Within the multi-billion-dollar smoothie and juice bar market, Main Squeeze Juice Co., the plant-powered smoothie and cold-pressed juice franchise, has consistently set itself apart from other juice concepts by providing easily accessible, great-tasting fresh products for everyone. As it grows, Main Squeeze Juice Co. has continued to evolve its processes while maintaining a high level of product quality in an effort to streamline team members’ processes while elevating the guest experience. The newest development comes thanks to the brand’s consistent pursuit of high-quality fruits that are easier to blend. Paired with new equipment innovations, the updated ingredients and processes can bring blending time below 20 seconds.

“Our goal, to me, has always been to make things better,” explained Julie Canseco, chief dietitian officer. “The processes need to be extremely easy for guests and owners, and often, fast, healthy, fresh foods pose a challenge to that. As the brand grows, we’ve really taken the time to research and develop new equipment, products and processes that maintain the same quality while creating an even more enjoyable customer experience as it’s that much faster.”

Partnering With the Right Fruit Suppliers Boosts Efficiency Without Sacrificing Quality

One of the most important differentiators of the Main Squeeze Juice Co. process is the use of whole, frozen fruit in all smoothies. Rather than using ice as a primary ingredient, Main Squeeze Juice Co. uses frozen fruit to create the smoothie texture without watering down the final product. 

While blending fruit with ice cubes is a common technique in the smoothie space, Main Squeeze Juice Co. is committed to maintaining quality standards that are a step above the rest. By partnering with the right suppliers and embracing new equipment, Main Squeeze Juice Co. speeds up the process while maintaining quality and potent nutrients.

“We have scoured distributors to source non-acid-wash, individually, quick frozen fruits,” said Canseco. “We finally found a partner in Patagonia Foods who has a new, exclusive program for Main Squeeze that achieves the ripeness of banana that we want without compromising our quality standard.”

Some distributors use ascorbic or citric acid washes prior to freezing fruit to better preserve the product. This practice is especially common with frozen bananas, but this was an area Main Squeeze Juice Co. is unwilling to compromise on. Rather than introducing fruits with additional preservatives to the smoothies and bowls, each location was peeling, slicing and freezing bananas to maintain quality and freshness. However, with Patagonia Foods’ non-acid-wash banana slices, local owners can guarantee optimal freshness while taking back some of the time and labor associated with freezing fruit in-house.

Another similar update is the adoption of frozen açaí cubes from Pitaya Foods. Because açaí is naturally sugar-free and high in omega fatty acids, it is primarily sold frozen to prevent quick spoiling. However, truly pure açaí often freezes into a hard brick, making it difficult for employees to easily portion out açaí for a single smoothie or bowl.

“If you ever see açaí being easily scooped, it’s because there is a lot of sugar, pectin and gum added to it to alter the consistency,” explained Canseco. “We did not want to venture into unnecessary additives but were looking to streamline our processes as they relate to açaí, so we’re really excited to have found Pitaya Food’s new cubed, individually quick frozen açaí. They also do a different type of flash-freezing method that creates little frozen pieces of açaí that we can easily portion up.”

In addition to decreasing the amount of time necessary to deal with frozen açaí, this new partnership brings savings, a lower environmental impact and a better blend time.

New Equipment Propels the Product Advancements Further

In addition to new, innovative fruit sourcing, Main Squeeze Juice Co. sourced a new blender that is both faster and enhances the consistency of the bowls and smoothies.

“We have decreased our blend time from about two to three minutes to closer to 20 seconds,” said Canseco. “That 20 seconds comes from our new fruit paired with the fastest commercial blenders on the market. The appliance is the first on the market of its kind. The blender has a battery-operated damper that moves the product around within the blender as it's blending; it makes sure that we can achieve the consistency we want in the time frame we need.”

Main Squeeze Juice Co. has also rolled out new convection ovens for hot food options like toast and breakfast sandwiches that can be cooked in less than two minutes which will support the brand in reaching its goal of creating a predominant fresh food category in 2024.

“The convection oven brought our toast time down from about four minutes to 45 seconds. Our new plant-powered sandwiches can be cooked in about a minute and a half,” added Canseco. “This allows us to have an actual food option that’s still gluten-free, vegan, 100% plant-powered and hearty while making it quick and easy for the customer to come on their way to work, on a lunch break or on the way to an appointment or event. The faster we can deliver, the more convenient it is for them to come again. The oven rollout is part of a menu diversification into more full-meal items, driving additional revenue streams and increased tickets.”

What This Means for Franchisees

As Main Squeeze Juice Co. continues to evolve and adapt its processes, it will make operations even simpler for its owners while creating a better consumer experience, encouraging repeat business. 

“We’ve been partnering with our Franchise Action Council and really sharing a lot of our initiatives with them, and the message is getting dispersed across the system,” said Canseco. “What’s amazing is that these changes are happening so organically because the success has been so authentic. As we move forward and evolve our product lines and equipment, every new store will come with a new blender and oven, and every single franchisee gets to benefit from the new product updates. That’s our job as a home office — to create the programs and make things easier for the franchisees.”

The initial investment associated with opening a Main Squeeze Juice Company store will range from $385,050 to $682,750. For more information on franchising with the brand, visit https://www.mainsqueezefranchise.com/.