Thursday, January 15, 2015

Carlsbad Village Business Owner Spotlight - Choice Superfood





“McDonald’s isn’t the only one that can have a playground.” This keen outlook inspired San Diego native Nastasha McKeon, Founder and CEO of Choice Superfood Bar& Juicery located on the corner of Carlsbad Village Drive and State Street, to transform her business into a village oasis. In less than a year, Nastasha’s passion about creative alternatives is making a difference and transforming Carlsbad into a better place. Not only does her business provide healthy food choices, it serves as an active community space, hosting meetups, yoga classes, music festival groups, and movie screenings. “Events are what drive community, and businesses, and people,” Nastasha shared. We couldn’t agree more.

The City of Carlsbad, Circulate San Diego and the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition announced recently the launch of Walk + Bike Carlsbad, a campaign to promote walking and biking in Carlsbad. This 12-month effort, funded with a grant by the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), will encourage more walking and biking throughout the city, with a special emphasis on the Village, Barrio, and beach strand areas. Like Nastasha, Walk + Bike Carlsbad values healthy lifestyles, connectivity, sustainability and economic vitality.

Choice’s green space features relaxed communal tables where people sit surrounded by neighbors, trees, and family. Nastasha is a mom herself, raising two little ones who attend local elementary schools. They walk there together. Making the Village her home, Nastasha believes walkability and bicycling are essential to our community and its future. In other areas of San Diego County, she noted, cars dominate the streets. Since moving to the Village, Nastasha has discovered that Carlsbad is a natural fit for active lifestyles, a place to run, surf, and ride bikes with family. “There is something so amazing about life when you don’t have to get into a car to go somewhere.” 

This is our ideal of “village life,” too. In addition to her welcoming enclave, Nastasha partners with Carlsbad Inn, which offers a weekly walking tour stopping at Choice for free samples of juices and smoothies. Nastasha has noticed a direct and positive impact on business from this partnership. Nastasha looks forward to participating in the Walk+Bike campaign as a fresh start to a New Year, an opportunity to improve work culture at Choice, and a life-long goal to bring positive change to her community. Let’s make this our resolution. 

For more information about Walk + Bike Carlsbad, visit

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