The Well, a new juice bar and organic food spot for ASU students, is situated at fitness complex on Tempe campus. The new bar is opened by ASU alumni Laura Pich. (Photo by Ryan Liu)ASU alumna Laura Pich recently opened her small juice bar and is offering fresh organic treats and protein-packed smoothies for students and faculty visiting the Sun Devil Fitness Complex in Tempe.
Pich wanted to open a business on campus and saw the chance to make it happen a couple of years ago, she said.
"I saw an opportunity a couple of years ago before the expansion of the Sun Devil Fitness Complex in Tempe," Pich said. "I wanted to do something different than the other places around campus."
The juice bar offers all organic cold pressed juices of fruits and vegetables in season by only ordering ingredients from local farms.
"All of our ingredients are local and fresh," she said. "We have protein smoothies, acai bowls, espresso coffee, a tea line and sandwiches."
The only menu items that use sugar are the coffee products, Pich said.
"Our biggest thing is no artificial ingredients," she said. "We don't use sherbets and we only use 100 percent whey protein."
Pich worked closely with center director Tamra Garstka when coming up with the idea of the bar.
"We asked ourselves, 'What did students want that wasn't on campus already?'," she said.
Pich has big plans for the bar and said she is looking to keep improving in all areas.
"We are working with the nutrition council at the Downtown campus to get our nutrition facts for our products, and we will be having an outdoor patio coming soon," she said.
Along with the aesthetic upgrades, The Well will soon be offering more healthy snacks for customers.
"We are going to start offering salads to go and other healthy quick service snacks," Pich said.
The Well employee freshman Kristen Puhl, a biological sciences freshman, said being a juicer herself made her want to work there.
"I wanted to work somewhere I believed in," she said. "I have worked in fast food before, and it was terrible."
The quality and sense of detail is what sets them apart from other places, Puhl said.
"We make everything by hand, and it is just more natural than any other place around," she said.
Puhl said she wants students to have healthy options, and The Well provides just that.
"Avoid the freshman 15 and just come to our juice bar and don't forget spring break is coming up," she said.
Pich will soon be working on new products to keep up with demand, she said.
"We are working on future drinks and different flavor profiles right now to provide more for our customers," Pich said.
Business marketing freshman Megan Heaton visits the bar twice a day for her meals and was excited to see it open, she said.
"Everything is absolutely delicious," she said. "No matter what you get, it's perfect."
Reach the reporter at jshanco2@asu.edu or follow on Twitter @joey_hancock
