What makes a good smoothie? It’s more than the right ingredients, though those are important. It takes experimentation, a willingness to tweak and try out new combinations, new ratios, to titrate the blend to get it just right. But when you do, the results are “gnarly.”
Check Out Gnarly Blends for Yourself
Gnarly Blends, a smoothie and ice cream shop, is located at 308 N. Patterson Ave. Winston-Salem, NC 27101.
What makes a good smoothie also makes a good entrepreneur. Someone who is not afraid to experiment, to tweak and pivot as necessary.
Entrepreneurial endeavors also come in all shapes and sizes, including a walk-up window nestled into the Krankies Coffee block. One such endeavor is Gnarly Blends, a smoothie, ice cream, and baked goods shop that fits right into the beverage block lineup between Krankies and Fair Witness Fancy Drinks.
Gnarly Blends–open roughly each year from April to October–is the entrepreneurial output of Christian Cheek and Scarlet Levine-Cheek, and is in the middle of its first full season in the iQ. The couple shared some of what makes them excited about entrepreneurship and why being authentic led to making a business out of smoothies
Gnarly Roots
While this is only Gnarly Blends second year in the iQ, the business has been around for a few years. The smoothie shop started out of a trailer.
“Starting out, we sold smoothies and coffee,” Christian says. “We did that for about a year and a half.”
While the co-owners both spent some time working in the food and service industries, Gnarly Blends was the first business that they started.
“We definitely both had an entrepreneurial spirit and ambition,” Christian says. “Being business owners lets us be ourselves and do some of the things we love.
The business name, Gnarly Blends, is a play off the company’s initial offerings–smoothie and coffee blends, as well as a description of why they jumped into entrepreneurship in the first place.
“For us, the word gnarly means being authentic,” Scarlet says. “It means to be yourself, embrace who you are, be bold. It entails a willingness to take risks.”
Or, as they phrase it on the Gnarly Blends website, “Gnarly is what you make it,” and starting the smoothie shop was one way that Christian and Scarlet could channel their entrepreneurial ambitions. For them, being gnarly equals making smoothies.
The Gnarly Blends look is one of the ways that Christian gets to express his creative side and pay homage to his childhood.
“I grew up in the 90s,” Christian says. “If you look at our logo, it is an ode to the vibrant branding of that period.”
While Christian’s childhood might have influenced Gnarly Blend’s branding, the menu was definitely the work of Scarlet.
“We just started making smoothies at home, looking for healthier options, and that evolved into creating all these different smoothie options,” Scarlet says. “Where the experimentation really took off was during the pandemic, of course. We were stuck at home and bored and decided just to start experimenting, creating different smoothies. That turned into a passion for it.”
That passion turned out well. The Gnarly Blends trailer set up at a lot of local events, even at neighborhood pools.
“We definitely drew interest,” Christian says. “When we decided to start a business, part of what played into us going with smoothies was just looking at the local market. We felt like there was space there, a competitive space for a new offering if we could find the right location. We just thought it was a good opportunity.”
And whenever opportunity knocked, Christian and Scarlet were ready to open the door. Like when a small brick-and-mortar space opened in the iQ.
Gnarly Opportunities
After running Gnarly Blends out of a trailer for a while, Christian and Scarlet were interested in a storefront space.
“Gnarly Blends is just a mom-and-pop smoothie shop, and oftentimes it’s just Scarlet and me running it,” Christian says. “With that and other kinds of challenges operating a mobile business, it seemed more suitable to run from a brick-and-mortar space.”
During the process of vetting local storefronts, the space on North Patterson caught the couple’s eye. They put out some feelers, but nothing came of that. They put that spot out of their minds, and then, one day, a call from the iQ came. The space was available.
By then, it was already late in summer–they’d only be able to be open for a few months before shutting down for the weather AND they were also now expecting a baby in a few short months.
But sometimes being an entrepreneur means taking your shots when you get them. It’s that boldness bit of being gnarly.
“We just had to jump on the opportunity,” Christian says. “It’s a great location, a thriving area that’s poised for growth. It seemed like a great fit for Gnarly Blends.”
Jump in, they did. They sold the trailer, and Gnarly Blends, the storefront version, opened in August 2023. When it opened, the menu was different, as Christian and Scarlet engaged in another time-honored activity of successful entrepreneurs: they pivoted.
“When we opened in the Innovation Quarter, we decided to drop the coffee and add ice cream,” Scarlet says. “There are already a lot of great coffee shops in the Innovation Quarter area.”
Goodbye, coffee; hello, ice cream! Gnarly Blends went back to its experimenting roots, trying out various ice cream offerings, including milkshakes, floats, and ice cream cakes. The results are mouth-wateringly good. Scarlet, who bakes as well as blends, has also seized the opportunity to sell baked goods from the walk-up window.
Gnarly Motivation
Christian has a full-time career that he works year-round, in addition to running Gnarly Blends during spring and summer months. Plus, they’re learning the ropes of parenting. Collectively, they wear a lot of hats.
Finding a balance between work and family is important to them, but running Gnarly Blends gives them space for other things they value.
“For me, Gnarly Blends is a creative outlet, a way to foster that kind of creative spirit. So running our own business has been really exciting,” Christian says.
For Scarlet, Gnarly Blends is a way to explore her passion.
“I love to bake,” Scarlet says. “The experimenting and perfecting of our smoothies and baked goods is a lot of fun for me.”
Having the right support makes a world of difference.
“We have a lot of regulars who come by, some of them several times a week,” Scarlet says. “We have enjoyed collaborations and events with other businesses in the Innovation Quarter, and we have the best neighbors in Fair Witness and the Pink Rhino. There’s a camaraderie on our block right there between everybody.”
Of course, doing business with the right partner is important, too.
“Scarlet and I make a good team. I balance her strengths and she mine,” Christian says. “We didn’t really have a whole lot of funding going into this. We funded it all ourselves and built it from the ground up. It’s quite the undertaking to balance. We’re a bit nuts.”
Sometimes that’s what it takes.
Gnarly Offerings
Hopefully, all this smoothie talk has made you hungry. If you’re thinking of picking up a smoothie to sip, you might try the Mystic Mango or the Tangerine Dream, two of Gnarly Blends’ most popular offerings.
“Most of our smoothies are a hundred percent organic fruit, and we don’t add any artificial flavorings or concentrated juices, no added sugars,” Scarlet says. “And we try to source locally wherever we can.”
In addition to the smoothies, Gnarly Blends offers homemade baked goods (made by Scarlet) and ice cream choices, including ice cream cakes and one or two vegan ice cream options (which are also made by Scarlet).
Smoothie season doesn’t last forever, so make sure you pop down to Gnarly Blends before the weather cools and you find yourself pining for warmer months. Be sure to check out some of the other food and beverage options while you’re here.
