The Age reports on the increase of juice bars in Melbourne:
Five years ago, your local juice bar was the province of grocers disposing of excess product, or pine-clad healthfood stores. But in 2000, several Australian entrepreneurs launched juice bars simultaneously.
Boost Juice and Viva Juice opened their pilot stores mid-year, within a month of each other, Boost in King William Street, Adelaide, Viva in Swan Street, Richmond. Now Boost has 83 franchised stores, with plans to reach 125 by the end of the year, and Viva Juice has 23 company-owned stores and plans to double in size each year (40 by December). Both companies spend a chunk of their profits chasing juice bars that co-opt their storefront design or product names. "An apple juice is just an apple juice," says Allis. "We didn't invent smoothies. But when people call their smoothie an All Berry Bang as well, we have to stop them."
The juice wasn't worth the squeeze for some of the other early adopters, but they have been replaced by new competitors. Highpoint shopping mall has four juice bars, Bondi Junction has five. Newcomer Pulp Juice, a six-outlet juice bar set up four months ago, has just been bought by merchandising company Signature Brands for $2 million, with plans to expand the brand to 50 locations before the year is out.
