Strolling through a Caribbean market in Queens or a Key Food or Food Town throughout the city, you might spot a bottle of Liquid Blenz herbal drinks.
These infusions, with ingredients like soursop, ashwagandha, and cayenne pepper, are more than just thirst quenchers. Variations of the infusions are touted as tonics that can help alleviate congestion, inflammation and other ailments.
Liquid Blenz’s co-owners, Prince ANU (his chosen African name) and his father, Barry Hibbert, bottle family tradition in their holistic mixtures. Their goal: to provide a health-enhancing alternative to a community skeptical of some Western medicines, while promoting their Jamaican culture.
The origin story
Hibbert, a former physical therapist who immigrated from Jamaica to Hollis, Queens, as a youth, learned the art of herbal blending from a Rastafarian mentor in the late 1990s. This practice became a foundation for the family business.
“Experimenting with herbs is our culture, our background,” Prince ANU said. His father would mix tonics with ingredients like ginger, ginseng, and green tea for energy, immunity, and overall health. Prince ANU helped. It was fun boiling herbs shipped directly from Jamaica in their backyard in Queens, inside a customized shed with a big pot, a stove, and a fan.
This entrepreneurial spirit drove Prince ANU and his dad to grow this tonic-making side gig into an established business in 2015. It was around then that Prince ANU’s father suffered a heart attack. It became a life-altering wake-up call, forcing him to take a hard look at his lifestyle.
Determined to turn things around, his father embraced a healthier diet and doubled down on his belief in the healing power of natural remedies. He had been bottling this philosophy but not living it in his own life.
“Our name kind of caught wind out there in the holistic market,” Prince ANU said. “We started investing into our market — and obviously we started getting good feedback, because, being that our ingredients are from Jamaica, … it really does work.”
His dad began distributing the Liquid Blenz drinks locally in supermarkets. In fall of 2021, Prince ANU and his dad opened their storefront in Rockville Centre, in Long Island. The demand had grown at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Though not a cure for any disease, their herbal blends are marketed as supportive of the immune system. They now distribute their products to 20 states.
Hourglasses and chakras in the brand
Part of what sets Liquid Blenz apart is its intentional branding, Prince ANU says. The packaging prominently features Black and brown figures. It was important to trust-building that their community felt seen.
“We are a Black-owned brand … we want to also see ourselves in our environment,” Prince ANU said. “We also want our people to see something and be like, ‘oh, wow, it’s safe, we could take this. Our people, we’re very suspicious about taking certain things.”
The designs also incorporate chakras — energy points that symbolize balance and healing. It’s a nod to the holistic ethos that guides the business.
Scaling the vision
Getting into supermarkets like Key Food and Foodtown wasn’t easy, but the team’s persistence and disclaimers — stating they don’t claim to cure illnesses — helped open doors. Liquid Blenz now caters to a growing audience, with diverse customers discovering the benefits of their products through retail stores and wholesalers.
For Prince ANU, it’s about more than profits. It’s about carrying forward his father’s legacy while making an impact in people’s lives. Prince ANU recalls getting a late-night call from a man from Georgia to praise their soursop drink — their top-seller.
“I’m just like, ‘it’s midnight. Why, why are you calling me so late?’” Prince ANU said, laughing. The Georgia man told him about his great test results at his last doctor’s visit, which the man attributed to his new Liquid Blenz habit.
Balancing community and business needs
When Liquid Blenz was starting as a smaller business, it was tough balancing the demands of the community with the practicalities of running a business. One key challenge was delivering to customers eager for their products — even when it wasn’t always logistically feasible.
There were people in Harlem who wanted Liquid Blenz to deliver a single case of their product from Long Island — a two-hour drive for a $50 product.
“But I used to take those drives right to go and meet with them — and that’s when I realized it was much bigger than what I actually thought it was,” Prince ANU said. “The demand was so high, and we were actually helping people … They wanted us to come out there because there was no other product out there that was like ours.”
A family business
Being a family-run enterprise is both a joy and a challenge. “Doing business with family is not easy,” Prince ANU said. He and his father sometimes disagreed on their business approach — for instance, his dad wasn’t wild about investing in online marketing at first. But through trial and error, they built trust. His dad eventually came around when he saw the demand they were leaving untapped.
The family’s ability to adapt played a crucial role in overcoming barriers like limited access to capital. Through credit repair, they expanded their inventory and marketing efforts, growing from a small business into what Prince ANU now calls a “big business.”
When asked about his vision for the future, Prince ANU expresses confidence rather than hope: “I know that our business will be a household name,” he said, rattling off supermarket chains like Whole Foods, Walmart, Target, and Kroger, where he is manifesting Liquid Blenz will be sold.
Still, no matter how big Liquid Blenz gets, Prince ANU says the roots of the business are in his family, and their culture: “I was getting my ginger shots through the umbilical cord,” he said.
145 N Park Ave, Rockville Centre
Order online here.
You can also find their products at stores like Key Food in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
Follow on Instagram at @liquidblenzbeverage and on TikTok at @liquidblenz_
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