SCHERERVILLE – Smoothie Bomb is a local company that strives to offer its customers the greatest smoothies in a way that is nutritious, fresh and delicious. Complete with a comfortable location, modern payment capabilities and a website, this business operated by students of St. Michael Catholic School has become more than a typical neighborhood lemonade stand.
Making smoothies at home with his father served as the foundation for the small business started by Braden Bazarko, who just completed his sixth-grade year at St. Michael School in Schererville.
“It would always be exciting when my dad would have a blender and we’d make smoothies,” he said. “I just always like making different smoothies and thought it would be a great idea to incorporate into a business.”
Having started on June 13, 2021, the business will celebrate another anniversary of the start of Smoothie Bomb this summer. As with most children, Bazarko’s first attempt at a business was a lemonade stand. He quickly began to dream of other possibilities and began to pursue the idea of offering smoothies.
“We just started off with a small stand at my house,” explained Bazarko. “And we did things normally but have started to evolve recently.”
The growth required enlisting the help of some fellow classmates such as his friend Jaxon Hadt who lives in the same neighborhood, which made it easy for him to help with the stand. Then last year, Danielle Dimailig offered her assistance, and she now assists the group with its marketing, which includes distributing flyers and posting video clips on YouTube.
“We make videos sometimes of the smoothies and other holiday related videos,” she said.
The stand operates mainly in the summer months of June, July, August and September. There are tables set up together outside the home where the drinks are made as well as a designated point of sale area. There is also a canopy and place for customers to sit and enjoy their drink if they wish.
“We normally try to do it on the weekends when more people are available,” Bazarko said.
A variety of smoothie types including Sweet Dream, Tropical Paradise and Berry Blast are available and made to order. Bazarko feels what makes the smoothies special is the time they put into making sure everything is blended well, eliminating any large chunks of fruit.
“We try to make it the best we can each time,” he said.
“And it’s not too watered down like some popular brands are,” Dimailig added.
The money earned is used to pay any workers for their time. Funds have also been put towards the purchase of the product, upgrades to technology such as a card reader and iPad stand.
While the students shared that they have felt supported in their business endeavors by their teachers and parents, all the work continues to be done solely by them. And participating in the smoothie business has taught each of them valuable skills.
“I’ve gained more social abilities,” said Hadt. “I’m not as shy anymore and am talking to more people.”
Bazarko said, “I’ve learned how to deal more with money, and meet new people, and getting used to the different interactions within the entrepreneurship field.”
“I learned more about how a proper business would work with all the aspects to make something like a smoothie stand come together,” Dimailig said.
The students behind Smoothie Bomb hope to keep growing and expanding throughout the summer and into next year. The team will be selling smoothies to festival goers at the St. Michael Fun Fest in August and plan to apply to be a vendor at more local area festivals in the future.
The Smoothie Bomb stand is located at 6408 Persian Road in Schererville. For more information visit smoothie-bomb.square.site. The ability to preorder a sweet treat through the website will be available soon.