Health conscious businessman, Michael Jupiter, is a ‘Special Person’

Jan 15, 2017 News

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“I am here to serve and so I have no qualms being opened every day for the sake of my customers. They expect me to be here for them and this is my life, to be here for them every day.”
By Sharmain Grainger

Many people today are convinced that the success of a business is evident by the addition

of several branches or the number of people it employs. However, Michael Courtney Jupiter, a businessman for more than three decades, has a differing view.
Jupiter is of the firm belief that keeping his business small, but always ensuring his customers’ needs are satisfied, has been the key to the survival of his business.
He is the owner of ‘Juice Power’. For many, this business place situated at 343 Middle Street, South Cummingsburg, Georgetown, is a household name. In fact, ‘Juice Power’ has been to many, their ‘nutritional salvation’. You see, the business does not only satisfy the hunger of customers but also promotes healthy consumption.
Although, as its name suggests, the business is one that provides customers with a variety of juices, it has over the years morphed into a full-fledged fast food restaurant, though on a small scale.
But Jupiter back in the day did not know that catering to the nutritional needs of individuals on a daily basis would have been his destiny.

EARLY LIFE
Jupiter was born on November 26, 1955 in Ituni, Upper Demerara-Berbice. He however recalled growing up in a number of locations including Grove, East Bank Demerara, and the capital city of Georgetown.
Away from his home community, the young Jupiter attended St. Ambrose Primary School and Christ Church Secondary. He later sought to further his studies at the Adult Education Association, where he developed skills to become an air condition and refrigeration technician.
Soon after completing his studies, Jupiter migrated to neighbouring Venezuela, where he remained for six years. He was 23 years old at the time and disclosed during a recent interview that he had long envisaged himself

making a life in the United States of America.
But according to him, in Venezuela he met a number of Guyanese who introduced him to work at an oil refinery. In fact he became so engrossed in the work there that he eventually became a supervisor for the construction of scaffolding for oil refinery towers.

‘JUICE POWER’
He returned to his homeland in 1985 and thoughts of becoming an independent entrepreneur filled his mind. He was just about 30 years old when he first introduced the public to a novel business called ‘Juice Power’. This saw him building a small shed to accommodate the business transaction at the Middle Street location which had for years been owned by his family – the Jupiters.
But although backed by his immense ambition, Jupiter disclosed that the entity wasn’t immediately the thriving business it is today.
Reminiscing on the genesis of his business, he revealed that he first conceptualised the idea while he was still living in Venezuela. He recalled being enthused by the sale of fruit juices there, and thought that he could bring such a venture to Guyana and realise immense success. “In Venezuela they had these juice shops where they had fruits cut up and ready to be blended

into juices right in front of your face,” Jupiter recalled, as he spoke of acquiring two blenders and an orange peeler in his quest to delve into business.
It was indeed a big hit from the inception, but Jupiter simply hadn’t the capacity to meet the demand in the early days. In fact, he disclosed that in order to satisfy his customers’ need in an efficient manner, there was a need to prepare the beverages in advance.
“Because of the crowds that were coming, you had to prepare juices by the buckets first and have it ready before customers came. There was such a great demand for this new thing,” said Jupiter, who noted that people were eager to try something other than the ‘kool aid-type’ drink that they were accustomed to.
“When I started it immediately picked up, and 31 years later I am still here. ‘Juice Power’ is still very popular and people are still coming for their juices and more,” Jupiter proudly declared.

EVOLUTION
He recounted that the first day of business was not at all focused on juice, but rather,

he had to improvise a bit. Although he’d initially visualized appealing to customers with a variety of fruit juices, the process wasn’t as simple as he’d thought. In fact, he would recognise that selling milk in the similar manner that juices were sold in Venezuela was a more viable option at first for him.
“I remember that on the first day of business I was riding to the (now defunct) LIDCO milk plant in Kingston and I bought two gallons of milk. That first day I sold one gallon and the other gallon spoiled, because I had nowhere to store it. At the time there were no freezers or fridges,” said Jupiter of his then fledgling business.
But he learned from his mistakes over the years, and invested where necessary as his business simultaneously evolved.
“I eventually learnt how to make chocolate milk, strawberry milk, and even banana milk shake and peanut punch…everything was gradual. I also learnt how to make a variety of juices, and this of course continued and became better over the years,” Jupiter reflected.
Becoming better was not by accident. He disclosed that achieving this saw him many days engaged in experimental projects to ascertain what flavours could blend well in order to tantalise his customers’ taste buds.
Currently ‘Juice Power’ is able to offer over 32 varieties of beverages to customers, a

feat that Jupiter is understandably very proud of. But customers wanted more.
The businessman recalled that several of his faithful customers who depended on him for their nutritional fruit juice intake on a daily basis started to ask for a snack to complement their tasty beverages. Before long, Jupiter was also meeting this need of his customers by adding pastries and eventually a variety of foods to the menu. But since he was not chef, he was forced to recruit persons to cater to the added needs. He currently has about 15 individuals on his staff.
“After two years of just beverages alone, I started offering pastries and now we are also selling food to customers…some can take away and some can sit right here and dine,” said a smiling Jupiter as he glanced across his establishment overflowing with customers.
He remembered that it was shortly after his business had gained a laudable reputation that he also introduced filtered water to his customers, effectively becoming the second business in the country to offer such a service.

