Squeeze Appeal
Juices and Smoothies-Fruits Worth the Labor
Story by Julie Beals . Photo by Ness/Pace Studio

Missed opportunities for business can be easy to overcome, and even capitalized upon in greater ways than you might think possible. Take the simple addition of a serious juice program to your coffee- or teahouse. The inventory and equipment required are minimal. The drinks are colorful, diverse, healthy, and as many would argue, downright alluring.
   As the weather gets warmer and children are out of school for the summer, consumer appetites for cool drinks will make their annual appearance, along with a collective consciousness of how we'd like to look in our bathing suits come June. Time to satisfy the need to cool off and slim down, and not just with iced coffees and teas, but with the healthy value of fruit.
   Vying for the beverage impulse dollar is an important part of keeping your doors open, and offering something for a wide range of customers is half the battle. And the good news is, fresh juices are less an impulse than ever, becoming more sought out and even a way of life for health-conscious consumers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that between 1977 and 1997, per-capita fruit-juice consumption increased 42 percent. On top of that, all the talk of getting your five servings of fruit a day may just be changing the way consumers eat, and what they expect from their favorite coffeehouse. Patrons choose your establishment for the atmosphere, the interaction with your staff, and perhaps most importantly, the variety and quality of what you have to sell them.
   In warmer climates, juices and smoothies always make sense and should appear on any coffeehouse menu. Jose Alfredo Olivas, owner of Cafe West in El Paso, Texas, notes, "We started the business a year and a half ago, precisely because of where we are geographically." And yet surprisingly enough, climates that remain cold for much of the year are experiencing solid sales of juices and smoothies, perhaps simply because customers want to be able to order something and trust that it's good for them. Jenelle Glime, owner of Cafe Tlazo, in Algoma, Wis., says her juices and smoothies are "year-round sellers," keeping overall drink sales strong and consistent.

A Perfect Pair
Coffee and juice go hand-in-hand at your local cup-of-nothing-special diner, and on the room service menu at any given hotel. Thus, it stands to reason that an establishment that builds its reputation on excellent specialty beverages would offer the best coffees, teas and juices.
   Susan Krisher, owner of the Sugar Magnolias Café and Juice Bar (named for the Grateful Dead song, "Sugar Magnolias") in Lompoc, Calif., agrees that coffee and fresh juices are a perfect marriage. "It broadens my customer base," says Krisher. "A lot of people are looking for healthier alternatives so having the smoothies and fresh juices brings them in."
   Lompoc is near Santa Barbara, and Krisher has customers who make the trip from the larger city for her juice offerings and other homemade favorites. "We've brought the Santa Barbara flavor to Lompoc. Many people in California can't afford to live in larger metro areas, and we're getting people who are used to juice bars in a town that never used to have them."
   Olivas says, "We have great success with smoothies and the juices. Health conscious-type drinks marry well with coffee. It's relatively simple and it makes for an excellent, nutritious drink."

