Undisputed Nutrition: Route 59 Ribbon Cutting

SHOREWOOD, IL — Joliet native Brandon Kelly has owned the Undisputed Strength Co. gym on Essington Road the past eight years. Now, he's branching out. On Thursday morning, about 50 people affiliated with the Shorewood Area Chamber of Commerce gathered for a ribbon-cutting to celebrate Kelly's latest business endeavor, Undisputed Nutrition Co.

Undisputed Nutrition, 960 Brook Forest Ave., opened in the busy Shorewood shopping center near the Mariano's grocery store. Undisputed Nutrition has a large craft coffee bar. Several shelves are stocked nutritional supplements. And there's plenty of clothing apparel.

Kelly is a down to earth and likable personality. He grew up in Joliet's Cathedral Area. He went to Joliet West High School and played sports. He graduated from Eastern Illinois University. After college, he returned to his roots, Joliet, to open his gym.

Now, he's becoming acclimated to running a second business, one with a large coffee bar.

This isn't Starbucks coffee, and it won't be confused with McDonald's coffee, either.

"There's no creamers and no sugars," Kelly told Patch's Editor on Thursday afternoon.

So what made Kelly decide to sink a lot of money into opening a craft coffee bar?

"I love coffee; there's nutrients from coffee beans," he said.

"It's about the nutritional value. When you're drinking a traditional coffee, you're storing in all the fats, but when you drink ours, you burn fats rather than store fats," he said.

Several of his coffees are more expensive than some of the blends you'd find at a Starbucks, but that's because "we have really good brands of supplements," he said.

A 12-ounce coffee is $5. A 16 ounce-coffee is $6.50.

"It's good for your skin, wrinkles and your hair follicles," Kelly said of the nutritional value of his coffee products.

Kelly also wants to make one thing clear: you don't have to be a member of his gym - or any gym for that matter - to enjoy the craft coffee beverages at Undisputed Nutrition.

"It could be a misconception that you have to be a part of a gym, but you don't. It's just part of healthy living," he said.

Looking down the road, Kelly said he wants to expand Undisputed Nutrition into several more communities.

"This is a scaleable business, and I want to do this in other towns throughout the Chicago area," he told Patch.

Kelly raves about two of his coffee products. One's a hot beverage, the Collagen -CBD.

His other coffee that's been an early hit with customers is called the Nitro Cold Brew. "It's definitely a fan favorite," he said.

Undisputed Nutrition is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

There's plenty of places to buy a cup of coffee along the Shorewood, Joliet and Plainfield Route 59 corridor, but craft coffee is unique.

"We're in a niche of our own," Kelly remarked. "I'm very humbled by the amount of attention. We've had a lot of support from the community."

To learn more, visit the website for the new Undisputed Nutrition Co. in Shorewood.