FJ Leto is the founder of Blue Pearl Cafe, a “full plant-based cafe” that just opened at 44 Rittenhouse Place in Ardmore. He previously established Juice Dr. a few blocks away, and those drinks will be available at the new cafe, too.
“We mainly do a direct-to-consumer subscription service,” he said. “We deliver fresh juices all over the Philadelphia area. We deliver cleanses.”
Although it may seem unusual to launch a business amid a pandemic, Leto said the demand for his subscription-based juices rose over the past few months.
“Before, (everyone’s) like, ‘Yeah, I know you should eat healthy and be in shape and etc., but I really want to go out to happy hour so I'm going to go do that.’ And now they're saying, ‘Wow, this could be my life on the line, and I should really start thinking about how I'm treating myself,’ ” he said.
“Eat the rainbow of fruits and vegetables,” he said. “Some of our juices have seven servings of vegetables in them. … That would be tough for someone to eat over the whole day, and it's 40 calories.”