the name Green wasn’t available on the business register. We played around a bit with ideas and concepts and Gre3n was born. Carlos designed a super clever logo, with the digit 3 next to the letter E making a four-leaf clover. This fits perfectly with our 100 per cent belief that our dream and everything that has come from it is lucky.

Next, we found an existing juice business available to purchase in The Colombo, a mall in Ōtautahi. After that it all just seemed to fall into place. It felt so right. It flowed so easily. We put an offer in on the juice business. It was accepted. Then we had ourselves our very first baby Gre3n juice bar. Within three months the public was elated and all over us. It was so obvious we needed to grow quickly. Really really quickly. We decided to open three more in one year.

We see Te Aka Haumi o Tahu as an opportunity to share our businesses and skills, whānau to whānau, with everybody within the Directory. Kind of like our ancestors trading back in the day, it’s bringing back a traditional way of working and strengthening the whānau network.

We see it working to strengthen business-to-business relationships and marketing. We see it as a trusted source, and although I don’t know the people personally, we feel something special here. My hope is that I’m going to look up the directory to source business solutions and I’d hope others will do the same and find our business. If someone is thinking about ordering a catered lunch for their team and they find us, they’ll go “Wow, we’ll use Gre3n!”

The message we’d like to leave whānau with is the message of sustainability.

Sustainability is the only way forward. If we all make changes be it big or small, it’s going to make a difference to our future and the future of the planet.

For us, we’ve created a business which invests in a brighter future for our tamariki. Carlos and I have decided to follow a plant-based diet. Sustainability is the way of the future so our tamariki will have fresh drinking water, clean air and a lifestyle we grew up with without pollution and clean water to swim in.

Another big part of what we’re about is helping make it easy for people to transition to the ‘green lifestyle’. We have created a business that invites people in not only to taste our delicious offerings but also to ask the questions, we are always open to people who want to make the shift. Our staff are fully trained to help, and we want to share our knowledge far and wide.