The idea for CROP Juice came to cofounder Karen Odierna while working as an oncology nurse. With a front-row seat to hundreds of cancer stories—some more successful than others—she noticed a recurring throughline. “I realized that people weren’t putting anything good in their bodies,” she says. Whether patients turned to chemo, radiation or alternative therapies, Odierna found that the ones who began taking their diets more seriously seemed to have better outcomes. While the medicinal properties of cold-pressed juice are a subject of debate in the scientific and medical communities, what is not up for debate is that Odierna and husband/cofounder Keith Campbell spend a lot of time thinking about the health and well-being of their customers. And in the shadow of COVID-19, the survival of CROP Juice depended as much on this mission as it did on sensible business moves.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY WYATT KOSTYGAN
“We decided when things got really bad to close for two weeks,” says Campbell. Though the company was considered an essential business and was allowed to remain open, the closure ensured the safety of CROP’s staff and customers while the married pair reconfigured their business. “We already took infection control really seriously,” says Odierna, “and we started with masks early on.” Take-out orders already comprised a sizable slice of their revenue pie, but they added a touchless outdoor pickup system, developed their call-in ordering protocols and expanded their delivery options to accommodate those of their customers who did not feel comfortable coming in. “We were doing our best to protect people,” says Odierna, “and we felt like we owed it to them to figure it out.” With a loyal customer base and a little help from a Paycheck Protection Program loan, CROP managed to stay in the black. But the pandemic still threw a wrench into their trajectory. “With our downtown store, it was difficult to enforce social distancing and masks,” says Campbell, “so we passed on renewing the lease and opted to close the store.”
PHOTOGRAPHY BY WYATT KOSTYGAN
The pandemic also forced them to think long and hard about the Stickney Point location they signed a lease on in May 2019. “We had to ask ourselves, ‘What is this thing and what does it mean to us?’” says Campbell. Supplies seemed to get delayed later and later, while contractors and subcontractors were hard to come by with so many homeowners using their downtime to start remodeling projects. “We wanted to make sure we weren’t pouring money into something that wasn’t gonna work,” says Campbell, who saw the build-out delayed six months. After months of nonstop anxiety dealing with closures, reconfigurations, construction and the incessant uncertainty of a novel virus, the Stickney Point location finally opened in October. “I almost don’t believe it’s happening,” jokes Odierna.
In a way, the location is the culmination of their steadfast commitment to the community of health-conscious eaters who rely on CROP to keep their bodies loaded with nutrients, particularly the immuno-compromised customers who swear by the product. “We’ve always prided ourselves on being really nutrient-dense, and we think we have a five- or six-year record of really helping people heal through nutrition,” says Campbell, “and when we have cancer patients come to us straight from getting a diagnosis, that’s very humbling. It changes you.” SRQ
