At Head Over Berries in Hartford, the goal is mixing health and nutrition with lots of flavor.
The smoothie and juice bar brings high quality, hard-to-find ingredients to the city at two locations. The first, inside Parkville Market, opened in June and the second location, at 657 Blue Hills Ave., opened a month later in July.
“Health has been a journey for me,” said owner Brittany Reale. “I grew up in the Hartford area and when I had my own kids, I realized there weren’t many healthy options. We had to always travel to get healthy food and go to West Hartford or Avon. It was something that kept coming up when talking with people.”
Head Over Berries offers several different acai bowls and four different categories of smoothies on its menu, including “bulk & meals, super food, low calories, and trip to the tropics,” with many offerings listed as gluten free and vegan. Among the ingredients are kale and elderberry juice and more tropical offerings like kiwis and mangos.
“I am St. Lucian and come from the Islands, so I wanted to keep that tropical part of it,” Reale said. “There’s also a lot of people from the West Indies in the area. So I thought it’s important to keep those ingredients. But I want to make it fun and not have just sweets for toppings. I have black seed oil and elderberry syrup, so it’s about people coming and trying different things.”
Acai berries, grown from a palm tree native mostly to Brazil, are the main ingredients in the bowls. The berries are pulped, flash-frozen and pureed, often with other fruit to create a creamy ice cream-like texture. The acai is then topped with fresh fruit and other organic ingredients, including nuts, nutella, and shaved coconut.
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Bringing nutrition to the community
Reale, who has three children, was pregnant with her second child when she started making her own acai bowls and smoothies at home to help with indigestion.
“I had a really hard pregnancy and started educating myself more,” Reale said. “I posted a smoothie online I made and people starting contacting me with their health needs and wants. So I went back to school and became a nutritionist with the intent to help my community.”
After a couple years of schooling, Reale became a nutritionist for Catholic Charities, working in group homes developing meal plans for people with dietary restrictions and special needs. Now Reale said she wants to give back to the community she calls home.
“I’m opening the Blue Hills location for my community. Because this is where I’m from,” Reale said. “A lot of people lack resources here. There’s a lot of elderly, families, and kids who don’t have access to transportation. In between where I’m sitting, there’s a package store and a Chinese shop. That’s what people have access to, so that’s what they’re going to eat. So if we bring this to the community, we are making nutrition more accessible.”
Reale said that the Blue Hills location serves coffee and tea along with smoothies and acai bowls. Vegan desserts and cookies are also served.
“We want to make sure we give people another choice than just the gas station or Dunkin’ Donuts,” Reale said.
Working with youth
As part of her goal to give back to the city, Reale helped provide jobs over the summer for 18 youth through partnerships with the Blue Hills Civic Association and Our Piece of the Pie, offering them nutrition tips, job training, and mentoring.
“Some of these kids worked during the summer just to have a job, others really needed the money and the resources to help out at home,” Reale said. “Some of these youth don’t think there’s another way out. I would try to figure out what they’re interested in and then use that as a starting point.”
Reale said she had conversations around how to open a bank account, budgeting and saving money, finding scholarship opportunities, and the benefits of nutritious food options.
“I told the kids that if they’re not interested in health and wellness, this is their starting point,” Reale said. “Tell me what you’re interested in and I’ll do my best to get you connected. Let’s find resources.”
Reale is currently back in school to be a lactation consultant and is trying to get a partnership with the Hartford WIC office. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children or WIC offers free breastfeeding and nutrition education to those considered low-income or who are below the federal poverty line.
“I look forward to growing my reach to help kids,” Reale said. “It’s about letting them know there are resources available to them.”
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Expanding Offerings
“It’s definitely been good so far,” Reale said. “We’ve had a steady amount of customers at both locations.”
Reale said she is expanding her health offerings to include locally sourced spring water and sea moss powder, which is said to support gut health and immunity. Other menu items include wellness shots that offer a blend of extracts, herbs, and spices said to boost energy through offering a plethora of vitamins and minerals.
“We offer samples for everything,” Reale said. “I really listen to my customers. If they haven’t tried something, let’s give it a try. Let’s sample it out.”
The Blue Hills location is open 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday. On Sunday, it’s open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Parkville Market location is open beginning from 11 a.m. each day.
Stephen Underwood can be reached at sunderwood@courant.com
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