A Study of Juice Bars

The juice and smoothie market in the US is over $3.5 Billion in Sales. Juice bars are popping up all over Australia. Five years ago, your local juice bar was the province of grocers disposing of excess product, or in healthfood stores. But in 2000, several Australian entrepreneurs launched juice bars simultaneously.

Boost Juice and Viva Juice opened their pilot stores in 2004 , within a month of each other, Boost in King William Street, Adelaide, Viva in Swan Street, Richmond. Now Boost has over 210 franchised stores and Viva Juice has 23 company-owned stores and plans to double in size each year (40 by December). Both companies spend a chunk of their profits chasing juice bars that co-opt their storefront design or product names.

Highpoint shopping mall has four juice bars, Bondi Junction has five. Newcomer Pulp Juice, a six-outlet juice bar set up four months ago, has just been bought by merchandising company Signature Brands for $2 million, with plans to expand the brand to 50 locations before the year is out. In Coffs Harbour there is Pina Colada juice bar in the mall, and Boost Juice is due to open up in the new food court.

"An apple juice is just an apple juice," says Allis. "We didn't invent smoothies. But when people call their smoothie an All Berry Bang as well, we have to stop them."

"The key is picking good sites. You need the right sort of foot traffic (teens, fashion shoppers, younger office workers) and complementary businesses nearby."

SCOT McNAMARA, director of Viva Juice

Janine Allis, founder of Boost Juice.

Picture: Heath Missen

The juice wasn't worth the squeeze for some of the other early adopters, but they have been replaced by new competitors.

Although Boost and Viva have similar styles, menus and products, the founders couldn't be more different. Allis, a lanky brunette who plays netball twice a week, dropped out of Knox Technical College at year 11 to become a secretary. She is the public face of her company, her smiley portrait printed on all the menus. She talks freely about being a mum to three boys (Samuel, 13, Oliver 6, Riley, 5), and regales interviewers with stories of her time working as head stewardess on David Bowie's private yacht - picnics with the Bowies in the South of France, paying docile servant for the Arab sheiks who rented the boat, serving cocktails to Robin Williams, Mick Jagger throwing fruit at her (in fun, not a tantrum).

These days, Allis is the latest member of BRW magazine's Young Rich list, estimated to be worth $14 million. Boost made a $2 million pre-tax profit in the 2002-03 financial year, and estimates a $4.5 million profit by this July. She owns 52 per cent of Boost, and sold 20 per cent