Juice It Up!, one of the nation’s leading handcrafted smoothie, superfruit bowl and raw juice chains, today announced a host of impressive key performance results in Q1 as the brand continues to experience significant brand momentum in sales, menu innovation and development in 2022. Through the end of March, year-over-year same store sales increased 7%, while total system sales also jumped 12.1% compared to 2021. The brand also saw substantial YOY segment growth in its Specialty Smoothie and Bowl categories, which grew in Q1 by 42% and 28%, respectively.
As it has since 1995, the 27-year-old chain put a premium on freshness and guest wellness with the Q1 introduction of three limited-time menu offers catering to healthy lifestyles, and the desire to Live Life Juiced®, which has been the brand’s tagline for over 25 years. All three new menu items incorporated greens and micronutrients to help guests feel and perform at their best. The new 100% plant-based Greentox Smoothie and the Tropical Immuni-C Bowl, along with the Mighty-C Immunity Juice, which returned this year due to popular demand, focused on increasing immunity and detoxing the body. The Greentox Smoothie, which was Juice It Up!’s top-ranked Q1 performer within its lineup of plant-based smoothies, accounted for nearly 44% of category sales in its debut quarter.
“Since our founding, Juice It Up! has been an enduring leader in providing highly functional yet amazingly flavorful smoothie, bowl and juice options, and we remain proud of our well-earned reputation for helping guests with their health goals and individual wellness journeys,” said Susan Taylor, Juice It Up! President and CEO. “In addition to the sales growth we experienced in Q1, our early-year menu items devoted to immunity and flavorful health options appealed to guests looking to begin 2022 in the healthiest way possible.”
The brand is also ramping up development and store count in 2022 and has kicked the year off with four new franchise location openings in California in Madera, Colton, Palmdale and Santa Clarita. After signing 11 franchise agreements last year totaling more than 20 new locations, Juice It Up! expects to open 13 new franchised stores in California and the West in 2022, including several non-traditional units, and a location in Ehrenberg, Arizona, as Juice It Up! begins expanding outside of the Golden State. Juice It Up! franchisees also are embracing the brand’s remodel program to update existing stores to its clean and refreshed new store design. Juice It Up! remains committed to doubling its unit count to approximately 200 locations in the next four years and currently has more than 30 new locations in the pipeline for development.
A notable leader of Juice It Up!’s revitalized development momentum has been industry veteran Carlo Verdugo, who was promoted by the brand in January to Vice President of Operations and Business Development. Verdugo joined Juice It Up! in 2020 and has since made numerous invaluable contributions to the brand across an array of growth initiatives. In the new role, he will continue to work in lockstep with Taylor – who led Juice It Up! to a record-setting year in 2021 – to drive aggressive growth and development initiatives. Taylor’s keen restaurant business acumen and tireless support of Juice It Up!’s dedicated family of franchisees have steepened the brand’s growth trajectory. Among a continuous string of accolades and awards, Taylor was recognized in February by Nation’s Restaurant News as one of the restaurant industry’s most influential CEOs.
“It is truly amazing to see the great strides Juice It Up! has made over the past three years under the leadership of Susan Taylor and the other members of our Franchise Support Center team,” said Chris Britt, co-Chairman and principal owner of Juice It Up!” “Increasing same store sales nearly 15% in 2020, 27% in 2021 and now another 7% in Q1 2022 is a remarkable accomplishment.” Added Ed St. Geme, who along with Britt is co-Chairman and principal owner of the brand, “Susan and the team tell us the best is yet to come, so given the results since 2019 we can hardly wait to see what the next five years will bring.” Britt and St. Geme also own Mountain Mike’s Pizza, one of the fastest-growing franchised pizza concepts in the U.S.
The brand’s ownership and leadership team is now actively pursuing development with new and existing franchise partners in California, Arizona and throughout the Western U.S. With a proven franchise business model carefully sculpted over the past 27 years, record sales results and brand momentum, and renowned and successful new leadership, Juice It Up! is looking to partner with passionate single, multi-unit and multi-brand franchisees who are interested in joining a highly recognizable, successful and market-leading healthy food concept. For more information about the Juice It Up! brand and available franchise opportunities, visit www.juiceitupfranchise.com.