Jamba Juice’s mission is all about “Making eating better, easier and more fun!” How does the smoothie franchise do that? By offering fresh fruits in their smoothies and protein-packed foods on their menu. Jamba Juice makes eating well, easier for consumers.

How much does it cost to open Jamba Juice? To start, Jamba Juice is looking for franchisees with a minimum liquid capital of $120,000 and a minimum net worth of $300,000. The estimated initial investment range is $378,650 to $843,000 with an initial franchise fee of $35,500. This is on the lower end of the startup cost spectrum for food franchises.

Thinking about opening a Jamba Juice near you? Read on to find out everything you need to know about franchising Jamba Juice, total startup costs, and whether or not they’re the right business for you. Take our 7-minute franchise quiz and discover if this smoothie franchise is right for you. 

Financial Requirements and Fees

These are the financial requirements and fees to expect when franchising with Jamba Juice:

In addition to all these expenses, Jamba Juice also requires a royalty fee of 6% and an ad royalty fee of 3%. Interested franchise applicants may open both single and multi-unit franchises. Veterans may also avail of a discount on the franchise fee. The term of agreement is 20 years and may be renewable.

Make sure you’re emotionally okay with handing over 9% of your sales volume between ads and royalties alone. Keep in mind this is on top of paying for rent, wages, and taxes among other expenses.

Average Sales / Revenue per Year

Global sales of Jamba Juice for the year 2021 is $429,849,439. These numbers may look impressive but unfortunately, according to Franchise Times, the brand saw a sales growth of -13.3%. Some of this sales declines were caused by store closures during the pandemic.

Jamba Juice Franchise Facts

Jamba Juice came out of a school project at California Polytechnic State University by Kirk Perron in 1990. At 26 years old, he started a healthy juice shop because he used to frequent one in San Luis Obispo called Blazing Blenders. Perron was a cyclist and was all about the healthy lifestyle which is why he opened a juice shop. The concept was called “Juice Club” originally and didn’t change the name to Jamba Juice in 1995.

Over the years, Jamba Juice has grown from just the United States to everywhere around the world. Well-known brands have helped Jamba Juice to who they are now such as Starbucks founder Howard Schultz being an investor and signing a deal with healthy grocery store Whole Foods to allow Jamba Juice bars to open in their stores.

In 2019, Jamba Juice shortened its name to Jamba. The rebrand has allowed them to expand their menu to include more beverages and food items, a makeover in their store designs around the world, and a shift to become more digitally accessible by improving their e-commerce platform.

Jamba is still known for their beverages which include smoothies and iced beverages. Smoothies on the menu include classics which are blended fruits or frozen yogurts with your choice of milk. There are also plant-based options like kale or ginger blended with fruits and milk. They also have their super blends which are smoothies that are packed with anti-oxidants, vitamins or zinc. For their iced beverages, caffeinated drinks such as coffee, tea, and fresh juices are available.

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Aside from the wide variety of beverages, Jamba also has food on the menu. They have bowls which can be of acai blend, spirulina, yogurt, pitaya or oatmeal. They also offer sandwiches, egg bakes, pretzels, wraps, and waffles. In addition, grab and go snacks such as health bars and protein snacks are offered.

To franchise Jamba Juice, start by filling up the form here. Once received, you’ll get an introductory call with a Jamba Pre-Qualification Manager. You will discuss with them everything you need to know such as the financial and operational requirements and market of interest. After that, you’ll have an introductory call with Jamba’s Director of Franchise Development to discuss your concerns, questions, specific qualification requirements, and the entire process of franchising a Jamba Juice location.

Smile… You own a smoothie bar.

After the introductory calls are done and you’re still interested in franchising a Jamba near you, the company will hand you their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) that includes all the written details regarding the franchise. You’ll also get to sign the franchise agreement which will be submitted and reviewed by the franchise committee.

Once selected, you’ll get to visit the company’s headquarter’s in Atlanta, Georgia for their Focus Day. You’ll be able to meet the brand team behind Jamba and also be interviewed by the leadership team.

Upon meeting the criteria as a franchisee, you’ll be notified of your application being approved. You’ll sign the final agreements, pay the necessary fees, and then you’ll finally become an official franchisee of Jamba Juice.

The franchise location options that Jamba offers are:

• Traditional Stores
• Non-Traditional Stores
• Drive-Thru
• Kiosks
• Dual Branding Opportunities (sharing with another brand)
• In-Line Store

Jamba is owned by Focus Brands which is known to own several food franchises. The brands that they own aside from Jamba are Auntie Anne’s, Carvel, Cinnabon, McAlister’s Deli, Moe’s Southwest Grill, and Schlotzsky’s. This is why when you franchise some of their brands, you may be given options to pair up with another or carry another of their brands. For instance, you may see Jamba Juice and Auntie Anne’s together sharing a space.

