Ivan Diaz is the face behind Oasis in Lyric Market.
Image your self in school. Your days are in all probability full of finding out, courses, and let’s be trustworthy, partying. That’s what you’d anticipate from some other 19-year-old, however not Ivan Diaz. Because the proprietor of Oasis, an idea that gives acai bowls and smoothies in Lyric Market, he’s as an alternative selecting to concentrate on his entrepreneurial targets, all whereas attending his dream faculty, Rice College. He is aware of he’s younger, however he doesn’t need that to cease him from being profitable.
“I don’t assume age actually defines what you may and can’t do,” he says.
The meals business wasn’t one thing he’d at all times had his eye on. Diaz had a powerful work ethic instilled in him from a younger age: He grew up watching his dad take odd jobs right here and there, and sometimes, he’d assist out, too. At 16, Diaz formally joined his dad at PJS of Houston, a industrial janitorial firm, working near 80 hours per week.
He started working at an area smoothie store in South Houston in his junior yr of highschool. Due to his earlier work expertise, he was given a shift lead place and finally took over as space supervisor. He helped open a second retailer and was accountable for operating each.
He give up that job within the fall of 2024 when he began school. Balancing being on-site at smoothie outlets together with his courses and homework was an excessive amount of. And although he was salaried, as a first-generation school attendee, he knew finding out enterprise at Rice College was a greater stepping stone.
He says he was able to make his household proud, however he wasn’t so desperate to say goodbye to the smoothies and acai bowls he received used to.
“I like acai bowls, so I’ll eat them usually,” he says. “I’d purchase myself a bucket of acai and I’d at all times eat them. Individuals had been asking me what it was, after which I began promoting—I’d do it weekly.”
The college’s meals halls shut at a sure time, and after that, the one choices are junk meals. Diaz was in a position to present a more healthy choice, and to present college students extra accessibility his pop-ups would usually final till midnight, which helped him acquire recognition amongst his friends.
Issues actually started to ramp up when he did a pop-up in partnership with one other scholar, who was engaged on a Rice-based fundraiser affiliated with the nonprofit Banco de Alimentos de Bolivia, which raises cash to assist finish meals insecurity within the nation. Collectively, the 2 college students raised almost $1,000.
Diaz quickly started to see extra potential in himself and his enterprise. With the cash he had saved up from his earlier years of working, plus some assist from his mother, increasing past campus grew to become an actual risk for him. He additionally doesn’t have to fret about paying for varsity—his tuition is roofed due to the college’s monetary assist program, the Rice Funding.
Diaz began trying into potential brick-and-mortar areas, however realized that his younger age and self-employed standing made securing a lease tougher. He then narrowed his search to meals halls, which is how he discovered Lyric Market. It was good: There was a necessity for more healthy choices within the venue, and its location downtown meant he might entice a great crowd in through the day.
“I wished to offer a more healthy and cheaper choice for meals,” he says. “I really feel like a whole lot of wholesome meals choices—they’re dear.”
Oasis’s menu has acai bowls, parfaits, smoothies, and a matcha latte.
At Oasis, you received’t discover something on the menu for greater than $13.99. There’s a nod to Rice College with an acai bowl named after the residential school, Lovett. He says it’s his personal adaption on a traditional bowl you’d see at different smoothie spots: an acai base with granola, banana, blueberries, strawberries, honey, and chia seeds. For the gymnasium lovers, he’s included a macro bowl on the menu, utilizing acai, peanut butter, granola, blackberries, mango, raspberries, and hemp seeds. The Rio bowl, named after the Brazilian metropolis (and the 2011 movie), consists of acai, coconut condensed milk, pineapple, blueberries, strawberries, bee pollen, and coconut flakes. The menu additionally contains quite a lot of parfaits, smoothies, and a matcha latte.
Since Oasis has confirmed to be a hit, Diaz says he has excessive hopes of increasing to Rice College as greater than only a pop-up. He’s pushing to be included within the Moody Middle Complicated for Scholar Life, which broke floor this yr. The bidding course of hasn’t began but, however he’s hopeful he’ll have a strong reply inside the subsequent two years.
Diaz jokes that his story sounds contradictory—in any case, he give up his earlier job as a result of he was so busy, however he’s loving each second of being a enterprise proprietor. “I left the job for extra peace—however I wished to do my very own factor as a result of I can put my very own phrases on [it],” he says.
Even with Oasis underneath his belt, Diaz says he’s decided to complete faculty and doubtlessly pursue another ventures down the road. So, it’s doable that the Lyric Market idea received’t be the final we’ll see from this 19-year-old enterprise proprietor.
