july2017

68 69 CLEAN JUICE AT A GLANCE CLEAN JUICE WHAT: USDA Certified Organic Juice franchise brand WHERE: Headquarters in Concord, North Carolina; franchises throughout the U.S. WEBSITE: www.cleanjuice- bar.com Kat speaks from the heart about their Clean Juice brainchild. “I think our basis for juicing followed the way we’d been eating at home with our kids. I had been doing it, self-taught, for about ten years. I was super interested in the benefits of wellness and eating a plant- based, organic diet.We wanted to turn that into a business because we felt passionate about it, just from being that way at home as a family.” Landon explains, “The more we delved into other franchise concepts, the more we thought we could do it better ourselves. Not to say anything bad about them, we just wanted to focus on being all organic.We wanted a strong emphasis on the guest experience –how the store was laid out.We wanted our guests to see all the fresh produce we were putting into their products, and we really didn’t find that with any other concepts. I had quit my job, my wife wasn’t working, we were raising our kids at the time, and we spent about a year developing the concept before we actually launched it.” Landon says, “Obviously, we wanted a strong product.We wanted to be certified organic because we believe when you’re making juic- es and smoothies you use the best products.When we first began the Clean Juice brand,we didn’t necessarily think about franchising it, but af- ter a year of prep, and the opening, seeing how successful our first store was,we realized that franchising could be a strong possibility.” Two more corporate stores opened in the first year, and the fran- chising platform was launched in the summer of 2016. There are currently 63 total franchise units - five currently open and operating and 58 in development, four corporate stores open and operational, and four more corporate stores planned for this year. The first Clean Juice franchise opened March 15th, 2017, and since then interest has soared in states across the country. Landon notes, “The most important thing a franchise owner can have is passion for Clean Juice.We want them to understand why we