Linda Ronk’s Revived offers ‘a healthy alternative’
Don Harrold
News Editor
“Revived,” which sells teas and protein shakes made with Herbalife products, marked one year in business on the Fourth of July, owner Linda Ronk said.
Ronk said the shop offers customers a different option than commercial energy drinks. “So basically, it’s just giving a healthy alternative to, you know, your Red Bulls, your Monsters, things like that, by using natural products,” she said. “And we use Herbalife products.”
Ronk said the shop draws in a number of young people.
“I think it’s more they want something that tastes great, gives them energy, but isn’t loaded with the sugar and the calories and things like that,” she said. “So with our products, you know, you’re not gonna get a spike and a crash.”
She said customers are paying closer attention to what they consume. “I think nowadays people ... they’re more aware of what they’re putting into their bodies just because, well, health care is expensive, medicine’s expensive, so now we’re becoming more aware of what we’re actually consuming,” Ronk said.
Ronk said she drinks the products daily. She recommends the protein shakes to customers looking to cut calories.
“[They’re] a great alternative, great option for somebody who’s looking for a nice low in calorie, low in sugar meal replacement,” she said. “Because our protein shakes, not only do they have protein in there, but we also use what they call healthy meals, so it’s got your additional vitamins and minerals that you need in, like, a full meal.”
Ronk said her product was better than lower-cost retail brands. Herbalife is, as she said, “top of the line line.”
She said she operates the store independently.
“But, like, this is my store, so I could do whatever I want,” she said. “Essentially, I can make my own drinks.”
Ronk said she was born and raised in Buffalo, N.Y., and served in the Army, where she met her husband, who is from Council Bluffs, Iowa. The couple moved to Iowa in 2005 and to Missouri Valley in 2015. She has three daughters — one born in Texas while she was stationed at Fort Hood, one born in New York, and one in Iowa.
“So I kinda have one from everywhere,” she said. “I like to say I have souvenirs.”
Ronk said she considers herself a Midwesterner.
“I love it here. I’ve been here, like I said, since 2005. And this is actually the one place I actually felt like I fit in. Just my mindset, my personality,” she said.
Ronk said the community was “very welcoming,” but it took time.
“I would say it probably took them a good solid six months to kinda come in and see what we’re about.”
Ronk said residency comes up often. “I am Missouri Valley, yeah. My kids all were raised in their school system,” she said. “And that was the one question that almost everybody asked me walking in the door for the first time, ‘Are you from here?’ It’s a big deal in small towns.”
She runs the store with two of her daughters.
“I think a lot of people just like to come here, chitchat with us,” she said. “For me, I run it with my two daughters, so for us it’s very personable.”
Her husband handles maintenance and promotion, she said.
“He’s very supportive. Finds ways for us to kind of do other things, expand, get out there. We do, like, community events,” she said. “Like, there was a hair scramble in Logan, Iowa. We went out and made teas out there, out in the dirt and all that good stuff, you know? So I think just, you just gotta keep finding ways to be part of the community.”
Asked what she most wanted people to know, Ronk said, “I think the reason why my business is being so successful is the fact that I build relationships with my customers.”
As she spoke, a customer, Aileen, entered the store. Ronk said, “She comes all the way in from Dunlap.”
Aileen describes why she drives such a distance to Revived.
“The service is great. She’s amazing. And her teas are even better yet.”
Aileen said she has also tried other products.
“Yeah, I’ve done the protein shakes. They’re good too,” she said. Ronk identified her regular order as a Chunky Monkey without chocolate chips.
“Yep. You do know me,” Aileen said.
Aileen knows what she would tell people in Dunlap, Harrison County or Missouri Valley about the shop.
Aileen said, “Just the atmosphere is awesome. She’s great. You know, like that, she knows me now, you know? She knows every one of my drinks that I get.”
Aileen added that area towns back one another.
“And I think these smaller towns, they all support each other too,” she said.
Ronk said the business would have been worth opening even if it had failed.
“I have people that were pop drinkers that no longer even want pop. I’ve given people alternatives ... with our protein shakes, something healthy that they can have on the run,” she said. “Like, I think we’ve just made a huge difference. The friends that I’ve made through having this business, it’s all been worth it.”
Revived is at 423 E. Erie St., Missouri Valley. Call the shop at 712-310-0305 or e-mail revived.movalley@gmail.com.
