Founder Chris Goode’s Health And Wellness Brand, Inspired By His Grandmother, Expands Into Over 100 Whole Foods Locations
Chris Goode’s love for his grandmother lives on through his journey as an entrepreneur.
The Kansas City, MO, native is the proud founder of the health and wellness brand Ruby Jean’s Juicery, which is making healthier food options more accessible to underserved communities. His personal call to action, and the name of the venture, was inspired by Ruby Jean, his grandmother, who stepped in to help his single mother raise four children. Ruby Jean didn’t speak much, but she showed her affection through cooking soul food, Goode explained in an interview with AFROTECH™.
However, Ruby Jean developed various chronic illnesses, including type 2 diabetes, which eventually led to her being rushed to the hospital. She later passed away after her family made the decision to remove her from life support. Goode was 14 years old at the time, and since that day, he has pledged to keep her spirit alive.
“The agony in myself and my mom and my siblings and my aunts, it’s something that I would never forget, and I still don’t forget it to this day, but I made a silent vow going from funeral to funeral that I was gonna tell people who my grandmother was one day,” he said.
Before officially launching his business in 2015, Goode experienced several key turning points. While working as a travel catastrophe insurance adjuster, his job took him to various cities, including Los Angeles. There, he connected with two friends who shared that they were on the final day of a seven-day juice cleanse. The three later met in a small North Hollywood apartment to watch part one of the documentary “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead,” which highlights how juice cleansing can improve one’s health.
As he watched, Goode says he couldn’t help but think of his grandmother, who had not had the opportunity to experience a similar “come to Jesus” moment regarding her health. Inspired, he decided to try the juice cleanse himself and immediately experienced its benefits.
“I had this clarity, this self awareness that I had never experienced. Even being a collegiate athlete, working out a bunch, never had I felt what I felt once I finished that juice cleanse,” he mentioned. “And so I was still traveling for work as a catastrophe adjuster, and I started going to juice bars from coast to coast. I would start to pick my hotels based on where the best juice bar was or where a Whole Foods was. It just became my thing. I had a traveling little blender juicer contraption. I started to get menus. I started to take pictures just as a consumer.”
Ultimately, being a consumer was not enough for Goode. So while working in Schaumburg, a suburb outside of Chicago, he recognized he was no longer satisfied with a career path that was paying him “north of six figures.” He made the decision to put it all on the line. He accumulated credit card debt, took the risk of withdrawing from his 401(k) (which incurs penalties), borrowed money from friends, and “wagered everything” he had to open Ruby Jean’s Juicery. It paid off with a flagship location situated at 3000 Troost Ave, Kansas City, MO 64109, which offers a variety of juices, smoothies, shakes, and healthy eats.
What’s more, its footprint has also scaled to locations including CPKC Stadium, Loews Hotels, Saint Luke’s Health System, and at Whole Foods Market, becoming “one of the first Black-owned juice brands with in-store placement at the national grocer.” Now it is shelved at more than 100 Whole Foods Market stores in cities such as Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, and Chicago, according to information shared with AFROTECH™.
“I can always point to ways that we’re growing — deep, tangible ways that we’re taking this message of a healthier existence, a message that I wish my grandma had, and making sure that it’s delivered to people that are currently just like my grandmother was back then,” Goode expressed. “That we’re intercepting people’s thoughts and minds and impressing upon people to just live a healthier existence.”
