THE owner of a chain of Brighton-based juice bars with celebrity customers says business is booming after a challenging 2017.

Anits Drozd is the sole owner of Youjuice which has shops in North Road, Brunswick Street East and Montpelier Place.

She has spent the past four years creating and selling a range of healthy products.

The business, which started out as a hobby in Anita’s kitchen, has expanded rapidly.

Today she has three Youjuice bars up and running in Brighton, counting famous faces such as Zoella, Alfie Deyes and DJ Zoe Ball as regular customers and friends.

But with every opportunity comes a challenge and whilst business is booming today, Anita’s journey hasn’t always been easy.

She said: “Last year we hit some major milestones.

“We reached 11 employees, traded out of three locations, and started distributing our juices in big offices and other health orientated restaurants such as Silo and Infinity Food Cafe.

“Such rapid growth is intense and we were really up against it.

“The year 2017 was about survival.”

Keen to ensure sustainable expansion, Anita took out a cash advance from iZettle to help her manage her cashflow as she grew her operations.

She said: “I’ve been using iZettle’s card readers to take payments and manage my finances since 2015.

“As our business has grown so have our business needs.”

Alongside offering card payments, iZettle also provides cash advances, enabling the small businesses that use its tools to access funding.

Anita said: “I decided to take out a £25,000 cash advance from iZettle shortly after opening two more stores.

“The advance allowed me to balance my books, invest in new equipment and launch my website, taking Youjuice online.

“It enabled us to grow Youjuice by 15 per cent last year.”

January is set to be the juice bars’ busiest month as people kick the year off with a healthy start.

Anita is excited about the release of Youjuice’s very own book later in the year which will be packed full of recipes and goodness.

Anita said: “Whilst 2017 may have been all about survival, 2018 looks set to be fruitful for us.”