PK Blendz Juice Bar marked its 10th anniversary this year by transforming to a non-profit with a “PK Kidz” community juice bar. The new venture boasts free drinks to kids 13 and under and a pay-what-you-can system for kids 14 and over.
The smoothie shop seeks to improve the health and well-being of the Peekskill and greater Westchester community with initiatives focused on youth empowerment through nutrition. The non-profit hopes to provide access to healthier alternatives for nutritionally scarce communities and create collaborative public and private municipal infrastructure projects.
Owner and operator of the smoothie and juice bar Councilman Robert Scott told the Peekskill Herald the initiative is one he’s been wanting to take on for many years. He said having access to 100 percent fresh juice positively affects kids’ neurological chemistry and performance at school.
“Having the opportunity for young people to come here every day of the week and have access to 100 percent fresh juice, the hope is it will have a change,” Scott said.
“Providing better access, making it easier and affordable for people to engage in healthier decisions, puts us in the right step.”
Scott, whose council term is ending Dec. 31, 2025, recently accepted an interim guilty plea in a fraudulent election petition case at White Plains City Court on Oct. 7. He is required to commit to 250 hours of community service. Asked if Scott intended on using his non-profit as part of those hours, he told the Herald it was something that he never thought of and not something he had explored.
“I can see how one would correlate the two, but this is something I’ve been working on for years,” Scott said. “It really has no connection. The only connection is that now I finally have the time to actually give this the focus and develop it and give it the care that it needs.”
Scott previously did a soft launch of a similar non-profit program in 2023, which started out offering free drinks for all kids every day, but later moved to just weekends for about a year before ending.
The new initiative for kids is starting out with just a smoothie menu but will later be branched out to include bottled juices. In addition, the current juice bar/smoothie station will be outfitted for an area dedicated for kids, according to Scott.
Walter King, owner of Little Kings and Queens Fun Place and cannabis dispensary Kings House of Fire in Cortlandt Manor, presented a $5,000 check to the community juice bar on Oct. 25 to support the initiative for kids to have free smoothies and juices.
“[With Kings House of Fire] being the largest dispensary in Westchester, we’re big on community and family, and we believe that kids should have access to free vegetation and smoothies,” King told the Herald. “And once Rob presented the idea to us, we felt it was part of our job as a staple in the community to want to donate to him.”
The family-run smoothie shop secured a fiscal sponsor over the summer with Change for Change, which Scott previously worked with in 2021 to donate over $25,000 to support kids interested in going to college or a vocational program of their choice. The juice bar officially launched its non-profit status with a ribbon cutting at a 10th anniversary celebration on Oct. 18.
“It’s been a great reception,” Scott said. “I mean, every day at three o’clock and some change, the kids come and they tear up the place.”
Asked about the maximum number of smoothies per day he can make, Scott said the current goal is 40 pounds a day, which translates to roughly 40 cups. He hopes to later purchase a juice truck to supply and work with other juice bars in the county.
In addition, the juice bar is being transformed into a public kitchen with blended services, culture, and people. Kids will have access to job training programs, lectures once a month on nutrition, and a cooking demonstration once a month for kids to see how to put a healthy snack together.
“In a perfect world, it would be a juice bar run by young people and the community too,” Scott said. “Obviously you have to have an adult here to watch them, but it’s kind of like they get to come here and learn transferable skills.”
As with any traditional non-profit, Scott is seeking grant funding as well as potential collaborations, such as one with the Peekskill City School District, where Scott has previously been honored and has given lectures on nutrition.
BabaKazi Oliver, a Peekskill entertainer and educator who happened to be visiting Scott’s shop during the Herald’s interview, gave his thumbs-up to Scott’s initiative of job training for youth.
“I think it’s really notable because our young people are our commodity,” Oliver said. “And if we don’t cater to our young people through the work and characters to be compassionate concerning giving and also to be healthy, we’re [screwed]. Take a mindset toward eating healthy foods so they can live longer.”
Asked why he wanted to start his shop, Scott, a vegan, said juicing impacted his health positively and he wanted to create something that was multicultural, progressive, and educational.
“Juicing changed my life,” Scott said. “It changed my family’s life. And I figured why not try to change someone else’s life?”
[Editor’s Note: This article was updated at 11:18 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 14, to clarify a fact and two quotes.]
