Shalie Lipp’s legacy lives on in growing business

By Robert Williams

Editor

Frazee native Jen Bucholz is opening The Healthy Hornet on West Main Avenue this week, her third nutrition shake store in the area.

Bucholz, a 1991 graduate of Frazee-Vergas High School, also owns HOL Nutrition in Perham and SiSu Nutrition in New York Mills. The Perham store opened in 2017 and SiSu is in its third year of operation.

“I just got contacted about possibly taking over the lease and I was…why not?” Bucholz said. “My plate’s already full; let’s just add to it.”

Of her two businesses, the Mills shop is still getting its hold and growing steadily, while Perham is “crazy busy.” The former shop in Frazee, The Hive Nutrition, run by Brandi Latham, had a frequent and consistent customer base prior to being sold.

“I was thinking I was going to jump over to Frazee, maybe take it a little easy, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case,” Bucholz said.

The Hive had some consistency issues in recent months that led to the change in ownership. Part of what drives the success for Bucholz is consistency.

“I’m consistent; we don’t close; if we say we’re open, we’re open and we just stick to it,” she said. “You have to be there.”

HOL Nutrition was also a business that found its way through the pandemic.

“Our absolute best year was the COVID year,” Bucholz said. “We were slammed and it was because people knew they needed to be healthy.”

The Healthy Hornet will operate around a base menu that has been successful at both of the other locations, and in time, Bucholz knows that a familiarity comes quickly with customers.

“I’m going to throw out some of our most popular ones here to start and if people know we have it, we’ll make it,” Bucholz said. “Most of the stuff is a secret menu and we’ll make it for ya.”

An initial feeling that the Frazee store would be somewhat slower than either of the other locations was quickly negated by feedback Bucholz has already received from the community.

Bucholz has a lot on her plate as she is in the process of creating a non-profit, along with her son Steven Lipp, in memory of her deceased daughter Shalie Lipp.

Shalie was a standout pole vaulter and amateur Mixed Martial Arts fighter who died in a high-profile automobile accident on Interstate 94 in Minnesota May of 2023 at the age of 21.

Shalie was the progenitor of getting her mom into the business bringing home shakes and teas while Shalie was training.

“It was when things were just starting with the nutrition clubs and I thought this was kind of cool,” Bucholz said.

Shalie was pole vaulting in Breckenridge, where the family lived at the time, and upon her coach quitting she sought out the best available high school pole vault coach in the area and that led the family to Perham.

The family moved into Jen’s grandmother’s home on a farm outside of Perham that was sitting empty and Jen was on the lookout for a job. She had been working in accounting, but was not finding what she desired in the Perham area, which led to the idea of opening up HOL Nutrition.

“What the heck, let’s make one of these shake shops,” said Bucholz. “All the athletes in Perham were asking for it. Let’s go for it. Basically, I opened up the store for her.”

HOL Nutrition is decorated in memory of Shalie with fight posters and other photos and memorabilia. 

While the HOL is a well-known acronym in Perham, it has a secondary meaning for Jen as the “House of Lipp.”

Bucholz was a standout athlete herself as a three-time Minnesota track and field state high school champion, a two-time NJCAA outdoor national high jump champion at North Dakota State College of Science and a member of the NDSCS Hall of Fame.

Jen’s daughter Sidney is a record holder in volleyball at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and area sports fans are well-aware of how great an athlete Steven Lipp was at Breckenridge.

The move to Perham helped Shalie in getting out of the shadow of her brother and making a name for herself in pole vault and MMA fighting.

“Everyone knew Steven,” said Bucholz. “When we moved to Perham people didn’t realize that was her brother. So, it was kind of nice for her to have people not expect so much of her, but she was a really good athlete.”

Jen put Steven in charge of the non-profit organization.

“It’s going to be huge; we’re doing some major things.”

Both Steven and Jen recently returned from Las Vegas where they met with Dana White, CEO and president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. 

After Shalie’s passing, White was involved in multiple tributes to the up-and-coming MMA fighter and is involved with Steven and Jen in bringing an all-female UFC championship to Fargo in 2024.

“Every year, we’re going to do a Shalie Lipp fight and it’s going to be the premier fight of all women,” said Bucholz. “We’re shooting for 2024.”

The details and preparation are still in the works. One potential site is the NDSU “SHAC” – Sanford Health Athletic Complex. At first, the fights were going to be run under Invicta Fighting Championships, all-pro women’s MMA, but White took a personal interest in both Shalie and the Fargo fights.

“He just lights up the room when he walks in and he’s so nice,” said Bucholz. “You don’t see that side of him on social media. He’s the most down-to-earth and you don’t feel uncomfortable with him. I could just see his wheels turning and we’re going to do something amazing.”

The non-profit will be named some variety of the Shalie Lipp Foundation. Steven is finalizing the bylaws and will file once White decides how active he wants to be on the board.

Jen and White have Shalie in common, something the UFC CEO has shared with Bucholz.

“He goes, ‘She’s like ripping me apart. She’s constantly in my face and in my mind,’ and I was like, ‘That’s Shalie,’” Bucholz said. “That’s the person she was. Even after death, she is getting what she wants somehow. Even me, I get a lot of signs from her and so does her dad.”

Shalie’s legacy is living on in multiple arenas, which includes The Healthy Hornet.

Opening day of The Healthy Hornet is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 8, 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday with potential weekend hours to be determined.