Jamba Juice Inc. this week said it plans to move its headquarters from Emeryville, Calif., to Frisco, Tex., becoming the latest California-based restaurant chain to move out of the state.
The juice chain said it plans to move its headquarters for operations, business development, sales and marketing, finance, supply chain, technology, human resources and other corporate functions to Texas. It will then close the Emeryville office after a six-month transition.
David Pace, the chain’s chief executive officer, said the company is making the move to better position itself to support franchisees. But the company also cited operating costs as a reason for the move.
“Jamba has pursued our vision to inspire and simplify healthy living for 26 years, starting with a single juice shop in San Luis Obispo, Calif., but as we continue to spread our healthy living mission globally, it has become increasingly clear that a relocation of our support center will better position the company to extend our brand and continue to support our franchise partners for the long term,” he said in a statement.
“With the pending expiration of our lease in Emeryville at the end of 2016, we explored a number of location options that would offer us competitive operating costs, a region with extensive access to skilled restaurant talent, an attractive cost of living to our current and future team members and a geographical location that facilities our ability to expand our store base.”
Jamba announced the move on the day before announcing quarterly earnings. The company said on Thursday that its first quarter same-store sales fell 2.1 percent, systemwide. It also reported a wider net loss of $2.8 million, or 19 cents per share, down 61 percent from the $1.8 million loss, or 11 cents, a year ago.
Not everybody is making the move. Karen Luey, the company’s chief financial and administrative officer, said she would not relocate to Texas. The company named Marie Perry the company’s new CFO. Perry was most recently the senior vice president, treasurer and controller at Brinker International. She will establish the new finance team in Texas, where she currently lives.
Jamba also made other leadership changes to absorb the duties of the new ventures team, which is being disbanded while Tom Madsen, senior vice president of new ventures, will leave the company.
Steve Adkins, senior vice president of operations, will assume operations leadership for all store formats. Dale Goss, senior vice president of development, will be responsible for all real estate and business development. And Arnaud Joliff, senior vice president of supply chain and IT, will be now responsible for the company’s international business, too.
In addition, Chief Marketing Officer Julie Washington is leaving the organization at the end of May. The company is looking for her replacement.
“Karen, Julie and Tom have each been incredible assets to Jamba,” Pace said. “I believe the leadership team will help us accelerate our progress and the growth of this fantastic company.”
Jamba’s decision to move its headquarters follows the decision by CKE Restaurants to move its headquarters to Nashville in March.
Jamba’s move will affect about 120 workers in Emeryville. The company will employ 100 workers in Frisco. Some of the workers are relocating from California, but others will be newly hired.
Jamba has been aggressively refranchising in recent years, much like CKE has. Revenue in the quarter ended March 29 reflects that. Franchisees run 817 stores in the system, while the company operates 68. A year ago, the company owned 259 locations.
Revenue in the quarter fell 64.3 percent to $18.8 million,, from $52.5 million in the prior year, due to the reduction in its company store base.
Pace said he plans to position Jamba as a “youthful and contemporary brand that simplifies and inspires healthy living” and will “refocus the organization on a customer and store-centric operating philosophy.” It will drive sales through product news and will work to improve store level profitability by simplifying operations and reducing costs.
“We believe this move will better position us as we focus on these core strategies,” Pace said. “This move will allow us to reduce costs, attract and retain talent and provides a more central location for our market expansion plans.”
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