Khalil Rafati in Budapest – One Story of a Change

Thirteen years ago, Khalil Rafati was homeless, addicted to heroin and living in Los Angeles’ notorious Skid Row. He was emaciated, covered in ulcers, and 106 pounds.

Today he’s a millionaire

Rafati is the owner of SunLife Organics, a juice bar chain that has spread from its birthplace in sunny Malibu to six different locations in Los Angeles.

By 2003 Rafati had served a stint in Los Angeles County Jail and reached ‘the bottom of all bottoms’, he said. ‘There was no more digging left to do, all of my shovels were broken,’ he said. ‘I was done.’ Rafati became dedicated to his health and sobriety, but the real moment his life changed was when a friend introduced him to ‘juicing and superfoods’. ‘The results were remarkable and instantaneous,’ he told Sober Recovery.

Rafati began making his own juices for patients and staff at the Riviera Recovery Center, a sober living house he opened in Malibu in 2007. It was there he created a smoothie he dubbed the Wolverine, a date and banana concoction that would eventually become Sun Life’s signature drink. ‘It was meant to rejuvenate and strengthen the patients,’ he told the Times. ‘And give them some much-needed strength. ‘Lethargy in sobriety is pretty brutal, especially if you’re coming off a long run with hard-core drugs.’ But it wasn’t just the patients at Riviera that loved Rafati’s smoothies. News of his incredible juices started spreading through Malibu.

‘So many outsiders came to Riviera Recovery just to enjoy one of my smoothies,’ he said. ‘It even became a bit embarrassing since many of these people were not part of the Riviera Recovery program.’ But when it came to the patients, Rafati was witnessing firsthand just how much his creations were helping their health. It was then, Rafati said, that he knew he had to open SunLife Organics. And he did, with the help of $50,000 he had saved away in gold coins in addition to financial support from a professional gambler. Rafati’s mission for his first store was simple. He wanted to ‘love, heal and inspire’. Those three words are now written in jackets and shirts Rafati sells through the SunLife Organics brand, as well as 32 kinds of juices, protein shakes, and smoothies, plus acai bowls, coffee, sundaes and frozen yogurt.