Jamba COO Bruce Schroder resigns

Bruce Schroder resigned as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Jamba Inc., parent to the Jamba Juice smoothie chain, the company said in public filings on Friday.

Following Schroder’s departure on Oct. 7, the company appointed Chris Beeson as senior vice president, store operations, with responsibility for both company and franchise locations.

Beeson has been with the company since November 2004 and previously served as senior vice president, franchise operations, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The filing offered no detail on the reasons for Schroder’s departure.

Schroder was hired in April 2010 as president of store operations, and he was named EVP and COO in May 2011.

“On behalf of the entire Jamba family, I would like to thank Bruce for his dedication and leadership over the years,” James D. White, chairman, president and CEO of Jamba said in a statement. “We truly appreciate his contributions in helping grow this business and wish him success in all his future endeavors. At the same time we are happy to have Chris Beeson increase his leadership role as senior vice president, store operations. Chris has served in various leadership roles on Jamba’s store operations team since 2004, and we are confident his knowledge and experience will continue to be instrumental in the growth and development of Jamba as healthy lifestyle destination of choice.”

Last week, Jamba downgraded its outlook for the year, saying weather and the choppy macroeconomic climate negatively impacted third-quarter sales.

After two years of same-store sales increases, the company is expecting systemwide same-store sales to drop 3.4 percent in the third quarter, including a 5.5-percent decline among company-owned stores and a 1.3-percent drop at franchise locations.

Based in Emeryville, Calif., the Jamba Juice chain includes 295 company-owned and 492 franchise locations in the U.S., as well as 42 international units.

Contact Lisa Jennings at [email protected].
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