Jamba Juice

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Jamba Juice is a chain of smoothie restaurants headquartered in San Francisco, California with 533 locations operating in 26 states, the District of Columbia and the Bahamas. 324 locations are company-owned and 209 locations are franchised. For the 12 months ending January 10, 2006, system wide sales were $345 million, which included sales of $230 million from company locations. The company has achieved a compound annual growth rate of 20% per year over the last three fiscal years.

History

Jamba Juice was founded by Kirk Perron, in 1990 as California Juice Club in San Luis Obispo, California. In 1993 the company opened two other stores, one in Northern California and one in Southern California. In 1995 Juice Club changed its name to Jamba Juice. It is known as one of the top smoothie stores worldwide.

In 1997 they acquired all nation-wide Zuka Juice stores. Since then it has expanded to become one of the nation's best-known smoothie chains, emphasizing the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

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A typical Jamba Juice store

Since entering the market in New York City, Jamba Juice has opened 19 locations across the city and they continue to open more locations. The first and most prominent location is located at Columbus Circle and 59th Street, in the basement of the Time Warner Center, as part of the Whole Foods Market seating area.

Robeks Juice is one of many chain stores considered to be Jamba Juice competition. Others are the various coffee chains as well as locally-owned fruit juice and smoothie restaurants.

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 closing of the transaction, the publicly traded Services Acquisition will change its name to Jamba Inc. [1]

Jamba has an operating agreement with Whole Foods to sell only "natural" products inside some of their locations, which includes their smoothies' ingredients. For this reason, offerings at Whole Foods sites may differ from those at stand-alone sites. [2]

The company's website claims that "Jamba" derives from the "African" word "Jama," which means "to celebrate, taking care of body, mind and soul is a way of celebrating life." Direct e-mails to the company claim it to be of West African origin, but no one has verified that Jamba actually comes from one of the estimated 1800 African Languages. We can note that there is a town named "Jamba" in Angola, which may be related to the word "jamba," meaning "Elephant" in Umbundu, a language spoken in southern Angola. The town became relatively well-known as the headquarters of UNITA during the Ronald Reagan Administration in the USA. On the other hand, "jammin" does mean "celebrate" in Jamaican patois, and is a very famous word from many Reggae songs of the 1970s and 1980s.

Employees

There are five positions in Jamba Juice stores. A typical new employee comes on as a Team Member. As he or she progresses, he or she moves into the role of Training Mentor (a trainer) for new Team Members and Team Leads. The next level up is Team Lead ("shift manager"). Beyond Team Lead is Assistant General Manager and General Manager. The General Manager position is salaried.

Nutrition

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. This is possible with the use of Splenda, a sugar substitute made with sugar. The "Enlightened base" is also made with non-fat milk and whey protein.

Jamba Juice uses real fruit and 100% fruit juices (from all fruit concentrate, except for orange juice and lemonade, which are continuously freshly squeezed). All smoothies, except for its "All Fruit Smoothies," contain another ingredient, as per the recipe: sherbet, frozen yogurt, plain yogurt or soymilk.

The number of smoothie flavors offered has grown recently. In addition to the smoothies, Jamba Juice now sells fresh-squeezed orange juice, carrot juice and lemonade, as well as wheatgrass juice shots. Jamba Juice also offers a subsitute 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 "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 one free boost, from a selection of six. Prices vary from region to region (an "original" (medium) size smoothie ranges from about $4 to 5 plus tax in most U.S. stores).

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.

Many Jamba Juice products are organic, such as the peanut butter, wheatgrass, and several types of fruit. Jamba Juice washes lemons and oranges on site.

Unbeknownst to many customers (because it is not revealed in the Nutrition Guide), some smoothies and bread products contain high-fructose corn syrup.

Ingredients

The ingredients offered at most Jamba Juice locations are:

• Dairy
  • Nonfat vanilla frozen yogurt
  • Orange sherbet
  • Lime sherbet
  • Pineapple sherbet
  • Raspberry sherbet
  • Non-dairy sherbet
  • Nonfat plain yogurt
• Fruit
  • Strawberries
  • Bananas
  • Blueberries
  • Raspberries
  • Cherries (not in stock at all locations)
  • Mangos
  • Peaches
  • Honey Dew
• Juice/Liquid bases
  • Raspberry
  • Apple-Strawberry
  • Fresh-squeezed carrot
  • Fresh-squeezed orange
  • Soymilk
  • Low Calorie "Enlightened" Dairy Base
  • Peach
  • Passionfruit-Mango
  • Pineapple
  • Chocolate Moo'd Base
  • Lemonade (white grape juice concentrate + fresh-squeezed lemon)
  • Concord Grape
  • Acai
  • Kiwi (discontinued)
  • Cranberry (discontinued)
  • Wheatgrass
• Boosts
  • Soy Protein
  • Fiber
  • Femme
  • Immunity
  • Vita
  • Energy
  • Matcha Green Tea
  • Performance
  • Burner
  • Vibrant C
  • Multi (discontinued)
• Other ingredients
  • All natural peanut butter
  • Dried coconut
  • Chai tea
  • Liquid green tea
  • Liquid red tea

Secret Menu

There are several smoothies off the menu that are old smoothies taken off the menu, smoothies created by Jamba Juice employees, or Jamba Juice customers.

Other Off Menu Smoothies

White Gummi Bear

Thank You Jesus

Pink Starburst [known as Pink Star because of trademark laws]

Raspberry Dreamin'

Pineapple Dreamin'

Bluetopia [this is not a "secret" menu item. it's an older drink no longer available because an ingredient, blueberry juice, was discontinued]

Sourpatch Kid

Berry Depressing

Now and Later

Peanut Butter and Jelly

Apple Pie

Fruity Pebbles

Strawberry Shortcake

Jamba Juice does not recognize, endorse, or approve any of these smoothies due to copyright and trademark on names. However, the White Gummi, Pink Star, and Strawberry Shortcake have been added to Jamba's register system, though remains off the menu visible to customers.

See also

• Foodshake
• Milkshake
• Orange Julius
• Smoothie

External links

• Jamba Juice Official Website
• Podcast interview with Linda Olds