Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brittany Anderson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Brittany, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

“This is what food is supposed to be like.”

These are the words I felt reverberate through my body the first time I stepped into the farmer’s market with my mom at the ripe age of 19. I was in the early stages of my journey with food and wellbeing; shifting from processed products to more home cooked meals and learning about the importance of opting into local and organic where I could. My eyes were quickly being opened to natural approaches and holistic solutions for modern day challenges and all the ways our society needed to shift. I struggled with sleep, anxiety, depression and feeling disconnected for much of my early years in life and I was discovering how to heal from the inside out.

I noticed that when I chose to consume foods that came from the earth, I felt nourished on a whole other level. My mood elevated, my energy levels improved, I had more motivation to tap into my creativity… simply put, I felt more connected not only to the beauty of the world, but also the light in me. My life felt more vibrant and full of possibility.

A deep part of me knew that when we connect with the earth and each other, whether through food or heartfelt exchanges, love was the true nourishment that we shared. While I didn’t know it then, that day at the farmer’s market — and this lesson that it instilled in me — changed my life.

A few years later, Vive came into being thanks to a small, yet successful Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, a few very special angels along the way and a nearly unbelievable amount of grit and grace. Never just a juice bar, Vive has been many things to many people. For over a decade, Vive has been a space to connect, to grow, to heal, to learn, to transform… and so much more. We’ve loved creating and curating a business where people get to experience the familiarity of a friendly neighborhood coffee shop/cafe with a nature-based, holistic health-focused twist.

Our mission has been to inspire true wellbeing by creating and sharing simple forms of nourishment that feed our minds, spirits and bodies with nature’s medicine… to celebrate life and honor the world we share by choosing what helps us feel alive.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Absolutely. Something that I had to unravel from in my entrepreneurial journey was hustle/grind culture and the conventional ideas of success. When we first got started, people loved what we were sharing and we were selling out of juice faster than we could make it. Even though I was working nearly all the time, it was incredibly exciting and I got caught up in a growth-oriented mindset, believing that in order for Vive to be “successful,” we needed to grow big and we needed to grow fast. It’s how I had seen other businesses grow, and at that time I didn’t know there were other ways.

After expanding into our third location, I was incredibly burnt out and realized I did not enjoy what I was doing anymore. The days of being guided by our mission were still there, but I was so overwhelmed I couldn’t find the passion I had before. Given my prior work experience, I didn’t understand why it felt so different. What I didn’t know then that I know now is that there are many invisible responsibilities you carry as a business owner that are entirely different from being an employee, even if what you do day-to-day looks similar.

After three years of three locations, I was done with overworking and sacrificing my wellbeing to keep going like that, so we decided to downsize when leases came up and go back to only operating our original shop. We remodeled it from top to bottom, bringing to life the vision I had in my mind of the beautiful, light-filled space you see there today. At the same time, we rebuilt our website and increased our delivery range so those who visited our other locations could still have access to our products via delivery. We wanted to make it a win/win, not only for ourselves but also those we served — and we did!

While the business became “smaller” in terms of locations and team size, it also became much simpler to operate… which led to more time to focus on our own wellbeing, and renewed enjoyment in our work. We re-discovered that it’s the simple things in life that had us feeling most free, connected and at ease, which is what success feels like for me. Not only that, but we were able to more fully embody what it truly means to be well.

Now, growth happens naturally and is mostly pressure-free which has created an atmosphere where we have the ability to experiment and explore creative ideas because we want to, not because we have to in order to sustain the business. All of this is to say — this process of revisioning success worked — and has been one of my most powerful lessons.

How’d you meet your business partner?

The story of how I met my business partner also happens to be a love story, because it is the story of how I met my husband. A little over six months before starting Vive, I was attending a transformational workshop. Craig, my now husband, had just sold his business and was attending the seminar with one of his business partners. Through the course of the program, Craig and I became friends. I shared with him a dream for creating a business/community space that was centered on healthy living and nature and while I wasn’t quite sure what it would be just yet, I knew how it felt, and I expressed from that place. Inspired, Craig was excited for me and offered his experience as an entrepreneur as a resource to me going forward.

As I worked for years to get Vive off the ground, I’d call Craig with questions about payroll, taxes or business strategy. We would talk sometimes for hours on end because we just seemed to click. We maintained this friendship for several years until a time came in which we were both single. Once that happened, it didn’t take us too long to figure out that we were entirely in love with each other. We began dating and were engaged a year later.

Shortly after we were engaged in 2018, Craig joined Vive full-time. He guided us through closing 2 of our locations, remodeling the flagship store, the expansion of our website and delivery program logistics, and led us through the uncertainty of the pandemic. Amidst all the change, we were continually shown that it was all meant to be. Although working as business partners while also being husband and wife has its challenges at times, we make a great team and we are so grateful to share a mission in life and do what we do together.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.vivejuicery.com
• Instagram: @vivejuicery
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ViveJuicery/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/vive-juicery-salt-lake-city-2