Every Saturday night, Kaylee Davis and her family transformed their LaPlace kitchen into a juice factory in hopes of furthering the 12-year-old’s entrepreneurial dreams.

Into the wee hours of the morning, they would prep, cut and juice apples, bananas, papayas, lemons, strawberries, blueberries, pineapples, kale and other ingredients for Kaylee’s various juice blends that she would bottle, label and sell the next day at a local farmer’s market.

“She was selling out within an hour,” Kaylee’s mother, Tishia Boldene Davis, 45, recalled of those early days. 

Four years later, Kaylee and her family expanded on those dreams. Squeezy Fresh, a brick-and-mortar juice bar, opened July 18 in Destrehan where the now-16-year-old high school junior and her staff sell freshly pressed juices and smoothie blends, including her bestsellers, Summerfest, Strawberry Shortcake, Green Delight and Island Breeze.

Kaylee’s ultimate goal is to get more people — teens and kids especially — to think healthier. Her creative taste buds are the business’ secret weapon. 

Kaylee threw herself into researching and formulating juice blends to help her little brother, who was diagnosed with a rare form of epilepsy. But as family, friends and the community soon learned, she had a knack for creating beneficial and fantastically yummy juice recipes. 

“Strawberry. Kiwi. I get an idea in my head and just make it,” Kaylee said. 

Better alternative

Kaylee’s first foray into juicing began at 10 when she tried to improve the taste of the kale juice her father drank every morning.

“I knew I could make this better,” she said. 

Kaylee began experimenting with various fruits and vegetable combinations. Her hobby gained new purpose when she set out to help her little brother, DeVaughn. His epileptic seizures sometimes meant trips to a hospital in Houston for treatment.

“I was not OK, seeing my brother in a state where he doesn’t have control of his body,” she said. “It was very scary seeing my parents wake up in the middle of the night to bring him to the hospital.” 

DeVaughn’s doctor’s recommended limiting certain foods from his diet, Tishia Boldene Davis said. Cow’s milk, for instance, affected his epilepsy, meaning he had to stick to almond or coconut milk. Kaylee thought perhaps juicing might give him some better alternatives.

Through her juicing recipes, she found ways to get her brother to take in more vegetables and beneficial minerals without added sugar or a bitter taste. DeVaughn is now partial to Kaylee’s Beetnik juice, though he won’t eat beets on their own, she said. 

In addition to the obvious fruits and veggies, Kaylee’s ingredients list also includes sea moss, rich in vitamins and minerals; turmeric, believed to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties; moringa, another plant chock full of vitamins; camu camu, a berry high in vitamin C; and cacao, dark chocolate.

After DeVaughn saw benefits from his sister’s juices, Kaylee began sharing her blends with other family members. Those family members began sharing with friends who started to send Kaylee requests for bottles. 

In 2021, Kaylee began selling seven flavors of her freshly pressed, home-bottled juices every Sunday at the Harahan Farmer’s Market, Tishia Boldene Davis said. 

“The kids loved it. The adults loved it,” she said. 

16-year-old boss

Kaylee’s success at the farmer market led the family to look into turning Squeezy Fresh LLC. into an official juice bar. Tishia Boldene Davis, an accountant by trade, became an investor and co-owner, handling the finance side of business while Kaylee assumed command of recipes and design. 

Tishia Boldene Davis hired a consultant from a juice company based in California to show them the ropes. 

“I hired them to come on board, and they helped with everything from the design to opening up and giving us feedback on operations,” she said.

Kaylee’s family helped renovate and prepare the space the company rented at 1955 Ormond Blvd., Destrehan, and held a grand opening and ribbon cutting on Aug. 7. 

Kaylee stops by the store every day and works there at least three days a week. However, Terrielle Johnson, affectionately known as “Ms. T,” is the juice bar’s general manager. 

“My boss is 16,” Johnson said with a smile. “Kaylee is my favorite person. She’s a big motivation. I don’t know how she can handle it all, school and everything else she’s got going on.”

In addition to classwork, Kaylee plays point guard for the basketball season that is about to get underway. She also runs track, though she recently halted volleyball because there just wasn’t enough time.

“I try to get all my work done at school,” Kaylee said. “If I don’t, I’ll do it in the car on the way here.”

Kaylee’s next goal is a food truck so that she can bring her juices to more farmers markets and festivals.

“She wants young people to know that healthy does taste good,” Tishia Boldene Davis said.