Tools of the Trade
If you have a bit of extra cooler space (and all reason points to making room), you can start a juice program with the simple addition of a juicer and a blender. Other inventory items need only include fresh fruit and perhaps yogurt, milk and protein powders. With these, Glime contends, "you can make anything and everything, and the payback on it is tremendous."
   You can spend $50 to $5000 on your tools, depending on how much volume you'll want to push through them. Small, industrial juicers and blenders can be had from about $300 to $1000-each-and come in low- and high-capacity models. Most manufacturers recommend that you compare factors such as ease of operation and cleanup; juice quality and yield per pound of produce; length of warranty (one to two years, or more); and horsepower (one-quarter horsepower or more for speed of service).
   Manufacturers of citrus juicers such as Zumex, Champion and Omega come in a variety of models to fit low- to high-capacity needs, and produce high juice yields from citrus fruits. Krisher uses a small, noncommerical juicer that she bought at her local one-stop, warehouse-style, restaurant supply store. It is easy to clean and won't break her heart if it breaks. Juices and smoothies aren't a large focus of her business, which includes a small restaurant. If you have a location with enough traffic and you want to get serious, opt for a larger, industrial juicer.
   For a serious coffee and juice operation, many retailers are taking that extra step and buying fast, powerful juicers. EDE Distribution Inc. started supplying coffeehouses and restaurants in 1992 with a focus on desserts, but has seen tremendous growth within the specialty beverage industry. Eddie Boroumand, EDE president says, "As our [customers] increased sales of blended coffee beverages and smoothie drinks, we started to look for more ideas." The company began distributing Zumex juicing machines when Boroumand realized that orange juice was a common base for juice blends and smoothies. "We've noticed a lot of our customers are selling more orange juice than before." Coffeehouse owners fell in love with the juicing concept and customers are equally hooked on the taste, often stopping in just for juice.
   In addition to a juicer, Olivas contends, "A blender, a good blender, is all you need. Fill it with ice, juice and yogurt and you're in business." Vita-Mix, Blendtec, Hamilton Beach and Waring are popular industrial brands. They build blender models that vary in horsepower, to fit the different volume needs of each juice and smoothie program.

Building Blocks
According to Krisher, the juices that are most easily and affordably made in-house are orange, carrot and apple. "Those are always easy, because the product is readily available," she says. She uses pre-made cranberry juice, strawberry nectar and peach nectar. For her customers who want a pure, raw juicing experience, she recommends the juices she can create in-house. Customers may come up with their own recipes as well. "We are really good at trying to cater to the customer's needs," says Krisher. "I try to be everything opposite of franchise operations; if you want [a custom drink] we'll do our best to put it together for you."
   Boroumand notes that simple combinations such as orange and lemon juice are delicious and simple to make as well, and pomegranate and fresh orange juice is just as easy, colorful and flavorful. EDE's customers have seen increases in sales by offering fresh orange juice and using it in fresh fruit smoothies.
   Making juices to order is visually attractive and creates an atmosphere where customers can feel comfortable in the knowledge that they are being served something healthy. "Our success [distributing juicers] made us realize that more and more consumers were looking for healthy and nutritious beverages. When our accounts added a [juicing program], they added more traffic to their stores as well as more profits," says Boroumand.

The Skinny
The FDA recommends consuming at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day, and Five a Day the Color Way, part of the Produce For Better Health Foundation, advocates consuming nine servings of fruits and vegetables to provide the wide range of vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals the body needs to maintain good health and energy levels.
   Karl Lovas, who consults on food and nutrition for Dr. Smoothie, supplier of whole crushed fruit and smoothie bases, says, "It's a good companion from a market standpoint. During the summer when it's hot, you're talking about iced coffee sales . . . . That's also the time when people start thinking about losing weight and they start looking at healthier drinks with the idea that they need to lose some weight."
   Lovas also notes that much of what's on the market, guised as "juice," contains corn syrup or sugar along with fruit juice. Just a few years ago, as long as they tasted good, they were good enough for the average customer. Not so anymore. Lovas notes, "It's now become more important that juice drinks be good for you, because we're calorie and carb-conscious and we're also trying to figure out what's really good for us."
   Olivas agrees. "With all of the talk about healthier eating and cutting down on junk food, people are more aware of what they're putting in their bodies, and smoothies and juices are things you can offer to [satisfy that demand]."
   Krisher, who learned about juicing and smoothies when working in a juice bar, adds, "I always try to recommend juice or a smoothie," Krisher says. "It's so healthy, and we can add protein-soy or whey."

