Lorie Ward,  Fairhope Juice Company, Battles Wharf, AL

Did you know that cilantro is the only herb that can detoxify heavy metals from our bodies? Or that ginger and turmeric are natural painkillers and have antiviral properties, or that beet juice gives you energy? 

Fresh, raw, organic, cold-pressed juice is a way to heal with food, and Lorie Ward, owner of Fairhope Juice Company at Battles Wharf in between Fairhope and Point Clear, is the health coach we all need to stay happy and healthy in the new year. We sipped Jasmine tea and talked about her life and her business. 

Lorie is from San Diego, California and she says she is “Southern” because she came from Southern California. She is charming, gracious, and intelligent, no matter what South we are talking about. She has a BS in Health Education and worked in pharmaceutical sales for 18 years but always had a passion for nutrition, specifically food healing through raw food. 

After years in pharmaceuticals, she discovered that she wanted to be in health care, not “sick care”. Because the corporate sales job required so much energy, every year she would treat herself to a retreat of some sort, and in 2018, she went to the first-ever Goodnature Juice conference in Venice, California. 

It had a design-your-own juice kitchen theme and she was so fired up about juicing that she made a large investment and bought a cold press machine, not knowing what she was going to do with it! She discovered Fairhope after attending a conference at the Grand Hotel and began thinking about the lifestyle she wanted to lead someday. Six years later, she made the move. 

Learning about branding, marketing, and navigating the rules of the Health Department, she was fortunate to find Jennifer Hafner at Warehouse Bakery, who was willing to let her bring her cold press machine to the restaurant and sell her blends of juice. After working both as a sales rep and a juicer, she left Pharma in October 2019 and started Fairhope Juice Company in June of the same year. She had 18 juices in the cooler and the business has been growing ever since. 

Her most popular mix is the “Jubilee”: carrot, apple, lemon, with medicinal ginger and turmeric added. “Reclaim” has Romaine lettuce, cilantro, celery, cucumber, apple, lemon and ginger. “Soul Shine” has apple, pineapple, cucumber, and mint and is a mixture that is good for your skin. 

In Covid 2020, when restaurants were shut down, her juicing at Warehouse Bakery slowed down. She was friends with Ken Buck, owner of Battles Wharf Market, and he offered her a storefront that needed repairs, adjacent to his store. His business was considered essential and was allowed to stay open so she slowly renovated the place herself and moved the company to where it is today. 

Besides being certified in Food Healing and Health Coaching, Lorie is also passionate about sustainability and asks her customers to rinse and return the glass 13-ounce containers her juices come in. Jars returned to her are either reused or recycled through Don Bates’ Osprey Initiative.

She gets all of her organic produce from John Thomas at the Piggly Wiggly and tells me that when she first started, she had to drive to Whole Foods in Mobile 4 days a week to procure the fruits and vegetables. Because Baldwin County has so many local citrus growers, her seasonal “Geaux Skinny” blend is a mixture of local satsumas, grapefruit, and Meyer lemons. 

Being part of the community and fostering healthy lifestyles for others has led Lorie to be involved in the Hope Community’s outreach and development initiative to create a teaching farm and a teaching kitchen at the Anna T. Jeanes facility on South Section and Twin Beach Road. Members of this community will learn to grow and cook fresh fruits and vegetables through this forward-thinking initiative. 

Lorie sees Fairhope becoming a “Blue Zone”, a community where residents can live healthily to the Age of 100. People who live in Blue Zones eat an organic plant-based diet, have strong community ties, walk everywhere, and have strong faith. Lorie feels strongly that with education and resources, Fairhope can reach this goal. To read more about the Hope Community and its plan for the future.

Lorie loves her job and radiates happiness because all of her dreams have come true. She gets to connect with people and talk about health all day long. She produces about 400 13 oz. bottles of juice a week and has many returning customers and special orders. She offers seasonal cleanses where customers are offered five cold-pressed, organic juice blends each day while also supporting a healthy gut microbiome with a delicious vegan adaptation broth. She gives scheduled instructions and tips to improve the detox process. Sounds like we all need to do this after the holidays! 

You can buy Fairhope Juices at Warehouse Bakery on Nichols Avenue or her store at Battles Wharf Market, 18327 Highway 98, open Tuesday through Friday, 8:30 to 5 p.m., and Saturday 8:30 to 2 pm. I left Lorie feeling as if I had made a new friend and was educated at the same time. I’m so glad to have had both!