In a celebration of its 25th year, Juice It Up, the smoothie and bowl chain, is expanding with a new slogan, look and prototype as it nears 100 franchised units.
Based in Orange County, Calif., the fast-casual brand unveiled its new store design and flagship location in Costa Mesa, Calif. The unit will serve as an “innovation kitchen” for research and development of menu items, as well as a training and test center to develop “best practices” for franchisees systemwide.
“…although we have a fully operational test kitchen in our Irvine Franchise Support Center, our Costa Mesa flagship will allow us a greater capacity to develop new products, processes, and technologies that will help drive growth in sales and profits for our franchisees,” said Juice It Up owners Chris Britt, Ed St. Geme, and Chris Braun in a company release.
The unit, opening later in the summer, will feature the new store design, meant to encourage social media photos with smoothies, a staple among millennials and those on college campuses. A neon sign reading “Live Life Juiced,” seemingly a take on the popular slogan “Live, Laugh, Love,” will be prominently displayed.
“This location will showcase how far the Juice It Up brand has come, from a single smoothie shop catering to college students, to a successful franchise offering some of the most delicious, healthy and functional products in the growing raw juice, açaí bowl and smoothie segment,” the owners said.
The entire smoothie-making process will be visible to customers as guests will be able to watch their orders being made, a switch from other limited-service brands eliminating the assembly line.
Mobile and app orders, including those made through third-party delivery partners, will have a designated pickup area moving forward as well. The app’s newest function is a “skip the line” feature that allows guests to order and pay ahead.
Juice It Up also opened a unit in College Station, Texas, in early June, one of several chains to do so during the coronavirus pandemic.
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