Banner Ads and Big Profits
Fresh juices and smoothies are a way to stay healthy for some, and a self-rewarding impulse buy for others. Either way, consumers are willing to pay a premium for fresh juice, but getting the word out requires some calculated planning.
   Even with the word "juice" in the name of her establishment, Krisher has customers who come in not knowing they can get fresh juices. "If you know anything about marketing, you know how hard it is," she says. "But I have a section of the café where I have fruit hanging, and in front of it I have an old wagon filled with oranges and apples, so it gives people a clue that we do something with fruit."
   The odds that juice will be ordered requires visibility, and attractive visibility at that. Showing off the availability of fresh juice can be well worth the effort of rearranging your counterspace. According to Boroumand, profits can be as much as $2.70 per drink. He says "consumers love the idea of 'fresh anything,' and fresh juice is a natural progression for a coffeehouse owner since they already have fresh coffee, tea, and perhaps smoothies. Having a juicer in plain sight is like having an employee yelling, 'Get your fresh juice here,' all day long."
   Cafe Tlazo has marketed its juice and smoothie offerings by taking them to the streets, to people in a demographic that might just keep the coffeehouse's blender very busy. The café's staff recently organized an event at a local high school called "A Day of Drinking," where healthy alternative drinks were discussed, created and shared. Glime credits the high school students for bringing immediate success to its juice and smoothie program. "They are the ones that really started the whole boom," she says.
   A juice program will also provide greater differentiation from the big chains. Krisher notes, "because we offer things like this, we are a cut above the rest. To me, it's better to have a few things going. She adds that punch cards of the buy-nine-get-one-free variety can be made good for both coffee and juices, leading to greater sales of both.
   Simply letting the customer know that what you're selling is indeed healthy, perhaps with a banner that reads "No added sugar or corn syrup," can bring more business in the door. Lovas says, "We've actually seen [increased profit margins] because it opened up a market that [shop owners] didn't know they were missing: consumers who read labels." If you motivate customers by telling them how healthy your juice drinks are, you can gain a segment of the market that would have never bought the product, and in the future they'll seek you out. Lovas' findings are encouraging: "We've seen sales go up 15 to 20 percent as a result."
   Krisher adds, "The nice thing is, a smoothie with tax sells for $4, and my cost is pretty good on them, and I do use fresh fruit. I think it was a good move on our part in the beginning to make our business a coffee and juice bar."

Meet the Kids
Children have long days of summer to languish and linger. However, absence from academia also means having to tag along with parents on errands, and to the chagrin of both parties unless a cost-benefit ratio is seen as mutually beneficial. Children directly influenced more than $170 billion spent on food purchases in 2001, all the more reason to carry real fruit drinks. With numbers like that, this market deserves special attention by offering drink options that kids and their parents can feel good about.
   It seems unlikely that on a given outing, parents will stop at two or three places for refreshments to satisfy everyone's tastes. More than likely, a parent will opt to shorten an outing with children in tow, skipping his or her favorite coffeehouse and going straight to a fast food outlet or mini mart to avoid a menu without kid-friendly options.
   All this, when what the parent really wants is a double latte. Lovas says, "You've got to have a children's menu if you want more of the parent's business. I get out and visit these places, and a lot of times you'll see a parent come in with a couple of kids, the kids are listless, there's nothing there for them. I've seen parents turn around and leave without [making a purchase]."
   There are solutions to these kinds of problems, where business is missed even after potential customers walk through the door. How many of them never get to the door, based on the assumption that there won't be anything inside for kids? You can build a segment of your business based on healthy juice-based drinks that customers can rely on you to carry.

Juice Already
As easy as it is, coffee- and teahouses can and should incorporate an ongoing juice and smoothie program. Krisher advises keeping everything simple. "Go slow. Try to make it work. I use the same cups for my smoothies as I do for my mochas and that way I'm not complicating things by adding an extra product that has to be brought in."
   Introducing juices and smoothies is affordable, profitable, and lets your customers know that giving them healthy options is your priority. Done right, you'll have a balance of drinkable options and consistent traffic in your store. If marketed effectively, with properly worded signage, promotions and in-store visibility, all indications point toward a juice program paying for startup costs in precious little time, thanks to an increased customer base that will be happy you're catering to its varying needs.