Jamba Juice

Jamba

Type	Public (NASDAQ: JMBA)
Founded	San Luis Obispo, California (1990)
Headquarters	Emeryville, California
Number of locations	752
Key people	James D. White, Chairman, President & CEO
Revenue	$263 Million USD (FY ending 12/28/10)
Website	jambajuice.com

Jamba Juice headquarters in Emeryville

A typical Jamba Juice store

A Jamba Juice store located along the CityWalk in Universal Studios Hollywood

Jamba Juice is a restaurant retailer headquartered in Emeryville, California, with over 750 locations operating in 26 states, the Bahamas, Canada, the Philippines, and South Korea. There are approximately 310 company-owned locations and 442 franchise-operated stores, in addition to the over 10 international locations. For the Fiscal Year ending on December 28, 2010 sales were $263 million, which included sales of $255 million from company stores.

History

Jamba Juice was conceived and founded in April 1990 by Kirk Perron, an avid cyclist and healthy lifestyle advocate, who opened his first store in San Luis Obispo. He was later joined in the business by three friends Joe Vergara, Kevin Peters, and Linda Ozawa Olds. It was incorporated in 1990 as Juice Club, Inc. in San Luis Obispo, California. Jamba was founded out of a vision to inspire and simplify healthy living and is recognized as a leading restaurant retailer of better-for-you specialty beverages and complementary food offerings, which include blended-to-order, whole fruit smoothies, fresh squeezed juices, organic teas, hot breakfast wraps, hot oatmeal made with organic steelcut oats, Fruit and Veggie smoothies, Whirl'ns Frozen Yogurt, mini wraps, side salads, flatbreads, and a variety of baked goods and snacks. Juice Club Inc. of San Francisco changed its store name to Jamba Juice in 1995. Said founder Perron:

“

I'm surprised there aren't more companies creating a culture beyond selling, [offering] a soulful experience for the customer. That's been the basis for our success.

”

In August 1997, Jamba entered into an operating agreement with Whole Foods Market to sell only "natural" products inside some of the Whole Foods's locations, including Jamba's smoothies' ingredients. For this reason, offerings at Whole Foods sites may differ from those at stand-alone sites. Jamba Juice acquired all nationwide Zuka Juice, Inc. stores in March 1999. Zuka Juice was founded in Orem, Utah by Dave Duffin and also was a prominent smoothie company at the time. Since then, Jamba Juice has expanded to become an iconic and popular smoothie chain emphasizing the benefits of a healthy, active lifestyle.

Since entering the market in New York City in June 2004, Jamba Juice has opened 19 locations across the city, and it continues to open more. The first location was at Columbus Circle and 59th Street in the basement of the Time Warner Center and is part of the Whole Foods Market seating area. Other locations include one south of Union Square, Times Square, Tribeca, and one in the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

On March 13, 2006, Jamba Juice agreed to be acquired by Services Acquisition Corp. International for $265 million. Services Acquisition is headed by Steven Berrard, former CEO of Blockbuster Inc. Upon the closing of the transaction, the publicly traded Services Acquisition changed its name to Jamba, Inc.

In December of 2008, Jamba began a strategic move to transform the company from a smoothie shop to a healthy, active lifestyle brand and began offering a line of better-for-you wraps, sandwiches, salads, and flatbreads in all of its California stores and within the next year, all its stores nationwide. Jamba currently has over 750 locations in 26 states across the U.S. and a growing presence internationally.

In July 2009, in promoting its new line of products, Jamba Juice was criticized for running an ad campaign which was described as a "ripoff" of the work of cartoonist David Rees. The ad campaign looked similar to Rees' "Get Your War On" series. Rees was informed of the Jamba Juice ads by a fan who sent in a letter. Rees stated that "Jamba Juice bit my style, with no credit, and it's kind of disrespectful."

Nutrition

Jamba Juice uses real whole fruit and all natural fruit juices from concentrate. All smoothies, except for its "All Fruit Smoothies," contain another ingredient, as per the recipe: sherbet, frozen yogurt, sorbet, plain yogurt, low-calorie dairy base, chocolate base, or soymilk. Jamba products are made from quality ingredients and include 0g trans fat, no high fructose corn syrup, no artificial preservatives, and no artificial flavors.

