Jamba Juice: New Menu Items, More Stores

by Jason Best, Posted Mar 14th 2011 @ 2:00PM

Photo: Richard B. Levine / Alamy

Jamba Juice announced its fourth quarter earnings last week, and in the process, executives crowed about the chain's plan to expand its menu further beyond its signature smoothies and predicted there will be 50 to 70 new franchises opening by the end of 2011.

If you're like us, your first question on hearing that is: How the heck did Jamba Juice survive the recession?

Don't get us wrong. We've been known to hanker after an original Mango-a-go-go every so often. But in an era of near-nationwide household belt-tightening, it seems most people would have decided to forego all those post-workout Acai Super-Antioxidant smoothies with a shot of wheatgrass (and forego the gym membership to boot).

Well, a lot of people did, apparently, but not enough for all those blenders to stop whirring entirely. According to Nation's Restaurant News, Jamba Juice reported a nearly $17 million loss for 2010, but that was better than the almost $24 million loss of the year before.

As perhaps befits executives of a chain whose trademark product names include such relentlessly upbeat sobriquets as "Thrivin'" (Mango) and (Strawberry) "Alive," they're not letting a couple years of multimillion-dollar losses get them down.

Jamba Juice is getting ready to take its eight-flavor line of frozen yogurt national after testing it last year in Northern California. Customers can top their "Whirl'ns" frozen-yogurt treats with fresh fruit and other toppings.

The chain also recently unveiled its one-cup "Ideal Meals," its sort of Johnny-come-lately take on the whole granola-yogurt-and-fruit cup trend. Add to that plans to introduce a pre-bottled line of energy drinks under the company's name, and it looks like Jamba may be thrivin' indeed.

Ever wondered how many calories are in a Jamba Juice Peanut Butter Moo'd smoothie? Find out at Thatsfit.com.

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

3-14-2011 @2:10PM cathy said... Makes sense to me. If you have lost money two years in a row-expand. Even as just a mere consumer I know they won't last. http://newsy1.wordpress.com

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3-14-2011 @5:30PM eilonwy said... Jamba survived the recession partly by switching its business model from company-owned stores to franchised stores, thus off-loading a lot of risk onto the franchisees. (Franchise stores existed before 2008 but the major growth engine had been company-owned stores.)

Jamba also vastly reduced growth for several years and relied on the sorts of bank loans that call for auditors to come breathe down one's neck every month. (One step up from the sorts of loans that call for Vinnie and Guido to break your legs if you don't keep up the payments.) The pre-recession management team is long gone (thrown out) and frankly, the current management is also very good at happy talk. Growth is possible, but this remains a high-risk business.
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3-15-2011 @6:21PM Jackson said... They stay in business since they try to appeal to the demographic that works for them. They don't waste money trying to be everything to everyone. Just attract the crowd that loves you anyway. There's still belt-tightening going on in this economy. Some of the easy ideas I found were from HTtP://bIT.Ly/smartersavings plus you can follow them on facebook.

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3-15-2011 @2:43PM P said... Their Biggest expansion was the acquisition of Zuka Juice based out of Utah. That is when they blew up with Corp stores, they slowly shut down some and sold some off to franchisee's. It just took time. As is often the case the LOWER quality store buys out the higher quality. The lower quality store has a higher profit margin, so a high liquidity. They can expand easier. When it comes to restaurants in general, contrary to what most people think High quality is not as important to the consumer as Location,Price,Convenience,Marketing and simplicity. Lets face it a TRUE Gourmet pizza or sub will never sell or expand as fast as a Cheap large Corp.
Even Most if not All of the large expanded sit down restaurants use about a 90% buy in factor over smaller biz. Buy in is pre made/cooked at a main hub, then frozen or chilled and shipped out to store to thaw and re cooked/reheat. VERY few consumers realize how much of their meals in a sit down restaurant come from a box or tray. Why do you think it tastes the same where ever you go. You are sitting in a delivery room, the REAL kitchen is in another state. There is a national chain the brag's on the radio that they make their dough fresh every day, okay, technically THEY do, just not at the store where it is cooked. They make dough, throw it in a Big chiller truck with the temp just above freezing and ship across the country. Fast,cheap and the quality suffers, but it is fast and cheap and easy, so the consumer does not mind.
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