Craven Nutrition location to open Monday

Just in time for the post-Thanksgiving fitness crunch, a new dietary supplement store is set to open Monday in Portland.

Craven Nutrition, located at the North Plaza strip mall at 1510 N. Meridian St., boasts a smoothie bar equipped to make 130 combinations of meal-supplement drinks in addition to selling a plethora of aloe teas and energy bombs and will open next week.

“It’s just as cheap as buying a fast food meal,” Craven Nutrition’s Brycen Meadows said of the smoothies, which are meant to be a healthy alternative to meals.

Meadows is part of the family of Sue and Rodney Smith and Jerry Linville who are all helping to start Craven Nutrition, which is associated with the Herbalife Nutrition line of products.

The menu is centered on four combos ranging from $7 to $14, the cheapest of which comes with a tea and smoothie without a flavored energy bomb and the most expensive coming with a 32 fluid ounce energy bomb. The energy bomb burns 75 to 100 calories, according to Linville, while the smoothies are packed with protein and come in flavors ranging from fruit-based to breakfast or desert flavored.

Linville also owns 33 Energy & Nutrition in Goshen, which has been open for two years. Despite the economic ramifications of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, he said his Goshen location has had a revenue increase of about 30% this year, which led to him exploring a new location in Portland.

Sue Smith said the family began thinking about opening a location in Portland about six months ago. Since then they have remodeled their part of the strip mall, adding in new floors, signs and more.

The family said their products will taste similar to Herbalife-based distributors in Adams and Mercer counties. Sue Smith said she’s talked with Portland residents who drive to Decatur regularly just to get their products.

Linville said Craven Nutrition’s products will also be available to order online.

In addition to drinks the store sells protein powder meant for post-workout recovery, protein bars and other nutrition and workout-based products.

The store is also looking to add a cardio drum exercise class in the coming months, assuming it is approved by the Jay County Health Department, Linville said. The class is popular at his Goshen location, he said.

Linville attests he lost 50 pounds after he began regularly using the Herbalife line of products. He said he never had a passion for nutrition until he set out to lose weight in time for golf season.

But did he get any better at golf?

“Nope, I still suck,” Linville joked, but he said the weight loss was a big deal for him and led to him becoming a Herbalife distributor with a goal of helping to satisfy his customer’s nutritional needs.

Craven Nutrition will be open from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.

It is set to have a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony at noon Dec. 11.