Ottawa entrepreneur Nasr Nasr is breathing new life into his family’s century-old business by introducing virtual reality as a way to engage customers and train team members, while also cutting costs and limiting food waste.
Born in Lebanon, Nasr was raised in a family that had grown and sold high-quality, organic fruit for generations. Since the 1880s, Nasr said his ancestors worked to grow their family business and legacy, first farming and selling fruit, then sourcing fruit products and finally building a grocery store that offered organic, fresh produce.
When Nasr moved to Canada in 2017 at age 22, his plan was to further his engineering studies in Ottawa. After discovering engineering wasn’t his passion, he began working in sales. He began to thrive professionally, but says he didn’t feel passionate or fulfilled by his work.
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It was then that Nasr said he noticed a niche gap in the Ottawa market.
“Growing up, I didn’t have a lot of money, so when my friends and I wanted to go out, we’d go have a juice somewhere,” explains Nasr. “When I came to Ottawa, I wanted to go get juice and I went to a bunch of them, but they were either healthy but bland, or tasted good but you feel like crap after because it’s unnatural and full of syrups.”
Despite his father’s warnings that entrepreneurship was a difficult path, Nasr decided that, by starting his own business, he could combine all of his passions.
“I knew that I understood fruit and that there was a need for healthy and delicious fruit juice in Ottawa,” he says. “I could address that, bring in my love of business and family history, and do something I love.”
In 2019, Nasr launched Juice Dudez, a juice bar that offers a variety of fresh fruit-based juices as well as coffee, waffles, crepes, salads and fruit platters. And while Juice Dudez has since grown to two locations and has plans for continued expansion, the business had a rocky start.
“When we first opened, the drinks were special. They aren’t typical smoothies with blended foods; we have fresh fruit chunks, because we didn’t want things that tasted good but were full of syrups, and we didn’t want something healthy that didn’t taste good,” explains Nasr. “But people found it weird at first.
“We were losing money every month, people said, ‘What is that, just blend it for me,’” he recalls. “Then, as soon as things picked up, COVID hit.”
During the pandemic, Nasr said he couldn’t afford staff and often worked alone. And with dine-in service restrictions, Juice Dudez was only available for delivery on platforms like Uber Eats.
“One Friday night, I remember my sales were $76,” says Nasr. “That was rock bottom.”
So, at a time when Nasr said many businesses were “cutting corners to cut costs,” he went back to his family’s values.
“Since it was all being delivered through Uber Eats, we weren’t seeing customers, so we couldn’t show great service and hospitality, which is important to me,” says Nasr. “So then I started writing sticky notes and messages to send with their orders, just thanking them, telling them to have a good day, and trying to encourage them through the pandemic.
“Slowly but surely, things started booming, and we haven’t looked back.”
In 2022, Juice Dudez opened its second location on Bank Street near Heron Road. Soon after, Nasr says, he was being approached by people who wanted to become franchisees. Juice Dudez then spent two years and tens of thousands of dollars to build a franchise system.
After wading through more than 200 franchisee applications, Nasr said he narrowed applicants down to “maintain high standards,” and now four new Juice Dudez franchise locations are planned to open in Ottawa by the end of this year.
But Nasr says he doesn’t just want to stay competitive in the market — he wants to “trailblaze.” And that’s why he has introduced virtual reality at both juice bars, integrating the technology into company operations and hoping to “inspire others” to embrace sustainability.
“A VR salesperson dropped by, offering a VR experience for customers … And that sounded very cool, but a lightbulb went off for me,” says Nasr. “I thought, this could be a gamechanger.”
As of six weeks ago, both Juice Dudez locations offer virtual reality experiences to customers as entertainment and education. As customers wait for their order, they can use the VR headsets to experience the Juice Dudez process and go through the recipes and procedures themselves. With this technology, Nasr said customers can be more confident about what they’re consuming.
At first, he says customers were shy with the new technology. Now, “they line up to use it.”
“It’s not only about them making their own drinks; it’s that when they’re in the store, you have kids and parents and families and everyone gets to put on the VR set and know what they’re eating because they’re making the drink in VR,” says Nasr. “So it’s fun, but it also gives them more relief because they know what they’re eating or drinking.”
Nasr decided to take the VR experience one step further by using the technology to train staff, cutting food waste and costs while providing a (sort of) hands-on, team-building activity.
With traditional training processes, Nasr says about five crepes, five waffles and a minimum of 10 beverages on average are wasted.
“When someone is training, it’s normal to make mistakes and there’s a waste of food associated with that,” he explains. “In the short term, the tech is more expensive, but in the long term, it will be so much cheaper because we can save that food waste and boost our sustainability approach.”
Nasr says the VR technique also helps trainees learn with less pressure.
“When you train someone new in the food industry, they often feel nervous, especially in our field, because not many people have experience making drinks like we do,” he explains. “It’s fast-paced, there’s pressure, and so they’re nervous.
“The VR not only eliminates the nervousness but empowers them, so they aren’t worried about screwing it up and they enjoy it,” Nasr continues. “And they enjoy it because who isn’t into VR?”
As Nasr expands the Juice Dudez company and brand, he says he’s committed to staying true to his family values — especially now that the rest of his family has moved to Ottawa from Lebanon to help with the business, bringing the legacy full-circle for Nasr.
“My family, for generations, were farming fruit. Then my dad was buying fruits and selling, and then he started a retail store, taking it a step up,” he explains. “(Juice Dudez) took that yet another step up and it’s a phenomenal thing.”
Nasr’s parents, sisters and brother live in Ottawa and other family members, including his parents and five cousins, work for the company.
“We’re still a family business, it’s just different now,” says Nasr. “Once you come in here, you understand. Our family has always believed everyone deserves access to fresh, delicious fruit. Now we want to give back to everyone in the world by sharing it with others.”