Jamba Juice is 99% percent franchised to this date. There are over 700 locations worldwide. Jamba is located in the United States, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.

How Much Does Jamba Juice Make in Profit?

There is no official data regarding Jamba Juice’s global profit but according to this location in a strip mall in San Bernardino that was up for sale, the location had a monthly average net profit of $6,800 with monthly gross sales of $22,500 in 2009. This is of course only a snap shot of the financial performance of a single location. Your location, marketing skills, and market demographic will influence the success or failure of your shop.

Are there any advantages to franchising Jamba Juice?

Well-known Brand

Jamba Juice is a well-known brand. Even when they changed their name to Jamba, they were still able to reel in customers. They have over 700 locations and aren’t just confined to the United States. They’re located in Asian countries as well such as the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.

To franchise Jamba means you’re partnering with a brand that already has a name in the smoothie business and health scene so you don’t have to worry about the popularity of your store.

Promotes a Healthy Lifestyle

Right from the beginning, Jamba has promoted a healthy lifestyle. And in a world where fast food businesses dominate the food scene, it’s nice to have a healthy stop like Jamba Juice be available. It’s a break from all the sugary carbonated drinks and the greasy food. They also offer snacks to go that can help keep the hunger at bay for those that are always working on the go.

Going Digital

Jamba Juice’s change to Jamba came with a lot of upgrades including their shift to a more modern and digital platform. One of these is the addition of their robotic Jamba maker by Blendid. It’s the world’s first fully autonomous robotic food kiosk. The robot makes the smoothie which promotes contactless service which has become an important element in food service because of the pandemic.

As of the moment, the robotic kiosk is only available at inside Walmart Supercenter at 235 E Dorset Dr., Dixon, California. But who knows. Maybe they’ll expand soon and add robotic kiosks in more places.

Challenges of a Jamba Juice Franchise

Jamba Juice, like any other business franchise, has their set of challenges. Here are a few you can expect:

Major Competitors

A lot of people are all about the healthy lifestyle these days so there have been a lot of competitors in the healthy food and drink industry. Though Jamba Juice has the upper hand since they’ve been around longer and have gained a following along with their name being well-known, major competitors are also catching up.

As an interested franchisee, the challenge here is to make sure you’re constantly updated with the healthy food and drink trends and that hopefully the company is too so new items can be released from time to time.

Not Exactly Healthy say Critics

Jamba Juice isn’t exactly super healthy. In fact, they’ve faced a lawsuit in 2018 for marketing their smoothies as using “whole fruit and vegetable” when in fact the brand uses fruit juice blends in some of their products which can contain concentrated sugar and calories. But they’re not entirely bad either. They’re not as intense as other carbonated and sugary drinks which make them a better option.

What your customers can go for is to customize their drinks so they can opt out of the fruit juice blends and avoid the sugar.

Lack of Expansion

It’s good to know that Jamba Juice is available outside of the United States but they’re only limited to Asian countries. It would be nice if Jamba can branch out to other locations such as the Middle East or Europe. We’re not sure what their future expansion plans are but if they do expand to other countries and not just in Asia, they would be able to see an increase in global sales.

Is the Jamba Juice Franchise Right For You?

If you’re into living a healthy lifestyle and would like to bring a place that’s convenient for people to get fruit smoothies and other healthy snacks, then Jamba is the one for you. Although you have to take into consideration the locations that will be offered to you or the financial expenses you’ll have to go through.

According to this comment, the reason why some Jamba Juice stores go out of business or some locations closing down is because the cost of juices and fruits are high and that the profit margin is “thin”. But this isn’t applicable to all stores in good locations.

Healthy eating is ranked high in the lifestyle change of 2022 with 46% of consumers looking into eating healthier this year. With this data, you can be assured that if you’re looking to franchise a business, a brand that’s all about healthy living is the way to go. It’s clear that Jamba has positioned itself in a growing industry segment over the past couple of decades.

In conclusion, locations matter. And be sure to read the fine print on their Franchise Disclosure Document as well so you won’t miss any crucial detail when it comes to franchising Jamba Juice.

What is an alternative Jamba Juice franchise?

One smoothie place you can also franchise is Smoothie King. They have fruit and vegetable blends and more but one of their main selling concepts is that their smoothies are packed with protein to add a healthy and energizing kick to your drink. They also have smoothies for those on a special diet like Keto.

To franchise Smoothie King, expect the initial investments to reach $320,301 to $1,184,865 (depending on the type of store), an initial franchise fee of $25,000 to $30,000, and a minimum net worth of $300,000.

So are you ready to open a Jamba Juice and offer up those fruit smoothies near you? I hope this guide was able to help you make a more informed decision.