DINING TASTE
Conveniently Delicious & Nutritious
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By Tom Worgo Photography by Stephen Buchanan
wner Stacey Heywood offers a dare to people who have not tried Rutabaga Juicery & Eats. Taste one of the offerings of the café and you will likely come back. Heywood says many people easily get hooked this way. The business’ retention rate of new customers is about 85 percent.
“I challenge everybody to come to Rutabaga for seven days and replace your morning coffee with a juice,” she explains. “That’s all the evidence you will need. It will taste delicious.” The café offers more than cold-pressed juices. Rutabaga’s menu also features food bowls like Strawberry Nice Cream and Cacao Protein, and toasts such as Brownie Batter and Nut Butter Banana, as well as smoothies and espresso. All selections are plant-based and additive-free. The drive-through helps the business immensely.
We talked to Stacey about using plant-based food, weighing healthy food and taste, and customer favorites. You use whole plant-based food. How? Everything we offer is plant-based and comes from a whole ingredient basis. Our cashew milk is an example. It’s not a storebought cashew milk with fillers in it. We make it with cashews and water. We avoid processed food as much as possible. The ingredient list is clean. Talk about cold pressure juices and the process? We use raw juice. We have a big hydraulic press that slowly chews up food and crushes it under pounds of pressure. It extracts a large amount of nutrients and has a totally different texture. The juice has a very short shelf life and is very fresh. It’s just an incredible, nutrient energy burst. What goes into making smoothies? Our smoothies are very different than you will get elsewhere. They taste like milkshakes. It’s just whole-blended fruits and vegetables. We use super foods that are high in nutrients and vitamins. You are not paying for a bunch of water-blended stuff. You are getting pounds of produce in your drink. They are a substitute for light meals. They will sustain you for breakfast or lunch.
Rutabaga co-owner Jim Heywood (far right) with the cafe's staff.
“We want to create food that is delicious first, but also is whole food that is healthy by nature,” says Heywood, who owns Rutabaga with her husband Jim.
The Annapolis café opened in 2015 and was successful enough that the Heywoods opened a second location in Crofton in 2018. The concept stems back quite a few years to the Adelaide Central Market while the Heywoods were living in South Australia. There, a customer could grab a meal made of fresh, local, and healthy ingredients. After moving to the Anne Arundel County, they realized that the area is a virtual health food desert dominated by chain and fast-food restaurants. That’s why they opened Rutabaga.
RUTABAGA JUICERY & EATS 152
4 Ridgely Avenue, Annapolis, 410-267-0261 | 1131A MD Route 3 N., Gambrills, 410-970-2437 | rutabagajuicery.com
What’s Up? Central Maryland | January/February 2022 | whatsupmag.com
