Jamba Juice facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Jamba

A Jamba store in Tokyo, Japan
Type	Subsidiary
Founded	San Luis Obispo, California, U.S. (1990; 35 years ago (1990))
Founder	Kirk Perron
Headquarters	Atlanta, GA , United States
Number of locations	864 (2019)
Key people	Nathan Louer (Chief Brand Officer)
Parent	Focus Brands

Jamba, also known as Jamba Juice, is a popular American restaurant chain. They are famous for selling tasty blended fruit and vegetable juices, smoothies, and other healthy food items. The very first Jamba Juice store opened in 1990 in San Luis Obispo, California. It was first called Juice Club. Today, Jamba is owned by a company called Focus Brands.

Jamba has more than 850 locations. You can find their stores in 36 states across the United States. They also have stores in other countries like Australia, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, and Indonesia.

The Story of Jamba: How it Started

Jamba Juice started as a special school project. Kirk Perron was a student at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. He loved cycling and living a healthy life. Kirk worked at a supermarket and noticed there weren't many healthy snacks after a workout. He said the market was "mostly filled with fat."

So, Kirk decided to open his own restaurant. The first store, named Juice Club, opened on March 31, 1990. It was in San Luis Obispo, California. By 1991, Juice Club had grown to 19 locations. Kirk first used a system called "franchising" to grow. This means other people could open stores using his brand. But later, he decided to own all the stores himself.

In 1995, the chain changed its name to Jamba Juice. The name "Jamba" comes from a West African word. It means "celebration." On March 24, 1999, Jamba Juice bought another juice bar chain called Zuka Juice.

In 2006, Jamba Juice was bought by a company for $265 million. This company then changed its name to Jamba, Inc.

A Jamba Juice store located along the CityWalk in Universal Studios Hollywood

In June 2009, Jamba started to offer more than just smoothies. They began selling wraps, sandwiches, and flatbreads. This was a big change for the company.

In May 2016, Jamba Juice moved its main office. It moved from Emeryville, California to Frisco, Texas. The company said it was very expensive to live and do business in California. In 2019, Jamba Juice was bought by Atlanta-based Focus Brands. Also in 2019, the company changed its name again. It became just "Jamba." This was to show they sold more than just juice. It also helped avoid any ideas that "juice" might be unhealthy.

On August 4, 2020, Jamba opened its first store in Tokyo, Japan.

New Products and Flavors

Jamba has always looked for new ways to offer healthy drinks and food. In December 2007, Jamba worked with Nestlé. They planned to create a line of ready-to-drink beverages. These would be sold under the Jamba brand. However, this partnership stopped in 2008. There were problems making the products consistently.

In 2014, Jamba Juice added more fresh juice options. They started making juice blends to order. These juices used fresh ingredients. Some of these ingredients included kale, beets, and ginger.

The Jamba Innovation Bar

In July 2016, Jamba opened a special store. It was called the Jamba Juice Innovation Bar. This store was in Old Pasadena. It was much bigger than a regular Jamba Juice store.

The Innovation Bar sold more than just smoothies. It also offered many other foods. These included quinoa bowls and hummus toast with vegetables. They also had homemade potato chips and different vegan foods. This was also the first Jamba store with a larger Wi-Fi dining area. Matt Kafka, who worked at Jamba, called it a "cool and hip place." The store had cool mirrored art and pictures of fruits. It also had screens showing video greetings. However, the Innovation Bar closed on January 3, 2017. It then became a regular Jamba store.

See also

In Spanish: Jamba Juice para niños

• Booster Juice
• Milkshake
• Orange Julius
• Robeks
• Smoothie
• Talbott Teas