Juice Bar Franchises Squeeze Out Expansion Plans Across the United States
Consumers have yet to sour on juice bars after several years of surging demand for healthy beverage tenants that seek space in centers with like-minded crowds.
Competition in the juicing business is growing increasingly fierce, with research firm IBISWorld projecting total revenue of $2.5 billion this year.
Multiple franchises are expanding as the industry faces “external competition from retailers, such as coffee shops, supermarkets and gyms, which have moved swiftly into the juicing game," according to IBISWorld.
Nekter Juice Bar, a 9-year-old Santa Ana, California-based franchise chain with stores that average about 1,200 square feet, plans to reach 400 locations nationally this year. That's up from 139 stores currently in the United States and another 175 in various development stages. Nekter was founded by husband-and-wife duo Steve Schulze and Alexis Schulze.
Nekter opened two stores in the past week, one in California and the other in Charlotte, North Carolina. The chain is getting ready to build out two stores in greater Orlando, Florida.
“We’ve been opening about two stores a week at the moment,” said Chris Turpin, vice president of Nekter’s franchise operations.
The California store opened in the Los Angeles area inside a Whole Foods Market grocery store in Porter Ranch, California, with another location opening this week inside a Whole Foods in Malibu, California.
Because of "increasing competition and less certainty about future consumer tastes, the industry is expected to become nimbler, with juice bars subletting space from existing retailers,” IBISWorld’s report stated.
Nekter plans to open 17 stores this year in Charlotte, the headquarters of competitor Clean Juice, which was also founded by a husband-and-wife team. Landon Eckles and Kat Eckles opened their first Clean Juice in Huntersville, North Carolina, north of Charlotte, in 2015 and began selling franchises a year later.
Clean Juice has 58 stores across the United States with 14 in the Charlotte area. It plans to have 105 stores across the nation by the end of the year.
The fast-growing juice bar franchises are trying to carve out a share of a market long dominated by Jamba Juice and Smoothie King. For several decades, those two built up to hundreds of stores between them.
However, consumers have become more health conscious over the past five years and now seek beverages that are lower in sugar and made with organic ingredients, according to IBISWorld.
Cold-pressed juices, previously a niche product for wealthier consumers, have squeezed into the mainstream to invigorate new growth in the business, reports IBISWorld.
This type of beverage involves pressing juices hydraulically instead of using blades to turn fruits and vegetables into juice. Supposedly, it creates more nutritious juice. Nekter, Clean Juice and others have been pushing the market more in this direction.
“The product is aspirational,” said Turpin with Nekter. “You feel like you are doing something good for yourself.”
Nekter, like others in the industry, seek out locations in retail centers near particular tenants. Shopping centers with national retailer Target, grocery stores or an Orangetheory Fitness are favored locations for Nekter stores.
"They tend to pull in a like-minded crowd,” Turpin said.
