Jamba Juice

By Donna Boss -- Foodservice Equipment & Supplies, 2/1/2003

Designed by Hornall Anderson Design Works and GGLO Design Inc., both of Seattle, Jamba Juice's prototype features a swirling lay-out that calls attention to display and serving areas. Written on the edge of a circular soffit that drops from the ceiling is the slogan "Jambaism: Eternal youth does not come from a fountain, it comes from a 4-speed blender." PHOTO BY EDUARDO CALDERON

Like many successful business ventures, Jamba Juice started as a solution to its founder's needs. While in his 20s, Kirk Perron, a committed cyclist, would ride for hours in and around his hometown of San Luis Obispo, Calif. When finished with his workout, he craved healthful drinks to replenish lost nutrients and fluids. Finding nothing acceptable in local fast-food restaurants, he concocted fresh fruit and vegetable juices and smoothies in his own kitchen. "I realized I wasn't alone in making my own smoothies," Perron remembered. "That's when the light bulb went on for me." In 1990, then 27 years old, Perron opened his first store, which he named Juice Club. As the business expanded, the name was changed to Jamba Juice Company.

Today, the chain includes 350 company-owned and franchised/licensed stores in 23 states and the District of Columbia. Units are also situated in select Whole Foods Markets, in airports and on college campuses. In order to distinguish Jamba Juice from its competitors and situate the company for growth in the 21st Century, a new prototype was developed and opened in August 2002. Built in a gutted shell of the company's fourth store, in Cupertino, Calif., its equipment package includes pieces that are currently in use in other stores and new ones that were custom-designed to improve productivity and speed of service, while ensuring greater product consistency.

"We had been growing rapidly and had never found time to take a step back and evaluate our process and make it more efficient," explained Perron as he described the rationale for the new prototype's development.

Separated by counters, Jamba Juice's in-store production kitchen is visible to customers. Only dry storage, an ice machine and laundry equipment are hidden from view. "When we were called in, we focused on the process of assembling smoothies and other beverages," explained Rick Shoffstall, vice president, client projects, SRE, a foodservice operations engineering firm in Miami, a division of WD Partners. "Our goal was to determine which, if any technology, could be used to improve productivity and speed of production and service."

In the Cupertino unit, before it was gutted and re-engineered, Shoffstall explained, smoothie production was done on a six-foot linear line. Dispensers were similar to those used in family-style restaurants. "Now, there are two assembly production lines that are used to create a parallel flow." On each line is a custom juice dispensing system, with a dispenser that has one, four-inch-wide head with a capacity to dispense 16 flavors of juice, similar to that used in commercial bars.

"In addition to increasing in-store throughput capacity and speed of service, a parallel system allows Jamba Juice to dedicate one line for walk-up customers and another for a drive-through line, should the company choose to go that direction," Shoffstall noted.

Smoothies are made in what is essentially a T-shaped space. Overhead blender racks, which hold clean blenders, are positioned above a dip box, which holds fresh fruit and ice cream. A staff member working at a custom-designed blender counter pulls down empty blender jars from overhead, sets one down under a juice dispensing head, presses a button labeled with the name of the smoothie to be made, and waits until the jar is filled with a prescribed amount and type of juice. Simultaneously, the staff member adds fruit and frozen yogurt or sorbet into the jar, then passes it to a second staff member who works at the arm of the T and adds boosters. (Boosters [vitamins, mineral and herb supplements], include protein, energy, fiber and vita.) Ice is added, as well, and the concoction is blended and handed to customers at the station. A similar production process takes place concurrently at a parallel blender counter.

After smoothies have been poured from the blender jars into a customer's container, dirty jars are passed to the station's end to a new rinsing and sanitizing system. "The rinse head sprays water into the jars, Shoffstall explained. "The operator simply places the jars on the rinse head, then moves them around to a sanitizing sink and back to the clean jar rack. It's a circular process."

Key to this system is a rinsing device that is hooked up to a high-pressure water source, according to Shoffstall. A blender jar is inverted on top of this mechanism (which sits in a sink) and the weight of the blender activates a valve that releases a high-pressure rinse inside the jar. Labor is needed only to position the jars. Currently, a staff member must wash all dirty jars in a four-compartment sink with a hand-held pressure wash. The new system requires approximately 50% less work content.

Among the chief features of the Jamba Juice system are the four blenders (two on each side), which were redesigned for the prototype store. Blending time has been reduced from an average current cycle (including reblends) of 45 seconds to 25 seconds. This has had notable impact on the production process of a smoothie, which went from nearly 90 seconds to 30 to 45 seconds.

Also contributing to overall improvements in productivity was the combining of the blend and pour stations. In the prototype, while one smoothie is blending, another is being poured and handed to a guest. "Now, staff don't have to move very much to produce smoothies and they can just hand them off," said Shoffstall. "The product is moving, not the people, so we eliminated a significant amount of non-value added activity."

The overhead blender rack, which positions clean blender jars for staff members' use on the assembly line, was also custom-designed. The rack created a first-in, first-out sliding rotation for the jars, so staff members pull down the jar that is put in first, rather than any jar that may be selected arbitrarily. In the juice production area, a custom-designed, stainless-steel unit was constructed, which contains an automatic juicer for orange juice and lemonade, another juicer for carrot juices and a juicer for wheatgrass.

To keep products cold during production, a pass-through, 48-inch worktop refrigerator for dispensing juice was custom-designed. The unit, which is positioned at the intersection of the "T," holds juice, powders and boosts and houses all components for the juice dispensing system. An undercounter unit is positioned at another station to hold back-up juice and oranges. In the rear of the prototype's kitchen, the old unit's walk-in cooler/freezer was retained, though the cooler section was expanded to hold bag 'n box juice.

Given Jamba Juice's mission to "enrich people's lives," improving speed of service through productivity and maintaining the quality of products offered are crucial elements contributing to customers' satisfaction. The re-engineered prototype will surely contribute to meeting the challenge Perron expressed to Inc. magazine in an article that listed Jamba as one of the magazine's 500 "All-Stars for 2000": "The balance we need now is between growing at a very high pace and maintaining the culture of Jamba and maintaining the experience that customers have in it."

When customers place orders - at the opposite side of the juice-prep counters - information is placed into a new POS system that conveys information on flat, color-coded LCD monitors. A T-shaped space (inset) for smoothie assembly and other re-engineering has reduced customer waiting time by "at least 30%," according to Rick Shoffstall. PHOTOS BY SWANSON IMAGE