Malamiah Juice Bar co-owners open new location

Malamiah Juice Bar co-owners open new location
Credit: Malamiah Juice Bar & Eatery

The co-owners of Malamiah Juice Bar & Eatery opened another location in downtown Grand Rapids.

Co-owners Jermale Eddie, Randy Otterbridge and Kris Mathis opened a second location of their business Malamiah Juice Bar & Eatery on Monday, July 11, inside the David D. Hunting YMCA, 475 Lake Michigan Drive NW in Grand Rapids.

Malamiah Juice Bar was founded in Grand Rapids in 2013 by husband-and-wife team Jermale and Anissa Eddie, and it offers bottled juices; juice subscriptions; cleanse plans; apparel; and made-to-order juices, smoothies, coffee, tea, kombucha, salads, grain bowls and acai bowls at its Studio Park location, at 122 Oakes St. SW, Suite 110, in downtown Grand Rapids.

The Studio Park location will remain open.

Co-founder Jermale Eddie brought Otterbridge on as a co-owner and chief marketing officer and Mathis as co-owner and COO in April, as the Business Journal previously reported.

He said at the time the additions to his team would help him expand the business, and they would have exciting news to share about their expansion plans in a matter of weeks.

Otterbridge spoke to the Business Journal July 11 about the new location, which he said the team chose because the health focus of the Y aligns with Malamiah’s mission.

“We just like their rap. We like what they do. … We all have stories of the Y. And then when we discovered that they had a space there, and we thought, ‘Well, hey, is there a collaboration that we can do that helps both of us, services your members and at the same time, allows us to open up and increase our footprint as well?’” he said.

“We believe that the fact that we are presenting healthy options and juice and ways to refresh (customers) — well, guess what? That’s a thirsty crowd because they’re working out.”

In addition to serving up the brand’s signature smoothies, the juice stand at the Y will serve Malamiah Meals — including salads, bagels, fruit-and-yogurt parfaits and acai bowls — some of which the co-owners hope to source from local food vendors that are graduates of SpringGR, Otterbridge said, and some of which will be brought over from Malamiah’s Studio Park location.

Permanent hours for the new juice bar have not yet been determined, but initially, it will open at 7 or 8 a.m., Otterbridge said. More information will be available soon at malamiahjuicebar.com.