CALEXICO – Tropicana Fruit & Juice Bar is bringing the sweet and cool foods of Los Angeles to the Imperial Valley with their healthier and fresh smoothie and juice options for Calexico.
Tropicana opened its doors in June 2020, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, and found success with a community that had not had fresh options.
A burst of green and yellow walls decorated with fruit greets customers who walk into Tropicana, located at 114 W. Birch St. Against another wall a menu with a plethora of foods, drinks, and snacks awaits and ranges from smoothies, juices, tortas, raspados, to paletas.
Mother-daughter duo Anabel and Bridgette Lappmann are the only ones who are behind the counter, serving drinks and food that comes from the streets of L.A. and Mexico.
Anabel Lappmann owned a similar business in Los Angeles for 12 years before deciding to move back to Calexico to be with her family. Though her business did well in L.A., the move was an opportunity to open a unique business in her hometown and bring a healthier food option to the community.
“I saw there was nowhere that sold jugos or fresas con crema,” Anabel said. “We brought different things that no one had here and we want to continue this and grow little by little.”
The juice bar has about 39 different drinks available, and even more that the Lippmanns will mix up for anyone who asks. Bridgette Lappmann said more often than not people will come in and ask for their own combinations rather than one that is on the menu. She and her mother have even given suggestions for drinks that people are eager to try.
Their signature dish is the bionico, a fruit dish with crema sometimes called a Mexican fruit salad, and the fresas con crema, or strawberries with cream. The bionico is something that Anabel brought to Calexico from L.A. using her mother’s homemade cream recipe and has grown in popularity at Tropicana.
Both her and Bridgett were surprised that there was not anything similar in the Valley. Bridgette even recalled how she once wanted a fresas con crema and thought she had found a place in Calexico that served it, but was a bit disappointed when it was not the treat she was expecting.
“I thought, oh, they have strawberries and cream! But when I got it, it was just ice cream,” said Bridgette.
Bridgette said that what has made the juice bar a success with the customers is the options they are open to trying. She said she and her mother work to accommodate and offer people what they are in the mood for. Sometimes they have what they want, other times they don’t, but the people do keep coming back for more.
They are actually planning to expand their menu with more food due to the success of their Mexican hotdogs that they have sold in the evenings, and bring even more L.A. street food like quesadillas, tacos dorados, even posole.
They have even been able to get help from the owner of the original La Michoacana paleteria in L.A., Rogelio Fernandez, and is only person they will get their ice cream and paletas from. Bridgette said there is a possibly of adding the name to their storefront.
“I’m happy to bring something to Calexico,” said Anabel, “I’m so proud that there are people that like everything and everyone has been happy.”
With the success of their business, Bridgette said they have been working to help the people of Calexico, giving back to the community. They have done giveaways at the juice bar including back to school events and food drives for the unhoused in Calexico and Mexicali. Bridgette added that Calexico Needs Change has been considering moving the community fridge to the juice bar.
Despite their two years of success, Tropicana has fallen on hard times due to the construction right on their doorstep. Just like other businesses in the area, the Highway 98 expansion project and abrupt dropping of the project by Spectrum Construction has left them struggling to get costumers in the door.
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Though they have reached out to the city of Calexico for help, Bridgette says there has not been much response in the way of help coming in. They have been stuck in a sort of limbo, unsure if they will even make it to the next month. At the moment the business is making it, but Anabel admits she does not know how much longer they will be able to keep their doors open.
They have even had break-ins, the latest being over Memorial Day weekend that saw one of the front windows get broken.
There has been some good news though. Tropicana has been expanding into catering for events, bringing their hot dogs and other foods to people outside of their usual space at the juice bar. They have even been able to start a partnership with the Xtreme Fun Center in El Centro, where they go to the center weekly to sell their hot dogs and allows customers from Tropicana to come and enjoy the Center.
Anabel says they are looking into possibly expanding into a second store in El Centro in the future and even expanding the menu with more food options. They are also thinking about operating as a food truck if Tropicana does close its doors.
Luckily, loyal customers have been coming more and more to the support Tropicana, bringing others in and giving the juice bar a chance to stay open. Some customers have been suggesting the Lippmans should move their business to El Centro, but Anabel does not feel she could leave Calexico.
She feels there is too much they can still do and who else would make the jugos?
“People see that we are two women, so they want to help,” said Bridgett, “They say they admire us, because we are mother and daughter working together and they want to support us.”
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