Jamba Juice is frequently criticized for selling smoothies with more sugar than is recommended by the USDA to consume in one day. Because of this, Jamba Juice introduced "Enlightened Smoothies" in 2004 with less sugar and fewer calories and carbohydrates. They have since been renamed "Jamba Light." The Lower-calorie dairy base (formerly called Enlightened Base) is made with Splenda, non-fat milk and Whey Protein.

In addition to the smoothies, Jamba Juice sells fresh-squeezed orange juice and carrot juice, as well as wheatgrass juice shots. Jamba Juice also offers a substitute to coffee, for a caffeine fix, called Matcha Green Tea, which can be taken in a smoothie or as a small 4-ounce shot with soy milk, orange juice, or a mixture of the two, called a "Matcha Dream Shot". All of these are similar to an espresso shot with a more appetizing taste to some. Jamba Juice also offers boosts (dietary supplements). Each smoothie and yogurt blend comes with the option of one free boost addition, from a selection of six such as Soy Protein, Immunity, Energy and Daily Vitamin. The Protein Berry Workout, Acai Super Antioxidant, Coldbuster and Strawberry Energizer each come with a boost, so upon purchasing, the consumer has the option of adding an extra boost in addition to the boost already added. Extra boosts, such as Matcha, Whey Protein, Antioxidant, 3G Charger, Flax & Fiber, Probiotic or another of any of the four free boosts may be added for fifty cents. Prices vary by region (a medium size smoothie ranges from about $3.85 to $5).

Any smoothie can be modified from its standard recipe. Every customer has the opportunity to remove ingredients and substitute others. This is recommended to customers who have varied dietary needs.

Jamba Juice debuted its new organic steel-cut oatmeal in January 2009. The oatmeal is freshly prepared every morning with soy milk and includes toppings such as brown sugar crumble, fresh banana, blackberry-blueberry, apple cinnamon and berry cherry pecan.

Flavors

As of December 2011:

• Seasonal: Apple Cinnamon Cheer
• All Fruit Smoothies: Five Fruit Frenzy, Mega Mango, Peach Perfection, Pomegranate Paradise, Strawberry Whirl
• Brewed by the Cup: Organic House Blend, Organic House Blend Decaf
• Classic Smoothies: Aloha Pineapple, Banana Berry, Blackberry Bliss, Caribbean Passion, Mango-a-go-go, Orange-A-Peel, Peach Pleasure, Pomegranate Pick-Me-Up, Razzmatazz, Strawberries Wild, Strawberry Surf Rider
• Creamy Treats: Chocolate Moo'd, Coffee Craze, Matcha Green Tea Blast, Mocha Mojo, Orange Dream Machine, Peanut Butter Moo'd, Pumpkin Smash (seasonal)
• Fruit and Veggie Smoothies: Apple N' Greens, Berry UpBEET, Orange Carrot Karma
• Probiotic Fruit and Yogurt Blend: Strawberries Alive, Vibrant Blueberry, Thrivin' Mango
• Pre-Boosted Smoothies:Acai Super Antioxidant, Protein Berry Workout, The Cold Buster
• Jamba Light Smoothies: Berry Fulfilling, Mango Mantra, Strawberry Nirvana

2007 Nestlé deal and entrance into breakfast foods

In December 2007, it was announced that Jamba would be partnering with Nestlé to lend its name to a line of healthy, ready-to-drink beverages under the Jamba brand. They will offer two different products: Smoothies and Juices. On December 19, 2008, a press release from Nestle USA and Jamba Juice announced suspension of Jamba ready-to-drink products due to "...challenges...with manufacturing on a consistent basis, resulting in inventory and out-of-stock issues."

See also

• Booster Juice
• Milkshake
• Orange Julius
• Robeks
• Smoothie

External links

• Jamba Juice Official Website
• Podcast interview with Linda Olds
• Jamba Juice: Fiber Boost: What's in the Fiber Boost?
• Jamba Secret Flavors Unveiled Secret Flavor blog