- May 18, 2025
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What would you do if you could do anything?
Lakewood Ranch's Tali Williams was asked that question in a basement restaurant in Italy two years ago.
When her husband Jeremy Williams started thinking back to that night, as he was sitting in their newly opened The Juice Pod franchise on Lakewood Main Street, he shook his head with a bit of disbelief.
“It’s kind of a crazy story,” he said. “It’s almost like (opening this business) was meant to be.”
The Williams were in Italy because their daughter Kada Fehlman was getting married. Jeremy Williams noted that he was able to spend three weeks in Italy for what a wedding at The Ringling would have cost him.
He and his wife were seated close to another couple that night in the restaurant. As the wine flowed, so did the conversation. The couple, Danielle and Jon Leonhardt, had a connection to Youngstown, Ohio, where the Williams both attended college.
As the strangers talked about their professions, Tali Williams expressed frustration about not making any money in education since moving from Ohio to Florida.
When asked what she would do if she could do anything, she said she’d open a juice bar.
The response from Danielle Leonhardt was “I own a juice bar.”
Leonhardt runs The Juice Pod with her sister Christine Wyatt. There are 18 locations, but the Lakewood Ranch franchise is the first in Florida.
The other stores are in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Psoriasis is what led Tali Williams to the idea of wanting to own a juice bar. When she started drinking celery juice, her symptoms cleared up.
After returning from Italy and having a few bad weeks at work, Tali Williams was ready to take a chance, so she reached out to the Leonhardts on Instagram and initially didn't hear back. For months.
Then came a reply from Jon Leonhard. “Are you serious?”
The Williams were. Very. But while fate might have been on their side at the start, normal obstacles to launching a business were presented along the way to their eventual April 12 opening.
The first location the Williams decided on was instead rented to an AT&T store after three months of waiting on a lease.
After finding a space on Main Street, it took seven months to get a building permit for interior modifications, and they lost about $20,000 to the first contractor they hired and still haven’t been able to recoup that money.
When the store finally opened, Tali Williams' dad died two weeks later, and the couple had to fly back to Ohio.
On the other hand, the shop already has several regulars, and the couple know most of their names.
The Williams said Main Street at Lakewood Ranch was incredibly supportive through all the ups and downs.
The couple is also starting a new chapter as empty nesters. The Williams have known each other since they were about 13 years old.
Jeremy Williams is 48, and Tali Williams is 47. They started dating when she was 16, and he was 17. They’ve been married for 26 years.
Tali Williams got teary-eyed when talking about how proud she is of her husband for coming from nothing and making a success of himself.
Part of why she wanted to be a business owner is because of her husband’s success owning an insurance agency.
Both the Williams are keeping their day jobs until The Juice Pod is more established. Tali Williams pivoted from teaching and coaching into curriculum sales.
However, the time might come to give up the day jobs sooner rather than later. For five years, no one else can open a Juice Pod franchise within Sarasota and Manatee counties, so the goal is to open two more locations before their exclusive rights expire.
While the name is The Juice Pod, and the juice is freshly made to order, the menu features smoothies, bowls and toasts, too.
The bread for the toast comes from East County’s Crust n’ Crumb and only has three ingredients.
“We started looking at some other suppliers of bread, and there are like 20 ingredients in them and most of them are preservatives,” Jeremy Williams said. “That’s not what we’re looking for, so we partnered with (Crust n’ Crumb), and it’s been a hit. People go crazy for the toast.”
Out of 15 options, his favorite toast is the Burrata, which is topped with burrata cheese, arugula, prosciutto, pear, microgreens and a balsamic drizzle.
The menu has an even larger selection of bowls, smoothies and cold press juices. There are wellness shots, too, if feeling tired, hungover or on the verge of a cold.
However, not every menu item is strictly about health and wellness.
“Some of (the smoothies) are just for pleasure, like the Almond Joy,” Tali Williams said. “That’s a fun smoothie over a health benefit smoothie. But there are options for everybody, and that’s what’s nice.”
