Health-oriented sisters keep things fresh

Diego Brittain – son of Angelina Brittain-Rasmussen and nephew of Autumn Rasmussen and Abigail Rasmussen, co-owners of Live Life Juice Company – serves a customer at the juice bar at Meriam Park on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 in Chico, California. (Jake Hutchison/Enterprise Record)

The healthier you are, the better you feel and the better your life. That’s the premise on which Live Life Juice Company was founded and has lived by for the past decade in Chico. This May, the company will bring that ideology and its products to Oroville.

Angelina Brittain-Rasmussen and her two sisters, Abigail Rasmussen and Autumn Rasmussen, always knew they wanted to start a “health food” business together, but weren’t able to pinpoint the type of business until 2014. The three lived in Kauai, Hawaii, and worked in the health food industry when, after several years, they migrated one by one to Chico, where they had history and family ties.

Angelina paved the way to the North State in 2008. Fall followed in 2011, with Abigail close behind in 2012.

“We all like living near each other, and we’ve moved all over the world,” Brittain-Rasmussen says. “I came back here first and waited and waited for them. Once they got here and settled in, it was time to make this happen.”

“This” was Live Life Juice Company, a fresh, raw, unpasteurized, organic juice bar that also specializes in organic vegan sweet and savory dishes, as well as sauces and dressings. All of the company’s recipes are developed by Brittain-Rasmussen, so you won’t find anything like Live Life Juice drinks and food anywhere else.

In addition to offering a ‘good for your body’ menu, the company also offers customers ‘grab and go’ convenience at reasonable prices. Fresh, mainly vegetable-based juices range from €6 to €11 depending on the ingredients, while wraps, bowls and salads are budget-friendly at €7.95 to €11.95.

“Fast food or takeaway food is not always healthy, and people think that vegetarian and vegan food does not taste good. In addition, organic food is more expensive and is often classified as a luxury item,” says Brittain-Rasmussen. “I strongly believe that healthy food should taste great, be easily accessible and affordable. That is what we have chosen through Live Life Juice Company: to offer delicious, reasonably priced dishes that you can just walk in and grab, quickly and easily.”

A lifelong vegetarian with a “passion for juicing,” Brittain-Rasmussen had always lived in places where there were fresh juice bars, where she could grab her favorite drink when she didn’t have time to juice at home.

“I wanted it for myself, my family, and I wanted it for the community, so we developed the company from the ground up,” Brittain-Rasmussen said.

Live Life Juice Company debuted in 2014 at Chico farmers markets on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The juice company remains a basic supplier at the Saturday market and a seasonal vendor at the Wednesday market. The company is no longer a Thursday market vendor because the sisters opened their first brick-and-mortar store on 6th Street downtown in 2016 and are open on market nights.

A year later, in 2017, they moved to their current, larger location downtown on Broadway. Then in 2020, five days before the statewide COVID-19 shutdown, the siblings opened their second store in the Makers Building in Meriam Park. Fortunately for the entrepreneurial trio, takeaway and delivery food fell under the category of ‘essential services’, allowing the business to flourish.

With their business thriving in Chico and an ever-expanding customer base from Oroville, the businesswomen are in the process of opening a third location in downtown Oroville at 1933B Montgomery Street.

“People from Oroville have been asking us over and over again for years and years, ‘When are you going to open a store in our town?’ We are so happy to be able to tell them, ‘In May,’” said Brittain-Rasmussen. “The more I learn about Oroville, the more intrigued I become. It’s expanding. It’s coming with a lot of new energy and cool new stuff. We are happy to be part of that movement and spirit.”

Health food suppliers and their customers aren’t the only ones happy to have this new eatery coming to town. The current entrepreneurs in the city center are eager to receive the sisters and their company as well.