GULF SHORES — Surfside Nutrition has recently opened in Gulf Shores, providing nutritious drinks for people heading down for a day on the beach.

Located at 1404 W. 1st St., the business is owned by Brianna Blake and her fiancé, Cole Smith, who live in Elberta and have been together for five years. The couple attended Foley High School and the University of South Alabama together.

Blake was working at Canal Nutrition in Orange Beach during the summer of 2025, and it was there where Blake said the owner encouraged her to open her own nutrition shop, resulting in the opening of Surfside Nutrition, having opened for business on Sept. 12.

Blake said what makes their drinks stand out from a traditional energy drink is that Surfside Nutrition makes their drinks from natural herbal teas and concentrates.

"The caffeine is a much cleaner feeling," Blake said. "When you're drinking it, you don't get that crash that a lot of people get from your generic energy drink brands."

Blake said their most popular drink so far has been their loaded teas, featuring 200 milligrams of caffeine that can be customized with many different flavors such as piña colada, pineapple, strawberry, watermelon and blue raspberry.

Along with the loaded teas, they also serve customizable protein shakes made with soy protein, starting at 200 calories and 24 grams of protein, available in several flavors such as cinnamon roll, cookie dough, king cake and brownie batter.

They also serve "specialty" and "beauty" drinks featuring collagen, which provides support for hair, skin and nails, both of which are also caffeinated. The specialty drinks come with both collagen and protein while the beauty drinks are mixed with just collagen. If you don't want the caffeine, you can also replace the caffeine in any of their beauty or specialty drinks into hydration drinks, replacing the caffeine with electrolytes.

They also have a selection of healthy snacks, which include collagen shots, protein balls made with honey, peanut butter and oats, and protein grapes, which are grasp rolled in their specialty beverage mix.

"We're just super excited to get involved and supply these kinds of drinks to people who are heading down to the beach," Blake said. "It's a good way to keep them energized while being in the sun all day long and keep them hydrated as well with our electrolyte options. We're super excited to be here and we can't wait to see where this journey leads us."

Surfside Nutrition is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 pm. and on weekends from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.