"Jamba Juice is a chain of smoothie restaurants headquartered in Emeryville, California with over 700 locations operating in 30 states, the District of Columbia and the Bahamas. Over 500 locations are company-owned, with the remainder being franchised. For the 51-week Fiscal Year ending on January 1, 2008 sales were $317 million, which included sales of $306 million from company locations.
Jamba Juice was founded in April 1990 by Cal Poly graduate Kirk Perron, along with cofounders Joe Vergara, Kevin Peters, and Linda Ozawa Olds. It was incorporated in 1990 as Juice Club, Inc. in San Luis Obispo, California. It is known as one of the leaders in the quick-serve fruit and vegetable juice market nationwide.
In 1993, the company opened and started along with two other California stores owners, one in Palo Alto[7] and one in Irvine. The original San Luis Obispo Juice Club was located at the corner of Chorro St. and Foothill Blvd. and still exists as a Jamba Juice location.
Juice Club Inc. of San Francisco changed its store name to Jamba Juice in 1995.
In August 1997, Jamba entered into an operating agreement with Whole Foods Market to sell only "natural" products inside some of the Whole Foods's locations, including Jamba's smoothies' ingredients. For this reason, offerings at Whole Foods sites may differ from those at stand-alone sites. Jamba Juice acquired all nation-wide 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 one of the nation's best known smoothie chains, emphasizing the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
Since entering the market in New York City, June 2004, Jamba Juice has opened 19 locations across the city and it continues to open more locations. The first location was 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 just south of Union Square, Times Square, 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 closing of the transaction, the publicly traded Services Acquisition changed its name to Jamba, Inc." (
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