Menu Innovation & Creation
When You’re Opening a Juice Bar, You Want Our Food Scientist on Your Side
Noah Burgess grew up in Hawaii, so a lot of the ingredients our Research and Development Food Scientist now works with were actually growing in his backyard. With his background in nutrition, food science, chemistry and physiology, Burgess understands there’s a lot more to a smoothie bowl than meets the eye.
S
o when a customer at our franchisee Brooklynn Lorenzen’s Hillsboro,
Oregon, Juice It Up! has a question about which menu items have a low
glycemic index or what combination might best aid digestion, Lorenzen
knows who to turn to. It’s one of the reasons she opted for an experienced
franchisor when she and her husband were planning on opening a juice bar.
“I went through the process of trying to figure out whether I wanted to do this on my own, and one of the benefits I saw with Juice It Up! was the recipes themselves. Our food scientist, Noah, is awesome,” says Lorenzen, a single-unit owner. “I want to be able to answer the questions we have from customers and I don’t want to mislead them. I hit him up for nutritional info help in coming up with new product options when someone wants something customized. That’s probably the most invaluable help.
Healthy and Delicious
“I’ve lived and breathed food and health and nutrition my whole life,” says Burgess. But that doesn’t mean our customer base is comprised of only hardcore health junkies.
“There’s a level of health on our menu for everyone,” he says, “whether it’s the college kid who wants to substitute their burger with a refreshing fruit smoothie or the CrossFit junkie that really needs their protein smoothie or raw juice before or after they work out.”
When we first started out, we were much more known for our smoothies, and juicing was in its infancy. Over the last couple of decades, people have increasingly started paying attention to what they’re eating as the connection between poor nutrition and poor health has been validated by research over and over again. Our product lines have expanded to meet and anticipate consumer needs, and today we offer fresh squeezed, 100% raw juices, handcrafted fruit and vegetable smoothies, superfruit smoothies and bowls, and organic cold-pressed bottled juices, in addition to an assortment of boosts and protein enhancers, as well as wheatgrass and ginger shots, and a variety of grab-and-go snacks.
We were the first to market the superfruit açaí and we were among the first to offer pitaya. These nutrient-dense fruits play an important role in our menu because they meet that important threshold of being both healthy and delicious. An Ultimate Açaí Bowl, packed with Vitamin C, antioxidants and fiber, won’t do anyone much good if it doesn’t taste great.
Our fusions, juices, smoothies and bowls are a great way to fuel workouts and busy days, and they can all be great meat-free meal replacements.