HEALTH CONSCIOUS
But according to the soft-spoken Jupiter, because he always had his customers’ interests at heart, he couldn’t just offer them ‘anything’. In fact he has over the years been offering them meals that embraced the vegetarian way.

You see, before returning to Guyana, Jupiter had adopted a vegetarian lifestyle after developing adverse effects to a type of meat he’d consumed. He became very health conscious after that experience. According to Jupiter, he even took into consideration the fact that often when people are hospitalised they are taken off meat and fed mostly vegetarian-type meals.
“I thought to myself if this ‘so-called’ temporary solution helps to bring you back to health, why not embrace this as a permanent solution to life…‘’
It was with this in mind that Jupiter gradually graduated from a life of eating meats to fully embracing all things vegetarian. He moreover started learning what foods were necessary in order for him to live a healthy life without being deprived of important nutrients.
“Vegetarian foods are my medicine. There are so many natural things that you can eat that can keep you healthy and strong. You don’t have to eat meats and you certainly don’t have to eat preserved foods or even supplements,” Jupiter assured, as he boasted of not suffering a single ailment since becoming a vegetarian more than two decades ago.
He said that he has made it his ‘business’ to learn about the nutritional values of everything that he offers to his customers, especially the fruit juices and ingredients added to them.
“Each juice has its own nutritional or medicinal value that people sometimes take for granted. Tamarind, for example, is a tonic for the brain, aloe vera is a medicine for the brain; even nutmeg is good for the brain, and these are some of the ingredients that we use. At the end of the day the brain is the ‘office’ for the rest of the body, in terms of control, so you have to take care of this, as well as all of the other parts of the body,” Jupiter emphasised.
He revealed that reading a lot has helped him to learn a great deal about the sciences, and the importance of various natural foods, in addition to what can be used to fill the gap of meats in the diet. Moreover, he wanted to share just this with his customers by providing them with foods and juices that cater to their wellbeing.
But it hasn’t only been vegetarians who are drawn to the delicacies that are offered at ‘Juice Power’.

SURVIVAL
Although he had long embraced a business tactic that turned out to be ‘fail-proof’, Jupiter acknowledged that without faithful customers there was no way his business could have survived over the years. He also recognised the important contributions of some staffers who he employed over the years.
“Some have stayed, some have left, but they all helped in one way or another to make Juice Power what it is today,” Jupiter reminisced, as he shared how managing his business became an integral part of his life. In fact, ‘Juice Power’ is opened seven days a week from 06:00 hours to about 19:30 hours, and each day you are bound to find Jupiter busily ensuring that things are in place for his customers.
“I am here to serve, and so I have no qualms being opened every day for the sake of my customers. They expect me to be here for them and this is my life – to be here for them every day.”
He however disclosed that while the business was always appealing to customers, it wasn’t until two years after it had opened that he started to experience some success.
“This is what people need to understand, you might open a business today, but you have to wait for people to really get accustomed to it. You have to prove that you are reliable. People appreciate it when they can turn up here and always get something to eat and drink,” said a smiling Jupiter, who insisted that his ‘business mission’ is to ensure that his customers leave only when their needs are satisfied.
He noted that although fruits may go in and out of season “luckily each day of the year, even on holidays, I have juices to sell to my customers. What I had to learn is that while it might be off-season for one type of fruit, it will be in-season for another, and so I had to learn to work with that”. He noted that there are some items that he can offer his customers each day of the year such as coconut water, cane juice, and banana and papaw shakes.

SATISFACTION
According to Jupiter, he is satisfied that he has over the years been able to make an impact in the lives of many individuals through the existence of his business.
“We have always managed to adjust to changing times and changing situations. There have always been increases in commodity prices, but we have been able to roll with the times, and I figure that is what we will be doing for the years ahead,” said Jupiter in a rather calm tone.
He underscored that he is committed to staying in business and feels that he will be able to do so by remaining a small but thriving operation.
“I don’t have a six-storey building; I don’t have a big operation with plenty of staff, but by staying small I am able to ride the economic waves and still remain relevant. If I didn’t do this, I don’t think I would have been able to survive the competition for over 30 years. Staying small has been the answer to my survival,” Jupiter insisted.
Although his business is undeniably the centre of his life, Jupiter has also over the years found time for meditation and yoga too. In fact our ‘Special Person’ has even been able to build something of a saxophone-playing reputation for himself, although the latter pastime is merely for the fun of it.

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