I am 225: Ash Shoukry

January means more people than ever have juice on the brain. And when Baton Rougeans think about it this year, they’ll have not one, not two, but eight Big Squeezy locations to help them get their fix.

The local company opened its first location in 2013 and its second in 2015. But in the past year, it has ramped up its expansion plans exponentially, either opening or announcing plans for several new spots.

For perspective, that means the Capital City will soon have more juice bars than cupcake shops. How did that happen?

“Baton Rouge has some of the healthiest people you see,” says owner Ash Shoukry, who splits his time between Baton Rouge and Monterey, California. “They are always riding their bikes or doing yoga, or their kids are playing sports. I’ve seen more families focusing on their fitness here than in Northern California.”

That local climate, he says, has made Baton Rouge the perfect place for the Big Squeezy’s cold-pressed juices, smoothies and acai bowls. The products are made with fresh fruits and vegetables grown on the company’s farms in California and New Jersey.

The brand’s popularity, though, may boil down to one thing: how easy drinking juice makes it to sneak more produce into your diet.

“Just one glass of the pressed juice gives you your daily intake of fruits and vegetables for the day,” Shoukry says. thebigsqueezy.com

“Once I started drinking the juice myself and started realizing the health benefits, the real fun thing has been getting my personal friends into it now, too. These are guys that normally like to drink and are always eating big steak dinners, and now they’re enjoying juice and seeing benefits as well.”

This article was originally published in the January 2018 issue of 225 Magazine.