is the dream of an Okie, Joshua Hudson, who came to Colorado inspired by a healthy living and a devotion to the notion that nutritional, wholesome food can bring people together and better the world in the process. Josh Hudson had already lived a full life before 30. graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Oklahoma and went into an industry that many do in Oklahoma
: petroleum. “It was like getting paid to have a miserable life,” Josh admits. The constant tole of working seemingly unending hours for ethically dodgy companies reached an apex, and Josh finally started going with his gut. He quit his high-paying but soul-deadening job and left for the high plains of Denver. “I fell hard for Colorado from the moment I first visited,” Josh says. More than anything, he admired the strong sense of community, as well as the high priority Coloradans place on healthy, organic foods. Josh Listen has always had a strong connection with cooking. It didn’t take him long at all, having moved all over the United States as a kid, to adopt family meals as the centerpoints of his day. These were and still are the main times in which you can get together with the people you’re closest to and break bread, laugh and unwind. Over time, Josh L. began to see food as his true calling. After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, he worked as a chef at numerous established restaurants before his childhood friend Josh H. approached him about going into business for themselves.
“We’re about real food, and I mean 100% real,” Josh. L maintains. “That means smoothies made from nothing but pure fruit and true ingredients. No preservatives, nothing from a can. All our baked goods and soups are completely organic as well.”
Every smoothie is customizable, too. Say you’d like a peanut butter banana and strawberry banana mixed together. The soups are delectable, nutritious, and change a few times a week. The cookies, granola bars, and brownies are excellent as well, the raspberry chocolate muffin being an early favorite. The Joshes’s dreams don’t stop there, though. Salads will soon be introduced to the menu, and Josh L. will begin offering evening cooking classes. Future plans also call for a farm coop where community members can grow their own food, and from where Twisted Smoothie can harvest its locally-raised goodies.
“Giving back, that’s the reason we’re in this,” Josh H. notes. “I hated my old job because it sucked the life from me for profit. The rest of my life is about providing people with a space to come together, and if I can also do my part to encourage them to eat well without sacrificing flavor, then all the better!”
Twisted Smoothie Co. is nestled into a charming little nook in the community of Wheat Ridge, at the corner of 29th Avenue and Depew. Stop by sometime.
