Catherine Cuello-Fuente, CEO + Founder

Starting Up

GreenHopping is a technology and health start-up founded in New York City in 2013. 

GreenHopping is an app and e-commerce platform aimed at inspiring healthy food choices by connecting you to the nearest options near you while at home, on-the-go, or at work, for delivery or pick-up. The company operates in 11 US cities. It facilitates access to healthy plant-based eateries by placing all vegan, raw, gluten-free and vegetarian restaurants, as well as green juice bars, cold-pressed juice bars, green smoothie bars and health food stores that offer these beverages on an electronic map for consumers to locate via a GPS mobile application or the Internet. 

We focus on showcasing exclusively the natural, organic, healthy, and farm-fresh-to-table style restaurants in each city. At present, we assist consumers in finding healthy juice bars and restaurants, but our goal is to facilitate the sale of these goods to customers. By encouraging customers to buy green foods (with a heavy focus on green juices and smoothies) we also encourage a transition into a healthy lifestyle, potentially mitigating the risks related to obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. 

Our motto

#HAPPYHOPPING is a health revolution!

Verb: The act of "hopping" from green bar to green bar; in reference to the popular term 'bar-hopping.'

Be mindful of everything you do.

 

word around town

"Whether you need to recharge after spinning or want to meet your daily vegetable intake, Green Hopping has you covered!" - InStyle

“Meet the Yelp - soon to be Seamless - of health-conscious foodies” - Style Bistro

“One of the 5 best new healthy food apps out there” - Vogue

“Obsessed With Juice? You’re Gonna Love the GreenHopping App” - Self

"Who doesn't want to be connected to all the healthiest eateries while they are on-the-go?" - Guest of a Guest

 

Alfred & Catherine at TechWeek 2014

Alfred & Catherine at TechWeek 2014


the Beginning

On June 15 2012, GreenHopping's CEO, Catherine Cuello-Fuente, suffered a health scare at the age of 23, after being misdiagnosed and over-treated in emergency surgery. She opted out of undergoing “preventive chemotherapy” (out of pure intuition, support, and good research — kudos to Kris Carr) and changed her life and diet from the inside out. She asked herself how a body with no evident sign of malignancy, in its early twenties, and on its way to becoming healthier, could undergo a severe and invasive treatment that had more negative long-term side effects than positive ones? And so began her life changing journey, surprisingly, with a positive outlook. 

"I now know, that it is not our experience that makes our lives, it is what we do with the experiences. I packed my bags, moved to Miami to fulfill my dreams of working on the press team for a presidential campaign (Barack Obama 2012), went raw, started juicing overnight,  had breakfast every morning in an outdoor jacuzzi, got sunshine and fresh air daily, had no emails to answer, met the love of my life, and subsequently, started to feel whole again. I moved to a place where time did not matter, in an environment that celebrated my wellbeing, and where I was not obligated to do mundane responsibilities that left me feeling empty. I gave myself the opportunity to live slower and with more intention. This, in turn, shifted my perspective, and perspective is, really, all that matters."

Catherine changed her lifestyle and eating habits to reboot her immune system - going raw vegan, and a hard core green juicer, literally overnight on July 18, 2012.

She made a living out of her life threatening experience and made it her life purpose to help others do the same. The lack of information and access to green foods is what pushed her to pursue entrepreneurship and fill a void in the market. She have never looked back. 

Catherine met her lifetime partner at President Obama's office in Little Havana, Miami on August 18, 2012 while on her healing journey. She learned how to live a more grounded, natural, organic, sugar-free, and plant-based lifestyle because of her health scare. Her scare gave her a second chance at living and becoming less one dimensional. It's also proof that everything happens for a reason -- the chronological order in which these events happened cannot just be coincidental! 

In 2013, Catherine's soul mate and GreenHopping co-founder, Alfred Fuente, moved back to New York City for work, and realized a mobile app would help Catherine in locating safe places she could eat via an app. The mobile app concept is constantly changing and expanding as they discover new and better ways of living.

Alfred Fuente + Catherine Cuello-Fuente

Alfred Fuente + Catherine Cuello-Fuente

WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP TO

Seen in VOGUE / InStyle /  Harper's Bazaar / Fitness Magazine / SELF Magazine / People en Español /  CBS Live From The Couch / FOX News Health / FOX News / AlleyWatch /  Well+Good / The Village Voice / Refinery 29 / Racked / The Daily Meal / Bustle / Heritage Radio / Style Bistro / El Pais / People en Español / Metro / Conscious Magazine / REAL Radio / Wall St. Insanity / NBC / Yahoo / Cosmopolitan Magazine Print August 2015 / SELF Magazine September 2015.

Catherine was named as one of the 28 NYC FoodTech Entrepreneurs You Must Know.

GreenHopping was selected by TechWeek 2014 as a Launch Competitor.

GreenHopping was selected by SXSW 2015 for the Startup Village Spotlight.

GreenHopping was a semi-finalist in the NYU New Venture 200K Accelerator Program.