RAD Juice has never drifted from the simple philosophy that shaped owner Jason Plough’s raw juice company from the start.
“You could pay the farmer now or the pharmacist later,” Jason Plough said.
The San Luis Obispo-based beverage business focuses on raw, cold-pressed juices made from organic fruits and vegetables, intentionally avoiding pasteurization, preservatives and plastic packaging.
RAD Juice is currently sold at local farmers’ markets and, starting in March, will be offered from a kiosk at SLO Ranch Market. Founded in 2023, RAD Juice operates on a local-first model and was built from Plough’s dream to live a healthier lifestyle after working in motocross filmmaking.
“I was living on the road half the year,” he said. “We were, you know, partying a lot, living the rockstar lifestyle, drinking beers every day, eating processed foods.”
After reevaluating his lifestyle, Plough said he needed to adjust his diet and habits.
“I changed my diet, I got rid of processed sugars and lowered my beer intake,” he said. “And so just those few shifts, I ended up losing 55 pounds.”
Those changes became the basis for RAD Juice’s approach to nutrition, which emphasizes raw ingredients, minimal processing and short supply chains. According to the company, RAD Juice works with organic distributors and local farmers to source produce for its blends.
The company sells its products in glass containers and uses a cold-pressure process that avoids heat. According to the company, each bottle contains two pounds of organic produce, allowing consumers to ingest fruits and vegetables in liquid form without cooking or processing.
But, since the juice isn’t pasteurized, RAD Juice products have a shorter shelf life than grocery store juices. Plough said it aligns with the company’s broader goal of prioritizing nutritional value over scale.
“RAD stands for Raw and Delicious.We’re anti-pasteurization.”
Jason Plough, RAD Juice Owner
Plough said one of the biggest downfalls of raw juice is its six-day shelf life. “If we press it on a Monday, it’s good until the end-of-the-day Sunday. But that’s also what’s so special about it,” he said.
Expanding distribution
Plough said recent growth has been driven by an increasing community demand, which led to expanding distribution.
“Man, we’ve been making a lot of juice,” he said. “The demand that we’ve received from our community has been insane.”
As demand for RAD Juice increased, production scaled with it. Plough said the business now produces between 12,000 and 15,000 bottles per month across all distribution channels, including private labeling for other companies.
RAD Juice now sells at five farmers markets each week, with plans to increase to eight during the summer months. In addition to markets, the company operates refrigerator placements at local businesses, residential delivery subscriptions and private labeling services.
“We have a lot of people who are on weekly subscriptions that get juice delivered every Tuesday to their door,” Plough said.
Plough said rapid growth has created both opportunity and strain.
“Growing so quickly, it is a love-hate relationship,” he said. “Obviously super thankful for all the sales that have come our way, but you also have to be able to fulfill those sales.”
RAD Juice is distributed through local grocery stores, co-ops and markets rather than national chains due to regulations surrounding raw juice.
Scaling-up operation
RAD Juice’s growth has required additional staff and formal management roles. Hansen Steiger serves as RAD Juice’s production manager and oversees daily operations.
“We do a little bit of everything,” Steiger said. We all wear a lot of hats.”
The pace of work varies daily, but Steiger is happy the company has remained collaborative.
“One of my favorite things about this job is that no two days are the same,” Steiger said. “It’s always a little different, which is a lot of fun. We’ve got a great crew.”
Tyler Black works in prep at RAD Juice and previously spent seven years as a sushi chef. Black said he first encountered RAD Juice as a customer before joining the team.
“I actually saw it a while ago, the juice at Food Co-op,” he said. “And then one day I was like, ‘You know what? I’ll just give them a call.”
More products
While cold-pressed juice remains the foundation of the business, RAD Juice has branched into functional beverages aimed at offering cleaner alternatives to mainstream sports drinks and protein shakes.
The company’s alternative to sports drinks was creating and selling an electrolyte drink called RAD Power, made primarily from raw coconut water. Plough described RAD Power as “a Prime or a Gatorade without the chemicals.”
Since its release, RAD Power has become one of the company’s top-selling products.
“When we released RAD Power, it was perceived really well by the community,” Plough said. “It’s one of our number one sellers, and I think it’s going to turn into its own lane, its own category.”
RAD Juice built on the success of RAD Power by debuting a new product, RAD Fuel, at local farmers markets on Thursday, Feb. 5. RAD Fuel is a coconut-based, preservative-free protein shake designed as a grab-and-go alternative to mainstream options. Each bottle contains 25 grams of protein.
Plough said the drink maintains the company’s focus on simplicity and freshness, and that it was a natural next step because RAD Juice can use the same coconut supply it already sources for RAD Power.
“We have our coconut supply that we already use for our hydration drink, Rad Power,” Plough said. “So really it’s just another extension of that, which I think is going to be awesome. Everyone’s protein-deficient, and it’ll be good to get people some clean protein.”
Rather than chasing every new idea, he said he views RAD Fuel as a natural extension of the company’s core philosophy.
“One of the hardest parts about being an entrepreneur is you get all these ideas that come into your head,” he said. “But one of the hardest parts is just staying within your lane.”
Staying local and looking ahead
For now, Plough said RAD Juice is not focused on expanding beyond the Central Coast. Instead, he is prioritizing consistency and refinement at home, and views the business as still being in its early stages.
When Plough first outlined his vision for the business, his goals were ambitious.
At the time, he set a target of pressing 100,000 pounds of produce, a milestone that felt significant for an operation that had only recently been limited to small batches for a handful of farmers’ markets.
In three years, the company accomplished nearly four times their goal.
“We’re almost at 400,000 pounds of produce pressed,” Plough said. “And we just completed year three of the business. We’ve crushed that goal.”
Today, Rad Juice produces thousands of bottles each month, supplies multiple locations throughout the Central Coast and continues to diversify its product offerings, all while remaining firmly anchored in San Luis Obispo.
Plough said any future growth would likely follow a localized production model rather than a single large operation.
“It is a lot of work to make even just a single bottle of RAD Juice, let alone the thousands that we do each week,” Plough said, adding that the effort remains worth it.
“You have good weeks and bad weeks. But one of the most special things about the business is we’ll have a rough week, like, ‘Can we make all this juice? Can we get there? Can we get to the markets in time?’ … and just this last week we completely sold out of everything, and you look back, and you’re like, ‘This is insane.’ So at least we’re getting rewarded for the effort that we’re putting in.”
This story originally appeared in the February printed edition of Mustang News. Check out more stories from the issue here.