From sea moss to seeded fruits, he sells it all outside on Philly’s busy Cobbs Creek Parkway
His produce vehicles have been hit eight times in three years, but Abdul Jabar has no plans to move.
Meet Abdul Jabar, owner of Soul Glo Healthy Lifestyle, a fresh produce business run out of a food truck and van on Cobbs Creek Parkway.
• Business motto: “If you short a couple of dollars or you’ve never tasted a fruit I have before, then you’re going to get a sample, free of charge.”
• Monday motivation: “The benefit is the smiles when people see me, the kids who are eating watermelons, and the senior citizen who tells me my okra and collard greens remind her of when she was a child down South.”
Two types of people visit Abdul Jabar’s produce business on the side of Cobbs Creek Parkway — the faithful regulars who swear by his seeded fruits and those who’ve driven by him a hundred times and finally decided to stop.
Karen Williams of West Philly fell in the latter category when she finally decided to pull over last week. She heard Jabar had black-seeded watermelons, which she can’t find in the grocery store. Jabar cut her a slice to sample, then cut himself a slice, too, and the two shared in the sweetness together under a warm September sun.
“These are the original watermelons and they’re delicious, that’s why I’m buying a whole one,” Williams said. “I’m so glad I pulled over.”
Jabar’s van and food truck, which he often plasters with homemade neon-colored signs advertising everything from sea moss to sugar cane, have been a staple on Cobbs Creek Parkway near 63rd Street in West Philly for three years.
The vehicles are such a fixture at the busy intersection that both have been mercilessly battered by hit-and-run drivers. The food truck, which Jabar had to retire and will soon replace, has been hit three times; his van, five.
“Through the course of three years, my trucks have taken a beating,” he said.
Jabar has witnessed his share of chaos at the intersection, too. He once saw three accidents in a four-hour period and helped pull an elderly woman from her crushed car.
Yet Jabar, 39, remains undeterred (and well-insured).
“For me, it’s all about feeding the community,” he said. “It feels so empowering to be able to help my community and give them fresh food alternatives.”
Jabar, a native of the Bronx, grew up in a family that sold watermelons on roadsides across New York City. Those watermelons (like much of Jabar’s produce today) were sourced from relatives who have farms down South.
But Jabar didn’t always plan to go in to the family business. He worked as a sous chef in New York City to put himself through school and become a technical engineer. He wanted to fix trains and moved to Philly seven years ago, with the hope of working for Amtrak or SEPTA. But life took Jabar on a different track.
While applying for railway work, he held other jobs and drove Uber to supplement his income. As a proponent of herbal remedies, Jabar talked with his passengers about the benefits of products like black seed oil (used for everything from acne to asthma) and sea moss (an algae touted to help with weight loss, heart health, and more).
These discussions happened so frequently Jabar began stockpiling the products in his car.
“I would get in conversations with my riders and I’d sell it to them out of the glove box,” he said.
Jabar’s success inspired him to create his own line of sea moss juices, which he named after his 13-year-old daughter, Ayaana, and to expand his offerings to include produce and other all-natural goods.
After getting the proper licenses, Jabar permanently set up his business, Soul Glo Healthy Lifestyle, on the side of Cobbs Creek Parkway in September 2019.
He chose the site because of the traffic flow and greenery, but also because he felt called to serve the West Philly community after he learned about the 1985 MOVE bombing on nearby Osage Avenue.
“I felt sad about the actions that took place there,” Jabar said. “When I found out the history of that location and that area, that was it for me.”
Today, Jabar prides himself on selling “A-grade produce at C-grade prices,” on providing farm-fresh products to senior citizens on fixed incomes, and on handing out watermelon slices to kids at the Cobbs Creek Recreation Center nearby.
In a two-hour span last week, as Jabar pumped Pandora’s Rick James station through a speaker and set up his produce on a sidewalk table, about a dozen customers, mostly regulars, stopped by. One tow truck driver didn’t even get out of his vehicle, he just held two fingers out of the window and Jabar ran two watermelons to him.
Nearly every customer said it was Jabar’s seeded fruits that keep them coming back.
“He has the best fruit in the city,” said Anthony Coprich, 55, of West Philly. “I like the fact that he has fruit that has actual seeds, which means it’s all-natural.”
Though he sources some items locally, Jabar gets his hard-to-find products — like yellow and orange watermelons and sugar cane stalks — through relatives and acquaintances with connections to farms down South. Sometimes, he travels to farms himself and details his journey through photographs on his Instagram page.
As fall approaches, Jabar will shift his offerings to include more veggies, like collard greens, sweet potatoes, and okra. And in the winter, he’ll sell rock salt and shovels alongside whatever produce is available to supplement his income.
“Even when it changes from summer to fall and the food changes, he’s always out here and it’s always good,” said customer Micah Thorington, 50, of West Philly.
Outside of work, Jabar enjoys spending time with his daughter, cycling, and being an active member of his mosque, Masjid Al-Wasatiyah Wal-Itidaal, in West Philly.
Three years after starting his own business, Jabar is grateful for the decision he made.
“I feel excited and stronger because I believed in myself and bet on myself, and it turned out good,” he said. “Even with all the car crashes, all the losses, the people who curse me out because my truck is on the side of the road, it feels really good to bet on yourself, to take that risk and roll the dice.”
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