Jamba Juice, Bruegger’s Bagels to open co-branded unitsJamba Juice, Bruegger’s Bagels to open co-branded units

Jamba Juice is joining forces with Bruegger’s Bagels to open nine co-branded units, smoothie chain parent Jamba Inc. said Thursday.

The co-branded units, which will bring Bruegger’s bagel-focused menu under the same roof as Jamba Juice’s smoothies, will be company owned and will open in the Midwest, on the East Coast and in New England.

Bruegger’s will own six of the units and Jamba will operate three locations, Jamba officials said.

The goal is to create a mutually beneficial menu that will appeal all day, said James White, chairman, president and CEO of Emeryville, Calif.-based Jamba Inc.

“This combination of Bruegger’s Bagels and Jamba Juice will create stronger offerings across all day parts for consumers of both brands,” White said.

Paul Carolan, Bruegger’s Bagels president, said a co-branded locations that opened last fall near the University of Connecticut campus has been a hit.

“It became clear that our brands complement each other very well with our mutual focus on freshness and authenticity, and that this partnership offers a way for both brands to extend their reach,” Carolan said in a statement.

The unit, in Storrs Center, is owned by franchise operator David Katz, principal of Five Star Equity Partners LLC, who first experimented with the dual brand in late 2009 or early 2010 by adding a Jamba Juice outlet to an existing Bruegger’s he operated in Orange, Conn.

At the time, however, Bruegger’s was owned by private-equity firm Sun Capital Partners, and the co-branding concept was not embraced, Katz said.

The bagel chain was acquired by Le Duff America Inc., the Dallas-based North American subsidiary of Groupe Le Duff SA, in 2011.

Katz said the new leadership sees an opportunity with blending the two brands.

“Now, in 2015, they like the idea,” Katz said.

Katz opened his second co-branded location in Storrs Center in November 2014.

Support from the two franchisors will allow for the development of a co-branded prototype that is more efficient to operate and less costly to build, Katz said.

For his first co-branded attempt, Bruegger’s required a wall between the brands, which had separate computer systems. Other operational challenges added to the expense, putting building costs north of $1 million, he said.

With the two companies working together to create efficiencies, Katz estimated that they could cut about $350,000 in costs by combining the two concepts in the same line.

“It’ll be a huge night-and-day difference,” he said.

If the cost to build the typically 2,800-square-foot co-branded units drops, Katz will consider opening more, he said.

Bruegger’s has also tested co-branded units with Caribou Coffee.

Jamba Juice operates or franchises 805 locations in the U.S. Bruegger’s has 290 units across North America.

Contact Lisa Jennings at [email protected].
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