New owners of Fourth Street Nutrition in downtown Davenport have spruced up the interior and the tasty menu of the place, and are marking their first month in business.

The nutrition shake shop at 207 W. 4th St. (to have a ribbon cutting with QC Empowerment Network Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 12:30 p.m.) has been taken over by two African-American couples. They are excited to show the Quad Cities what they’ve got shakin’ — including completely renovating the space, such as with strings of white twinkly lights, digital menu boards and a flowery, green-backed selfie wall.

They’re bringing a new spin on healthy liquid nourishment, with a wide variety of meal replacement shakes and mega energy tea bombs (costing about $8 each). The main owners are Jennifer Smith and Dionte McMath, with their supportive spouses.

Smith is a Rock Island native, and graduated in 2004 from Rocky, where she was on the basketball team. For the past nine years, she has owned Studio Luxe (a full-service beauty salon) at 1216 E. 37th St., Davenport.

“Working out and nutrition has always been a part of my life,” Jennifer said, noting her husband Zach is a U.S. veteran, graduated with honors with a bachelor’s in electrical engineering and now is a substation electrician for MidAmerican Energy Company.

They have three boys together, ages 16, 11 and 6.

“We opened this nutrition shake shop in hopes to be a thriving business so one day they can work there and eventually call it their own,” Jennifer said of their sons. “We want our boys to know anything is possible with hard work and discipline to know they can be college graduates, smart black businessmen, and successful business owners when they grow up by seeing their parents do the same.”

Craig and Dionte McMath are from the south side of Chicago, and moved to the Quad Cities in 2009 with then two young children, looking for new beginnings. They have been married for 13 years and have six children together — ages 6, 14, 12, 11 and twin four-year-old boys.

“We value our family and spending time with our children, who are very active in sports and other extracurricular activities,” Dionte said. “We started 4th Street Nutrition with our friends to help bring knowledge of nutrition to our community. By us being former athletes, we know how much your health and nutrition matters.”

“Fourth Street Nutrition specializes in meal replacement shakes and mega energy teas that taste just as good as they look,” she said. “With our partners, we have what it takes to make 4th Street Nutrition great.”

Juggling the work-life balance

Jennifer was a Fourth Street customer before (it had been there two years before they bought it) and the previous owner was a client at her salon. She has six employees there.

“It’s like the perfect business to get into,” she said. “I thought it wouldn’t be as hands-on as my salon, but it is. It’s a lot. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it by myself.”

Dionte has been business partners at Studio Luxe, operating a beauty supply store on the lower level for the past year and a half. They don’t know how they manage to juggle it all, with the new business.

Jennifer usually comes into the shake shop first thing in the morning after she drops her kids at school, and Dionte comes in mid-day. The hours are 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays and 8 to 2 Saturdays. Fourth Street also has two other employees.

They expanded Studio Luxe (which opens at 10:30 a.m.) at the same location three years ago, nearly tripling in size. Services include tiny tattoos, eyebrows, microblading, microshading, lash extensions, nails, hair styling, and dreadlocks.

Many flavors of shakes and teas

Fourth Street Nutrition opened Jan. 1, and the menu includes 38 varieties of meal replacement shakes (such as butter pecan, cake batter, cinnamon roll, peanut butter latte, and several fruit shakes like strawberry banana and banana cream pie).

The new owners added a lot of flavors for the teas and shakes, by searching what similar shops offer in bigger cities, Jennifer said.

“That’s what we wanted to bring to the Quad Cities, something different,” she said. “You see this stuff online but you never have it here. There are different nutrition shops in the Quad Cities, but none of them has the menu that we do.”

Dionte said they started offering protein waffles. The gluten-free, dairy-free shakes take the place of a whole meal — with 210 calories, 17 carbs, 24 grams plant protein, and 21 vitamins, the menu says. “And they taste as good as they look,” Jennifer said.

The new year is a good time to open the healthy business, since some people have a resolution to lose weight. “They say summer bodies are made in the winter,” Jennifer said, noting they offer iced and hot teas, in many fruit flavors.

“A lot of people, their first goal is to get their appetite under control,” she said. “If you’re not going to the gym, you can start with a meal replacement shake. And even if you do work out, 9 times out of 10, you see people walking around with those big jugs, it’s protein, but it tastes nasty. Ours is good.”

The women said their husbands’ role is taking out the garbage, helping with most of the renovations, and keeping the place clean. Jennifer said her husband often works there on Saturdays.

Find out more about the business at the 4th Street Nutrition Facebook page HERE.