Jamba Juice
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Jamba Juice | |
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| Type | Public (NASDAQ: JMBA) |
|---|---|
| Founded | San Luis Obispo, CA (1990) |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, CA |
| Key people | Paul Clayton , Chairman & CEO |
| Employees | 9,000 |
| Website | [1] |
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.
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[edit] History
Jamba Juice was founded by Kirk Perron, Joe Vergara, Kevin Peters, and Linda Olds 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. Zuka Juice was founded in Orem, Utah, and also was a prominent smoothie company at the time. Since then it has expanded to become one of the nation's best-known smoothie chains, emphasizing the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
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. [2]
Jamba has an operating agreement with Whole Foods Market 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. [3]
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. "Jamba" means "fart" in Swahili.[4] Additionally, 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.
Starting on Thursday, January 18th, 2007 Jamba Juice will have a price increase. Each smoothie, and juice (including wheat grass and matcha shots) will have a 10 cent increase. Stores in the Bay Area and Southern California will have a 15 cent increase. This is caused by the rising prices of average labor.
[edit] Nutrition
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.
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" This is possible with the use of Splenda, a sugar substitute made from sugar. The "Enlightened Base" is also made with non-fat milk and whey protein.
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 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 "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). One free boost is offered with each smoothie. Each smoothie and yogurt blend comes with one free boost, from a selection of six such as Soy Protein, Immunity, Energy, Femme, Vita or Fiber. Extra boosts, such as Performance, Matcha, Vibrant C, Burner or another of any of the six free boosts may be added for a small additional fee. Prices vary from region to region (an "original" (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.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Jamba Juice Official Website
- Podcast interview with Linda Olds
- Jamba Juice: Fiber Boost: What's in the Fiber Boost?
