Be well: 3 Charlotte brands to know
December 27, 2024
Queen City entrepreneurs offer products aimed at keeping Charlotte healthy and fit
by Michelle Boudin | photographs by Richard Israel
For better or worse, when the calendar flips to Jan. 1, most of us resolve to do better in the new year. Experts say resolutions often don’t last, but three local entrepreneurs make it easy to focus on wellness year-round. Yon Bons is a line of protein bites you can literally grab and go. Both Sweet’s Elderberry and The Whole Hope make getting an immune boost as easy as taking a swig of syrup or pouring a glass of water. In a broader sense, all three are working to make Charlotte a healthier, happier place to live.
Making lemon-aid
THE WHOLE HOPE
Hope Davis Skouras fully embraces her nickname: The Lemon Lady. The owner of The Whole Hope, Skouras turned her morning ritual of drinking a warm cup of lemon water into a wellness brand people across Charlotte have come to love.
Skouras was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, a condition that causes inflammation and swelling in the digestive tract, as a teenager. She suffered a flare-up after her third child was born, which led to an interest in functional medicine and holistic healing. Skouras became a certified holistic health coach and launched The Whole Hope in January 2024.
“I started The Whole Hope because I wanted to help people,” Skouras says. She earned the “lemon lady” nickname after she began sharing with others her morning routine of drinking lemon water to start each day. “I was sharing the benefits of it all, and I kept hearing people say they wanted to do this but they [didn’t] have the time. So we started testing out recipes in our kitchen.”
She developed a lemon-shaped frozen swirl tablet formulated with organic lemon juice, ginger, honey and non-GMO turmeric. When dissolved in a warm cup of water, the tablets help with digestion, detoxification, immune support and hydration, Skouras says.
“Lemons are high in citric acid, so they’re a great detoxifier. … It also has vitamin C, which is a great immune booster. Turmeric is an extra antioxidant boost, and the honey just helps with the taste — it adds a little extra sweetness.”
The products are sold online at thewholehope.com with local pickup — Skouras hopes to launch shipping in 2025. They’re also sold at reBalance Fitness and Nutrition and at Reid’s Fine Foods in Myers Park and SouthPark, where they routinely sell out, she says.
“It feels overwhelming in the best way. It feels like I’m doing something I didn’t necessarily plan, like I’m aligning with the bigger purpose of the ‘why’ behind having Crohn’s disease … It feels reassuring to think that we’re gonna turn something bad around and help people along the way.”
Protein power
YON BONS
Jamey Yon has been a competitive triathlete since he was a student at Clemson University in the 1980s. The 24-time Ironman and founder of TRiYon coaching service always experimented with nutrition, but Yon struggled to find an all-around good-for-you snack that could also fuel his training. Working out of his home kitchen, Yon began experimenting to develop a product that was macro-balanced, with the right amount of protein, carbs and fat.
“I was coaching other athletes, and they started to ask about them and started eating them,” Yon says. That was 2018, and Yon realized he was onto something. Before long, he began working out of a commercial kitchen and teamed with a local packing company, Golden Grains Baking, to make protein bites that he calls Yon Bons.
“It was really about seeing what worked and what didn’t work — and what worked with the tummy as far as products that would fuel you without upsetting your system.” As a father of five, he also wanted to make as clean a product as possible. “Our products have no peanuts, no soy, no dairy … I wanted to check all of those boxes.” Yon Bons are also gluten-free and made without preservatives.
All the products have the same basic ingredients: egg whites, coconut flour, sunflower-seed butter, raw honey, organic maple syrup and spices. The original Yon Bon — the blueberry flavored Berry Fast — is the brand’s bestseller. But Yon is excited and optimistic about his newest launch: a lemon flavor that is already getting rave reviews.
Since the products are preservative-free and have a relatively short shelf life — Yon Bons should be consumed within about a week or stored in the refrigerator, Yon says — the majority of the snacks are sold directly to consumers via the website, yonbons.com. While Yon remains focused on his coaching business, he says he’d eventually like to partner with a large retailer to carry Yon Bons, introducing them to a broader audience.
“It was such a fun process to involve my whole family in creating the original Yon Bons. These last few years, the process of creating more flavors and products has just added to the excitement and reward … To see our product sold and enjoyed on the open market is truly a satisfying process.”
Super-fruit savvy
SWEET’S ELDERBERRY
Just over two years ago, Morgan Smorgala, a Charlotte mother of two, bought Sweet’s Elderberry, the wellness-products company started a decade ago by Stephanie Rickenbaker. Since then, the number of stores selling Sweet’s immune and digestive support products has more than doubled. Smorgala recently inked a deal that will place Sweet’s products on shelves in 103 Wegmans grocery stores.
Rickenbaker founded the company in 2015 after a family health crisis led her to begin focusing on the links between diet and disease. She posted on a Facebook mom’s group about the elderberry syrup she’d been making in her kitchen. Interest in the group soared, and Sweet’s was born.
Smorgala was part of that Facebook group, and in 2022 bought the business when Rickenbaker decided to sell it. Smorgala admits there has been a learning curve. “When I first started, I had no idea what I was doing.” She attributes much of the company’s growth to becoming certified USDA organic. “That assures our customers that we have super-clean products.”
The elderberries in Sweet’s Syrup come from Europe, where they are widely grown and have been used for medicinal purposes for generations. “Elderberry is a super fruit,” Smorgala notes, with anti-inflammatory properties and loaded with antioxidants. “And it’s something quick and easy you can take for your overall health and wellness, from cardiovascular health to immune system, joints and inflammation.”
Sweet’s is best known for its best-selling elderberry syrup with honey, but Smorgala says its shrub — a 2022 Good Food Award winner — is a close second. “It has apple cider vinegar for gut health support. More and more people are understanding the link between our guts and our brain, and people are looking for help with gut health in addition to immune support.”
Sweet’s Elderberry products are sold online at sweetselderberry.com and at dozens of local stores, including Berrybrook Farms, Laurel Market, Common Market and Rhino Market.
“Customers know what they’re getting with our brand and what they’re putting in their bodies,” Smorgala says. “This is a berry that’s so good for you and so versatile.” SP
