Mi Pueblo owners debut salad and juice bar concept Fresh Valley at Silo Square

Article courtesy of Memphis Business Journal, Susan Ellis.

Fresh Valley Juice & Salad Bar opened about five weeks ago at Silo Square in Southaven.

According to general manager Maria Reyes, she was getting tired of having to cross state lines to find something healthier to eat.

Reyes' family owns the Mi Pueblo restaurants in the area. The salad and juice bar is a new concept for them, which is why it fits particularly well at Silo Square.

"We figured this would be the best spot to put it because we're new, they're new," she said of the development. "It worked out."

Reyes said it took two years of research to figure out the concept and the menu. She looked on the internet for similar concepts and she traveled around trying various places.

"The owner went to Mexico and did some research over there," she said. "Then, I went to a few states in the U.S. I went to places in Atlanta, different places in Chicago, just big cities that have more variety than around here to see what they had on their menu."

One thing that Reyes learned during her research was that just because it's green doesn't mean it's healthy. She also landed on what flavors worked well together. And she knew that Fresh Valley should have its own unique spin.

One of her favorite salads is an example of that. It's the Cholula Mexican Cobb salad, made with grilled chicken, smoked bacon, eggs, corn, carrots, and tortilla chips and served on a romaine and cabbage salad topped with a creamy Cholula dressing.

"We make our own Cholula dressing in house," she said. "It's got a little bit of everything. It just tastes amazing all together."

Other salad options include the Southwest Salad with lettuce, bell peppers, cilantro, black beans, red onion, corn, scallion, tomatoes, and a Southwest dressing; the Fresh Valley featuring romaine, mango, avocado, cilantro, ginger, frijol verde, carrots, dragon fruit, and spinach; and the Strawberry Salad with lettuce, strawberries, goat cheese, grilled pineapple, and a balsamic vinaigrette.

Fresh Valley's juice offerings are 100% natural, Reyes said. They offer orange, carrot, and the Silo Square, with carrots, green apple, ginger, lemon, and cinnamon.

The juices are made with a compressed juice machine. The scraps from the machine are given to a local farmer for fertilizer and to feed chickens.

Also on the menu are smoothies, smoothie bowls, paninis, toasts, wraps, and to-go protein boxes.

Fresh Valley will also feature seasonal items, but otherwise the menu is set. One reason is to build consistency; the other is to make it easily replicable, with an eye toward expansion.

"It was developed to be able to expand and make it a chain," Reyes said. "We want to perfect what we have now or get as close as possible. So that way we are able to pick up and go somewhere else."