The Groovy Smoothie Café, a smoothie and juice bar located inside of Push Fitness Gym, offers a variety of options for people looking for the health benefits of fruits and vegetables. As an alternative to coffee, healthier options include all-natural smoothies and juices.

Besides smoothies, The Groovy Smoothie offers different salads such as a quinoa salad and, surprisingly, nachos as well.

“We want the most natural products and we’re based completely on health and nutrition,” said Vanessa Mendoza, owner of The Groovy Smoothie Café. “We’re also the only place in El Paso that is 100 percent vegan.”

Their smoothies contain many natural products with no sugars or preservatives.

“We have a whole list of ingredients, and have something like 75 in total, and we have completely green smoothies that have just fruits, vegetables and leafy greens,” Mendoza said.

Their products also contain ingredients not traditionally found in smoothies.

“We use some crazy ingredients, like we put asparagus in our smoothies, arugula, white bean, cabbage, ginger, aloe vera and even jalapeño,” Mendoza said.

The Groovy Smoothie Café was founded about three years ago in 2013. Mendoza said they were inspired to start the business because of the lack of healthy eateries in El Paso.

“We try to offer anything healthy for anyone who is healthy or health conscious,” Mendoza said. “We provide education on health for our customers as well.”

Erika Burnett, senior finance major, said she cares a lot about her health, and she would change from drinking coffee-based drinks to smoothies to maintain her health.

“I think health is important because life is short, too short to be living with health problems that affect your ability to live life to the fullest,” Burnett said.

Since teaming up with Push Fitness, The Groovy Smoothie Café has been able to promote a healthier lifestyle by participating in many local events and activities.

“We’ve only been in the gym about a month, but we’ve done two or three events with Push Fitness,” Mendoza said. “We did the tattoo festival on Fort Bliss together, and we also did a CrossFit games event.”

Before moving into Push Fitness Gym, The Groovy Smoothie Café was located in an obscure location.

“We used to be located on Wyoming, and it was a bad location,” Mendoza said. “We were under the freeway and we didn’t have any indoor seating, so we moved over to Mesa and Balboa, kind of by Burlington, and it’s indoor, so we have a little bit more exposure.”

The Groovy Smoothie Café used to own a food truck, which they would use when they participated in charity races and other outdoor events. Although they sold their truck when they moved into Push Fitness Gym, they still are able to find ways to share the importance of healthy living.

“Since our food has so many health benefits, we are trying to bring that to life and promote dedication and the answer to eating healthier,” Mendoza said.

Katherine Ruvalcaba, junior pre-nursing major, said she was impressed with the taste of her smoothie from The Groovy Smoothie.

“I made my own smoothie with cocoa, dates, strawberries and spinach,” Ruvalcaba said. “It looked super weird, but it was the best thing I’ve ever had.”

Ruvalcaba went to The Groovy Smoothie because she liked how healthy it was.

“I tend to be very athletic and try to eat as healthy as I can,” Ruvalcaba said. “It was after a workout and I wanted something healthy.”

The Groovy Smoothie is located at 6100 Dew Drive inside Push Fitness Gym. For more information, call 532-0362 or visit their website thegroovysmoothiecafe.com.

Julia Hettiger may be reached at [email protected].