O’Toole brings a little Nutrition back to his Hometown
The day Cam O’Toole and Shelby Turpin opened Hometown Nutrition in September was full of surprises.
Customers raved about the teas, shakes, smoothies, and post-workout drinks. Their little store at 198 Worcester Street saw steady — and appropriately socially distanced — traffic.
And the best news of all: they found out they will be parents in the spring.
“I’m having the best time of my life,” said O’Toole, a 2017 Grafton High School graduate who is now studying criminal justice remotely at Southern New Hampshire University after spending several years at Southern Connecticut State University. “I have friends who grumble about going to work, but I come in and see all the people I know, put smiles on their faces, and the 10 hours just fly by.”
Back when O’Toole was in Connecticut, a similar store opened near the college and he ended up dropping by daily before baseball practice. He got to know the owner, as well as other people running stores in her line, and thought Grafton might be the perfect site for a new venture.
The business, he notes, is based on Herbalife products, and the jars of powders are openly displayed behind the counter. The recipes for the various drinks come from his Connecticut-based team, although he’s localized a few of the names (The “Grafton Pride”extreme tea is, naturally, Grafton Green).
“I definitely have heard the negativity,” he said “I’m not trying to push the multi-level marketing on anyone. I’m trying to create a healthy little option for our town. I mean, Herbalife’s been in business for 40 years — they must be doing something right.”
And on social media, it looks like Hometown Nutrition is doing pretty good themselves. Customers regularly post beauty shots of their rainbow-colored drinks on Facebook and Instagram, name-checking the store and listing off their favorite drinks.
Above a window in Hometown Nutrition are black and white photos of Grafton athletes, several including members of O’Toole’s own family. Family ties, of course, are among the reasons why O’Toole was confident in starting a business at such a young age. His parents, Michelle and Ed O’Toole, own Anytime Fitness — a perfect tie-in for a place specializing in drinks that are high-energy, sugar-free, and protein-based.
With that in mind, there’s a special section on the menu for athletes, whether they are prepping or recovering from a workout or need a little something before practice. The store’s hours are tailored for the before and after school crowd, and teachers receive a discount.
He and his father renovated the Hometown Nutrition space themselves. It has a tiny area for sit-down customers — something that hasn’t happened, of course, due to COVID-19 —and plenty of room behind the handcrafted bar for the drink makers’ workspace and materials. There are containers of the Herbalife powders which, mixed in a specific order, produce layered and colorful drinks made for an Instagram post. There are jars of sugar-free add-ins for specialty drinks — Fruity Pebbles, animal crackers, candies.
“It was a little unnerving to open a business during Covid,” O’Toole said. “But my friends down in Connecticut were doing well with their shops. We already take phone orders, so we can make it so pick-up is outside.”
There’s a similar shop in South Grafton, Crossroads Nutrition, which opened prior to Hometown. Rather than see each other as competition, the stores’ owners are talking about collaborating on charitable activities.
“This is New England. We have a Dunkin’ Donuts on every corner,” he said with a laugh. “There’s plenty of business for everyone.”
