Five questions with ... Harriet Pederick on Sippin Nutrition venture kicking off in Molong

Relocating from Tamworth to the Central West this year, Harriet Pederick has been getting ready to launch her first small business, Sippin Nutrition - which will be the first of its kind in the small town.

In this next 'five questions with...' feature piece with the Central Western Daily, the excited entrepreneur talks about how her new business venture has unfolded, including the health benefits of nutrient-loaded beverages.

We recently moved to the region from north-western New South Wales after buying a farm down here, so this has been something that I've wanted to do for the last three years.

We knew that we were going to move at some stage and with both of our daughters now three and five years old, it's just the perfect time.

I enquired about this little shop at the start of the year and it was going to be leased out to someone else, so I thought no problems - but then at the end of April, I noticed it had a for lease sign in the window. So, I rang up straight away and that's where it all kicked off.

It's certainly been a big learning curve so far, because I came into this and I had no idea about things like [Development Applications] at the council and construction certificates.

So, from having absolutely no idea or concept of that side of things - I've really learned a lot in the last couple of months.

We're really getting cracking now with our shop fit out and making progress for our iced energy teas and smoothie bar - we're popping in a counter, moving some plumbing around, signage has been ordered, we're getting ready for the arrival of the ice machines and so on.

The front of the shop also has a gorgeous bay window, so we'll build that up and make that as a bit of a breakfast bar, but it'll more so be a grab-and-go kind of a deal.

Prospective opening hours at this stage - and with having two younger children - we'll be looking to operate during school hours, so, Monday through to Friday from about 9am to 2:30pm or 3pm, with some possible pop-up hours on a Saturday.

I'll look at extending hours in the summer months, but we'll see how it goes for the first couple of months and then go from there - but I'm getting really excited to make it pretty now.

I'm going to start small in terms of range and every month, I'll look at some fun things like a new smoothie of the month or have a new tea of the month.

I'll also be working out my flow behind the bar at the same time, so I don't want to completely overwhelm myself, but I'll offer six smoothies and six teas to start with.

I haven't completely finalised the menu as yet, but for our smoothies we'll have something chocolate-based - whether it be like a 'Malteser pleaser' or some Snickers tastes there - and then I'll do a mango smoothie, banana pancake, mint choc and possibly a biscoff flavour.

For our teas, I'm still working out which one I love the best, but there'll be a watermelon crush and a grape bubblegum tea. We'll also have various sizes in the teas, so there'll be a 24 ounce - which is 700ml - and a mega size, which is one litre.

We'll have some kids smoothies as well and we'll also look at doing a gluten-free range down the track.

I like to say to people that when you treat you body like a high performance sports car, your body responds in a positive way.

So, if you're giving your body what it needs, rather than packaged foods, then your body's going to respond to that positively.

We're offering healthy, gourmet smoothies that are high in protein, low in calories and full of vitamins and minerals, with nothing made on milk due to intolerances. Everything will be made on water, ice and fruit, with nothing more than 250 calories.

Our loaded iced teas are green tea-based - which have guarana and natural antioxidants - with 24 calories or less and made with sugar-free flavourings and purified aloe concentrate - which is really fantastic for digestive health and packed with B Vitamins.

There's so, so many diet-related health conditions out there these days and the number one documented health condition is actually fatigue.

And there's also many people who don't experience dynamic health, I suppose, so I'm excited to offer the community a healthy option that's not only on the go, but for them to also know that they're actually feeding their bodies with great nutrition - which is only going to complement their health and vitality.

My husband's a farmer, so getting him to initially give it a try and get on board I thought would be trickier, but he'll now take a drink with him before sheep work when he's on the go. We use a nutritional protein powder as well and they honestly taste incredible - they really are so good.

So, all I can say is to just give it a try, because you're going to feel a lot better after it and it's going to give you that mental clarity. It's also clean energy with minimal calories per serve and zero sugar, so your digestive system is just going to feel amazing and you'll feel the benefits for the rest of the day.

After wanting to do get this business idea running for so long, I know that magic happens outside of your comfort zone and that's where growth happens, as well.

You always want to keep challenging yourself and growing into that better version of yourself and that can be across all areas of life - whether it be a better mum, a better friend, whichever that is at the time.

The community here [in Molong] has been amazing and I didn't want to look like I was stepping on any toes with being the new person in town, but everyone has been incredibly welcoming.

I really have learned so much from this already as well, and I hope that down the track that if someone came along and said 'hey I'd love to do this in Orange or Canowindra' - or wherever it may be - that I'll be able to offer some sound advice from my own experience and give that guidance.

That's the ultimate goal, because I'd love to see more people or businesses like this open up and provide healthy options to people.

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