The juice bars market has been dominated by high profile franchise brand Boost Juice Bars. Here’s what you need to know.

1. Boost Juice Bars, launched in 2000 by Janine Allis, is part of the Retail Zoo business. The group is now 70 percent owned by private equity firm Bain Capital. In 2004, Retail Zoo consolidated its position in the market with the acquisition of its main competitor, Viva Juice Bars.

2. About 70 percent of Boost Juice outlets are franchised.

3. Boost was quick to capitalise on the growing awareness for healthy eating. The company’s financial performance has been strong, with sales revenue expected to have increased by an annualised 11 percent for the five years to 2016.

4. Estimated market share: 55.4%

We asked franchise recruitment manager Sally Nathan to answer some questions that came out of the IbisWorld Juice and Smoothie Bars in Australia Industry Report, March 2016.

Q. How can franchisees best control costs given the volatility of produce?

“At Boost, we use a lot of fresh produce which inherently is subject to a degree of variants when it comes to cost, supply and quality.

“One of the benefits of joining a strong franchised brand such as Boost Juice is that we have a dedicated team who source and negotiate produce for stores on behalf of our franchise partner network.

“This group buying power results in not only cost savings for our partners, but strategic relationships that we have built across the industry to ensure that the impact of produce shortages is minimised across our business.”

Q: How will Boost Juice Bar franchisees carve out a strong business given increased outgoings and near saturation of the market?

Franchise recruitment manager Sally Nathan says, “Despite the predictions of reduced profits by IbisWorld, Boost Juice has continued to see a steady increase in sales and profits, year on year. As a business, we never take our successes for granted and constantly challenge ourselves, complacency is not an option.

“Across the world, Boost Juice has the largest global footprint of any juice and smoothie bar and we are always focused on development across our business to ensure that our franchise partners continue to see healthy profits from their Boost Juice businesses, whether they own one store, a cluster of businesses or the rights to a whole country internationally.

“We closely monitor our year on year sales and many other facets of our business to ensure we understand all areas for opportunity therefore one of our greatest assets is we know where we stand on a daily bases and we can react quickly.

“We have no intention of seeing this change in the coming years and will continue to test and challenge ourselves to stay at the forefront of the industry.

Q. Given the spread of Boost Juice Bars across Australia, what options are there for franchisees coming into the network?

Nathan says the demand for those looking to join the franchise network remains as strong as it’s ever been.

“Despite the number of stores we have across the country, we still believe that there is opportunity for domestic growth,” she says.

“Firstly, we have identified that there is great opportunity and interest in larger regional cities and towns. We have seen great success in stores that have opened in regional locations over the last few years and we will continue to explore these opportunities further, where we believe it is viable.

“We are also looking into alternative model and footprints for our stores.

“For example, we opened the first Boost Juice store in a service centre in BP Stapylton in Queensland at the end of 2014. We have seen great results from this store and as a result we will shortly be opening our second service centre store in BP Caboolture with more to come.”

Q. Boost is directed at youthful consumers yet demographics reflect an ageing population – will there be any changes to tap into this market?

“One very interesting change we have observed in our business is a shift in the demographics of our customers,” reveals Nathan. “In the infancy of the Boost Juice story, we saw a strong skew towards female customers in the teenage years, and those in their 20s.

“As the market has developed and matured, we have seen that our customers have grown up, had families and have introduced juices and smoothies as a core part of their children’s dietary habits.

“Our first customers have grown up with us and we have developed a loyal customer base of people in their 20s, 30s, 40s and beyond who enjoy our products on a regular basis.”

Q. What are the consumer trends in this market?

Boost closely monitors product trends across the world.

“We have seen changes over the last few years and a shift from a focus on ‘green’ products, to those that pack a well-rounded nutritional punch.

“With this change, we developed our Black range which has been incredibly well received.”

• Find out more about Boost Juice