Business View Magazine | August 2020

87 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE AUGUST 2020 CLEAN JUI CE them own two or three. We call it ‘building your empire.’ I have weekly calls with multiple franchisees who are ready to develop more stores.” BVM: Are franchisees required to purchase supplies and materials through the corporate office? McDonnell: “We do require all of our owners to get all their materials from approved vendors. One: we’re 100-percent, USDA-certified organic, so we want to always maintain that certification. Two: the beauty of being part of a franchise is that we have everything figured out and in place. We have a Director of Supply Chain that oversees that whole area and connects with all of our owners on sourcing all of their material. We also manage the relationships and the pricing with all these vendors to make sure that all of our owners can always source all of their materials at all times.” BVM: How was Clean Juice affected by the coronavirus pandemic? Cuff: “During the height of the pandemic – the end of March, the beginning of April – we had 13 stores that temporarily closed. All but one have reopened. By yesterday, our system-wide sales were back to where we were previous to COVID-19. We did a lot to get through. Our entire home office team wore multiple hats, whether it was working in home stores here, or moving produce from one store to another. Our home office team all took significant pay cuts and the thought was if we all suffer a little bit together, no one has to suffer a lot individually. Fortunately, we didn’t have to furlough or lay anyone off during the pandemic. In fact, we’ve already started hiring more people on our team. “To get through the pandemic, we hosted bi- weekly conference calls with our system, to be able to help them make it through: How do you get rent deferral, or rent abatement from your