Jamba Juice - History

History

Jamba Juice was conceived and founded in April 1990 by Kirk Perron an avid cyclist and healthy lifestyle advocate, who opened his first store in San Luis Obispo. He was later joined in the business by three friends Joe Vergara, Kevin Peters, and Linda Ozawa Olds. It was incorporated in 1990 as Juice Club, Inc. in San Luis Obispo, California.

Jamba Juice acquired all nationwide Zuka Juice, Inc. stores in March 1999. Zuka Juice was founded in Orem, Utah by Dave Duffin and also was a prominent smoothie company at the time. Since then, Jamba Juice has expanded to become a well known smoothie chain. The first location in New York was at Columbus Circle and 59th Street in the basement of the Time Warner Center and is part of the Whole Foods Market seating area. Other locations include one south of Union Square, Times Square, Tribeca, and one in the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

On March 13, 2006, Jamba Juice agreed to be acquired by Services Acquisition Corp. International for $265 million. Services Acquisition is headed by Steven Berrard, former CEO of Blockbuster Inc. Upon the closing of the transaction, the publicly traded Services Acquisition changed its name to Jamba, Inc.

In June 2008' Jamba, Inc. announced that it has completed a $35.0 million convertible preferred stock transaction. The convertible preferred stock becomes redeemable by Jamba, Inc. at the election of the purchasers in June 2016 unless converted earlier and includes an 8% annual dividend. The preferred stock is convertible into common shares at a price of $1.15 per share.

The funding was led by a $19.55 million investment by Mistral Equity Partners, a private equity fund focused on consumer products and services companies, with the remaining $15.45 million investment made by a company controlled by the Serruya Family, a successful entrepreneurial Canadian-based family. The Serruya Family, who founded the Yogen Früz frozen yogurt and smoothie chain. “We are very excited about Jamba and the potential growth opportunities available to the company as it extends the brand through licensing and franchising opportunities,” said Andrew Heyer, managing partner of Mistral Equity Partners. “This transaction complements our focus exclusively on investing in consumer businesses with strong management teams that capitalize on emerging demographic or psychographic trends.” Yogen Früz CEO Michael Serruya said his company would provide Jamba with insights into global franchise operations. Effective upon the closing of the transaction, Andrew R. Heyer, Beth L. Bronner, and Michael Serruya joined the Board of Directors.

In December of 2008, Jamba began a strategic move to transform the company from a smoothie shop to include a line of wraps, sandwiches, salads, and flatbreads. Jamba currently has over 750 locations in 26 states across the U.S. with a small number of international outlets.

In July 2009, in promoting its new line of products, Jamba Juice was criticized for running an ad campaign which was described as a "ripoff" of the work of cartoonist David Rees. The ad campaign looked similar to Rees' "Get Your War On" series. Rees was informed of the Jamba Juice ads by a fan who sent in a letter. Rees stated that "Jamba Juice bit my style, with no credit, and it's kind of disrespectful."