Growing up in the restaurant industry, Bayport native MacKenzie Miller has witnessed first-hand so many new and different ways of approaching food. Some stay. Some go.
One of the more recent ones — eating healthy and organic — is no fad.
Recognizing this, Miller, 23, is planning to bring an organic juice bar to East Main Street in Patchogue Village in a section of the closed Dollar King.
She calls the entire concept a “natural organic life experience.” Or NOLE, for short.
Hence, NOLE Café.
Miller has always been interested in living a healthier lifestyle. While away at school in Charlotte, N.C., at Belmont Abbey College, she discovered and cultivated her passion for nutrition.
She said that by her senior year of school, she knew she needed “to do something along the lines of health. It just made sense for me.”
While earning a bachelor’s degree in business and finance, she also enrolled in a program at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, through which she became a certified health and wellness coach.
She is bringing that combination of health and businesses knowledge to her new venture.
In addition to creating a healthy menu with options from acai bowls to chopped salads, there will also be health and wellness coaching available too.
“I saw a need for a place like this,” Miller said about NOLE Café, which will be located at 90 East Main Street, just east of Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts.
“There needs to be more places like this, not just in Patchogue, but around in general,” she said.
Miller will be opening NOLE Cafe [in 2018] with her business partner, Bob Venero.
Miller knows eating healthy isn’t always easy, especially when it comes to knowing about supplements and vitamins. That’s where Venero, the president of Future Tech Enterprise in Holbrook steps in. He is going to line the juice bar with equipment and information technology, including iPads, to educate patrons.
“Instantly when [people] see supplements, myself included … I would freak out,” Miller said. “Having an iPad [allows customers] to click through and a ton of things will come up.”
Miller got some of her motivation to open up NOLE cafe from her entrepreneurial father, Mark Miller, who owns Dublin Deck and Harbor Crab Company.
“[My dad] pushed me to do something new and follow my dreams,” said Miller, who now lives in Patchogue.
Top: A photo of two different styles of acai bowls. (NOLE Café courtesy photo)
Follow Nole Café on Facebook for updates.
Editor’s note: This story was amended to reflect a timeline change on its opening date.
