‘Anything But Garden Variety’ | Legacy business owner in East Point reflects on community, loss, and motherhood
‘Arden’s Garden’ CEO Leslie Zinn shares her thoughts about the importance of legacy and the recent loss of her mother
EAST POINT, Ga. — “You reap what you sow.”
The origin of this phrase stretches back to Biblical days and if you were on the receiving end of that statement, nine times out of ten, that was not a good thing.
Vox Pop ATL is honored to share this story with you, the residents of Tri-Cities, of the rare example of a family that will be reaping their just-deserved benefits for many years to come.
Home-grown right here in metro Atlanta, the family-owned & operated ‘Arden’s Garden’ has been a pillar in the field of nutrition, health, and wellness for nearly three decades now and has also become a familiar mainstay on Main Street in East Point for roughly two of those decades.
With seventeen retail shops currently and more to come, it doesn’t seem that they have any intentions of going anywhere any time soon.
“That's how it began — no money, just my Mom making juice, and distributing it to her neighbors,” reminisces Leslie Zinn, CEO of Arden’s Garden.
“People really know that if you put good things inside of your body, you're boosting your own immune system and you're fighting your own fight.”
In 2021, terms like ‘organic, green, and vegan’ are as mundane and ubiquitous as the types of products that toss these expressions around like so much confetti.
Having said that, if we were to rewind the clocks back twenty-six years ago, the company that would become synonymous with health and wellness in metropolitan Atlanta, all began with a single mother of two, a newly-purchased juice press — and a dream.
Today, we know that single mother as Arden Zinn, founder, and namesake of the eponymous, Arden’s Garden, the city’s foremost fresh juice manufacturer.
Her dream? To share the benefits of wellness with her family, friends, and community.
“So, it’s a been 26-yr overnight success. Lots of hard work. Lots of joy” muses Zinn.
“Starting a business, and raising children on your own. It's an enormous amount of work. But, I look back on it now and I think one of the reasons my Mom was successful, is she didn't care about the money — she only cared about wellness.”
Long before terms like ‘health and wellness’ comprised the core tenets of Arden’s business model, they were the very backbone of her own personal mantra on living.
Decades before those familiar, colorful, all-natural juice bottles began lining the shelves of popular local supermarkets such as Whole Foods, Publix and Kroger, Arden would use her daughter, Leslie, and son, Edward, back when they were adolescents, to test out flavor formulas — much to their chagrin.
Some of those concoctions would eventually go onto become to the irresistible flavors that we now know and love. Zinn, a lifelong health enthusiast, was diligently committed to ensuring that her children didn’t develop bad eating habits, even during the times when the family was struggling financially.
As matriarch, Arden Zinn, nutrition and wellness were not just convenient catchphrases used to convince her children to eat their vegetables. Furthermore, when it came down to how nutrition played its part in the business, Zinn saw it as, her daughter, Leslie put it ’her mission in life.’
“The Tri-Cities area is hungry for healthy places to eat,” stresses Leslie. “My mother was a people person, and now her legacy continues in her absence. I can’t be more grateful, that it’s right here in East Point.”
Sadly, Arden Zinn passed away last November due to complications with Parkinson’s disease. She is survived by her children, Leslie and Edward, her five grandchildren, and the legacy born out of her passion for health, wellness, and community.
To learn more about Arden’s Garden, you can visit their headquarters located at 3113 Main Street, East Point, GA 30344 or visit their website for information about their other metro Atlanta locations.
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