Driving into the Unknown: Where We Want Edenic to Go

We are making our plans and know that the Lord will guide our steps.

“Can’t stand the heat? Then get out of the Wild, Wild, West.” – Will Smith, Wild Wild West

Twice now, I have worked alongside Ash in the smoothie truck. Both times, I was barely able to stand the heat. Her job is deceivingly intense.

Ash’s job description reads like something out of an Instagram Influencer’s bio: Owner and Operator of a smoothie bus in Ventura, CA. That sounds like a fun gig, right? Well, just as an Instagram Influencer’s profile often promotes an image that doesn’t reflect reality, so does Ash’s job title make her life seem easier than it is.

Her job is incredibly, incredibly difficult. Blaring blenders, chaotic customers, long lines, dirty dishes… While the best days to sell smoothies are hot days, those same hot days turn our 1994 GMC Vandura into a massive, metal oven. Her current power system is unreliable, causing all kinds of stress. Selling smoothies isn’t just sunshine and smiles – it’s real, tedious, back-breaking labor. It makes her happy, but it is not easy at all.

A very happy Ashley Plahn after plumbing was officially installed.

I’m already trying to convince Ash to reduce her work week from 5 days to 4. She is currently on pace to sell an average of 50+ smoothies a day. She sold 92 last Saturday alone. There is real potential that she could get both physically and mentally burned out if we don’t change the pace or stress of her work schedule.

Now that we know the business can be profitable, how do we create a business plan that is enduring? How do we create a plan that is profitable and sustainable over the next 5-10 years?

The most straightforward option is to, at some point, hire an employee to help us run the bus. However, as owners, this strategy implies that we will significantly increase our legal liability. That bus is practically a military tank on the road. If something hits it or vice versa, the bus will win 9 times out of 10. Having an employee instead of an owner drive that bus is very risky in our view. We are still unsure if this is a risk we are willing to take.

The Edenic Smoothies bus, before any renovations had been made.

An option that we are starting to consider is, in the next year or two, opening our own storefront in Ventura. While we have some exciting ideas that we will keep secret for now, we think we can definitely open up a storefront that exceptionally competes with our corporate counterparts. This strategy allows us to hire employees to run the company without the liability of having those same employees drive around that tank of a smoothie bus at 55 miles per hour northbound on the 101.

Ash has the energy and the drive to run the bus herself for at least a year. However, now that we are profitable, we need to develop strategies that allow her to run the business for longer than the next 365 days

. We don’t know exactly which strategy we will pick or exactly how we will execute it, yet. We’re working on it though.

In the meantime, we are thankful to report that Ash had 3 record days of sales last week, culminating in last Saturday’s 92-smoothie day. We are thankful for you and your support as both Substack readers and smoothie drinkers. Ash and I (but mostly Ash) are proving to ourselves that we can, by God’s grace, travel into the wild, wild west and take the heat. Now, we just have to figure out how we can stay here.

If you have any ideas or comments, please let us know! You’re feedback really does help us.