The term "juice bar" may conjure up images of small operations near the Southern California coast, visited by slender, deeply tanned customers. While this picture is still valid, it’s only a limited view of today’s juice-bar industry. California leads the nation in numbers of juice bars (more than 275), but there are 525 located elsewhere in the country, according to "Juice Bar Industry Analysis," produced by Juice Gallery, a consulting firm in Chino Hills, Calif.

The overall market, estimated at $340 million annual domestic sales, is expanding rapidly. Chris Cuvelier, president of Juice & Smoothie Bar Consulting in San Francisco, predicts that within the next two years juice bars will be common sites in every major U.S. city. Thinking of catching the next beverage wave with a couple of old blenders? Not so fast. There are many things to keep in mind in order to get the juices flowing.

People and Places
Don’t settle for a less-than-prime location, recommends Cuvelier. Key areas for juice bars include those with proximity to business offices, at university food courts and in shopping districts in medium- to high-rent zones. The most-frequent patrons at these locations are charted as women in the 15 to 44 age range, a large pool to draw from, says Dan Titus, director of Juice Gallery.

Units should be built efficiently, paving the way for good traffic flow. Customers are on the go, and need to be served quickly. Early on, they may also need to be informed. There will be questions and concerns about the menu; make sure the staff is well-versed in the ingredients, nutrition benefits and composition of each drink. Even be creative and proactive about providing educational, image-based marketing and advertising. Says Titus: "You’re not selling smoothies; you’re not selling juice. You’re selling health." Or at least the perception of health.

Besides having a healthy attitude, Cuvelier recommends creating an original theme or a unique atmosphere that will help set the juice bar apart from big-name competition--the two biggest being San-Francisco-based Juice Club/Jamba Juice and Kenner, La.-based Smoothie King. Also, don’t limit hours of operation to morning and lunchtime. Once customers get hooked on the menu, says Cuvelier, it’s quite likely that they’ll need a juice fix any time of day.

To help encourage frequent visits, offer memberships or refill discounts. At Smoothieville in Chapel Hill, N.C., a "Frequent Smoother" card is given to customers. With every smoothie purchase, the card is stamped; after 10 stamps, the next smoothie is free. "These cards are immensely popular and [they] provide a considerable discount for our customers," says Jim Millican, co-owner.

The Products
Juice and smoothie flavors should be plentiful and interesting. Along with custom blends, Smoothieville offers 12 varieties, including the original Smoothieville (strawberries, bananas and orange juice) and the Mudslide (raspberries, nonfat chocolate yogurt, bananas and chocolate syrup).

There are many tricks to learn when it comes to making these healthy beverages.

For example, frozen strawberries create thicker smoothies than fresh strawberries, says Cuvelier. He also says operators shouldn’t be afraid to use unsweetened juice concentrates. They help control costs and are key when fruit availability is limited. If you do use them, however, be honest if a customer asks about a fresh-squeezing policy.

The main artillery for producing smoothies and juice drinks may also be a source of frustration. Beware of blender noise. Millican warns that "not only does it make the store a less appealing place to be, but it also presents potential long-term hearing problems for operators." He found the cure to this bothersome noise in clear, Lucite blender boxes, which diminish noise but let customers see smoothies being made, "a major part of the appeal of our operation."

Like all other foodservice operations, juice bars need to be concerned with food safety and should be up-to-date on government policies that may affect their business. For example, the Food and Drug Administration’s 1997 Food Code requires apple juice, apple cider and other beverages containing apple juice at food establishments that serve children or the elderly to "be obtained pasteurized, or in a commercially sterile shelf-stable form in a hermetically sealed container."

Besides juice blends and smoothies, add-on sales can be promoted by offering food products and retail goods such as healthful chips, fat-free muffins, energy bars, juicers, small blenders and T-shirts. These can be very profitable, says Titus, even though two-thirds of your sales will derive from the smoothies themselves.