From Health Crisis to Startup: How Eve Beverage’s Founder Turned Adversity into Inspiration

In entrepreneurship, inspiration can come from the most unlikely — and sometimes dire — places.

For Janae’ Barnett and her company, Eve Beverage, that meant learning of her mother’s stage 3 carcinoma breast cancer diagnosis in 2017. The devastating news prompted Barnett’s mother to change her diet and she increased her intake of fruits and vegetables.

As her mother battled, Barnett witnessed first-hand the transformative power that fruits and vegetables had on her health journey. Her mother — who eventually made a full recovery — steadily improved, inspiring Barnett to continue the positive momentum. 

“The body is amazing — it really is a miracle,” Barnett said. “And it’s also a miracle that your best medicines grow from the Earth. I was so inspired by her wellness journey and how she was able to kick cancer’s butt. It made me want to inspire others to start building healthier lifestyles.”

Barnett began learning more about cold-pressed juicing and experimented with different ingredients to create fresh, natural beverages for her family. As she deepened her knowledge of nutrition, Barnett chronicled her juice recipes on social media and shared videos of her making tasty, healthful beverages.

By the winter of 2020, Barnett’s social media following translated into paying customers wanting more of her fresh juices. She soon launched a cold-pressed juice company and began selling at City Market, wellness centers, and out of her downtown Kansas City apartment.

Barnett eventually scaled up her juice operation with the help of the Ennovation Center, a business development incubator that offers a shared commercial kitchen space. The increased production allowed Barnett to expand to offer juice at other events and retail locations across Kansas City. 

Soon after expanding, however, she realized a challenging limitation of cold-pressed juices: shelf-life. Cold-pressed juices last only about three to four days before perishing, which meant that Barnett had a narrow window to create, move, and sell products. 

Undeterred by the challenge, Barnett and her business partner, Craig Scott, began thinking of how to create a shelf-stable juice product that helps create healthier lifestyles. 

“We went back to the drawing board to figure out a product that bridged the gap between cold-pressed juice and functional beverages that also has a longer shelf life,” said Barnett. “We started doing some research and connected with some beverage scientists in Los Angeles. One thing led to the next and here we are.”

Based on their research, the duo devised a plan and publicly launched Eve Beverage in early 2023.

Eve is a functional beverage that incorporates natural, never-from-concentrate, non-GMO fruit juices with added minerals for overall health. In addition to vitamins and minerals from fresh juice, Eve drinks feature resveratrol, an ingredient that research suggests can help with bone health, cardiovascular health, blood glucose support, skin health, and more.

Barnett and Scott financed Eve’s growth for more than a year using credit cards and personal funds but eventually realized they’d need outside funding support, she said. Attracted to AltCap’s mission of supporting underserved entrepreneurs, Barnett reached out to AltCap after seeing an Instagram post sharing info on microloans for small businesses. 

“AltCap really gave us our start,” she said. “For the first year and a half we bootstrapped everything. We used credit cards and sold stuff to do it. We put in a lot of sweat equity but also a lot of personal finances, too.”

AltCap’s financing helped the Eve team with its first manufacturing run and to boost its marketing efforts. Eve currently offers two flavors — Tropical Breeze & Blossom Punch — and sells its products at 10 Hy-Vee locations in Kansas and Missouri.

Asked what’s been most challenging about building Eve, Barnett said that being an independent brand alongside giant beverage makers entails a lot of adaptability and constant learning. As a small team, Barnett and Scott must handle everything from sourcing ingredients and logistics to accounting and managing retailers.

“You have to learn the industry, you have to learn your customer base, you have to know your price points, you have to know logistics,” Barnett said. “There’s just so much that goes into being in the retail space. … But I love learning in uncharted territory. That’s what being an entrepreneur is all about.”

The hard work is worth the payoff, Barnett said, as it allows her to build something she believes in and to make connections with customers. Barnett loves to learn about customers’ health and wellness and to share Eve’s story.

“I’m most proud of the lives we touch,” she said. “So many people can identify with having a loved one who fought cancer. They can identify with how changing your dietary habits can help you live a better life. They can identify with being a woman. There are so many ways that we can connect with people and I think that's the most amazing part.”