Scott Milligan has been helping to better his community one juice at a time. A Northwest Indiana native, Milligan is the owner of the smoothie and juice bar Island Nutrition in Valparaiso.
Milligan, who went to Portage High School, loves the Region; so much so, he established his business here.
“I love the people, the beaches, and of course, family; family is very important to me,” Milligan said. “It's a great community. Valpo has a great feel for their health. It’s just a lot of great things going on in this community, and that’s why I chose Valpo.”
Prior to opening Island Nutrition in 2019, Milligan worked at Indiana Beverage for 17 years.
“I learned a lot from the Leetz family about sales and marketing and received a lot of training from them too. It’s a great company,” Milligan said.
Milligan decided to open Island Nutrition after realizing the lack of choices in the area for healthier shakes, smoothies, drinks, and more.
“Around the house, we would experiment with smoothies and juices. Looking around the Region, there’s not too many choices for non-GMO, clean nutritional shakes and smoothies, so that was what brought me to open this shop – to give a better alternative to the consumers,” Milligan said.
Milligan’s store helps him to more personally connect and interact with his community by building relationships with the customers who choose his business. He also builds relationships with other small business owners in the area.
“The best part is the customers. The customer relationship, just seeing how they accept me and my store, and the vibes we get from each other is awesome,” Milligan said.
Milligan’s relationships with local business owners strengthened during the COVID-19 pandemic as well.
“When the pandemic started out, that's actually when I started growing ties with some of these small businesses and local products and started bringing them into the store. That's when I really started embracing these relationships,” Milligan said.
Milligan also strives to give back to his community through providing a healthy alternative and working with local nonprofits and organizations, such as The Caring Place.
“I look at the kids and the youth programs and we really embraced trying to help out as much as possible,” Milligan said.
Within the products themselves, Milligan feels that he is able to enhance the well-being of the community by providing an option for consumers that has no added sugar and no artificial flavors.
As Island Nutrition continues to grow, Milligan hopes to open a second location on the north side of Valparaiso. He also hopes to continue to bring a positive impact to his community.
“We want to help the community to grow in the right directions and to help them make the right choices for their health,” Milligan said.
Milligan is continuing to make a difference this year as he is teaming up with his local fire department to honor those who lost their lives on 9/11. As the Popcorn Fest falls on September 11, Milligan is sponsoring local firefighters as they run the Popcorn Panic 5K. He is also holding a fundraiser at his store on August 28 to raise funds for Tunnels to Towers Foundation.
In his free time, Milligan loves spending time with family, working out, heading to the beach, and supporting his community in any way that he can.
“I love attending local programs and embracing the community as much as I can. Getting out there with an outreach and helping out the community is what I enjoy most,” Milligan said.