Geoff Henry started off the conversation on-brand: "It's certainly an exciting time to be part of Jamba."
That's right; it's just Jamba now, said Henry, the brand's president. It's another example of a brand renaming itself by conforming to what customers already call them. (See Dunkin'). It's also a way to encourage those customers to see them as more than just one menu item.
The brand is revealing these changes almost a year after Jamba Juice was purchased by Atlanta-based Focus Brands Inc. Henry has been president since January.
While the name is new, many of the changes Henry has spearheaded for the brand are really about going back to its roots.
"When the brand started almost 30 years ago in San Luis Obispo [Calif.], it was basically a little juice shop with a big idea," Henry said. "That idea was around healthy living starts locally, so we're taking that same ideology, methodology into the brand today. And the intent is that we really want to grow up with our consumers.”
"This brand has led the way in making wellness more accessible and, in so doing, created a multibillion-dollar smoothie and juice category in the process,” he added.
The healthy-eating landscape could hardly be more different than it was 30 years ago. Juice shops, fast-casual salad chains and poke restaurants are all competition for healthful eating dollars. Henry plans to help steer consumers to his brand by emphasizing bowls. The tagline for the new logo is: “Smoothies. Juices. Bowls.”
"The reality is that many guests don't know that Jamba offers bowls and therefore the name change with the new sub-brand (smoothies, juices and bowls) is a way to help highlight to guests our wider array of offerings and keep up with the changing marketplace," Henry said.
The new menu will highlight on-trend ingredients like matcha, acai and spirulina, which is in the brand's new vanilla blue sky spirulina smoothie and bowl. And Jamba has worked with a nutritionist to offer lower sugar options and items that cater to many popular diets.
Guests have variety of ways to order at the new Jamba. The brand is nearly finished rolling out a cloud-based point-of-sale system that will assist with quicker service and online rewards, said Henry. The brand is releasing a new smartphone app later this month, and it has furthered its partnership with many third-party delivery services. Jamba has worked with companies like Uber Eats to outfit drivers with insulated bags. And there will be coolers onsite at store locations too for online pickup orders.
The new store design was made with online pick up in mind and a look that nods back to "our local juice shop roots." To Jamba, that means, light wood, showcasing fresh ingredients and healthy lingo in décor statements.
Henry said the new logo is lighter in color and has a more natural feel compared to the neon look of the past.
"We felt it was much more aligned with where the brand is and where the brand is going," he said.
Jamba has more than 800 locations.
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