BOCA RATON — A smoothie shop, café and … the East Coast's E rewhon ?
If you don't know Erewhon Market , it's the luxury supermarket chain that's taken Los Angeles by storm. Celebrities regularly partner with the grocer to launch their own smoothies, which, in collaboration with its eclectic organic food options, has earned it a cult-like following in recent years.
The Garden Butcher , a small but beloved Boca Raton café, has blown up on social media the past few months, with dozens on TikTok and Instagram calling it the "Erewhon of South Florida" for its smoothies inspired by the California grocer. After a TikTok post went viral around April, lines out the door became the norm.
For one, the Garden Butcher's are about $6 cheaper than the Los Angeles versions. Ingredients, at least for the Strawberry Glow smoothie — which has become a customer favorite for its resemblance to Erewhon's Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie , in collaboration with model Hailey Bieber — are all, but two, the same.
Erewhon Market-inspired smoothies at Garden Butcher
For instance, both smoothies include organic strawberries, avocado, banana, dates, vital proteins vanilla collagen and local sea moss. Rather than Erewhon's organic coconut creme, though, the Garden Butcher's Strawberry Glow smoothie features organic coconut milk. It has lemon in it, too.
Another Erewhon-inspired smoothie that can be found at the Boca Raton, locally owned spot is The Cloud smoothie , a rendition of Erewhon's Coconut Cloud Smoothie . Both are made with almond milk, organic pineapple, banana, avocado, vanilla collagen, almond butter, coconut cream and blue spirulina. Erewhon's contains vanilla stevia.
Erin Leeds, the Garden Butcher's owner, is no stranger to the comparisons. She's flown around the country, drawing inspiration from concepts similar to hers in Boca Raton, she said. But, what she doesn't want, is for people to be disappointed upon realizing the Garden Butcher isn't a grocery, like Erewhon.
"It makes me a little nervous because of our size," she said. "I don't want anyone to come down with the wrong expectations. But if you are coming to us because you've been told, 'Gosh, they have prepared foods and everything's healthy and super clean, they don't use seed oils, they have lots of organic stuff,' then you're coming to us for the right reason, and I feel like you'll be very excited and pleased."
Leeds, a chef of 15 years, prides herself in the quality of the ingredients used at the Garden Butcher. Everything is sourced particularly, she said, down to their grass-fed local meat. There is no refined sugar in the entire building.
"I don't know if there's another restaurant in South Florida that does the same," Leeds said.
After working as a private chef for many families, she found that there was a need for prepared, healthy foods in the area.
"I had seen similar concepts in other areas, and it was kind of similar to what I was doing as a private chef," Leeds said. "But, with this concept, instead of going into people's homes and cooking for them, I could make food for the whole community."
The Garden Butcher's prepared foods are available in-store and can also be ordered online . They're made fresh daily and include options ranging from breakfast toasts, to salads and bowls, to soups, wraps, sandwiches and main protein dishes. Customers can also customize their own entrees by heading to the "Main Dish" category on the website's ordering page.
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Leeds, hopeful with the restaurant's growth and momentum since the spring, is looking to expand soon. She has her eyes set on another store west of Boca Raton.
"We're on the hunt for a much bigger space than we have right now," she said. "We're hoping to do a more flagship-style store with more seating. We want to build more of that environment and have a place where people would love to come and hang out and maybe do their work or socialize, have lunch."
What are the hours of The Garden Butcher?
- Monday through Wednesday: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Thursday and Friday: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Saturday: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Sunday: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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Jasmine Fernández is a journalist covering Delray Beach and Boca Raton for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at jfernandez@pbpost.com and follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @jasminefernandz . Help support our work. Subscribe today .
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Welcome to the 'Erewhon' of South Florida: Boca's Garden Butcher smoothies are a sensation
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