Jamba Juice comes to Manila
MANILA, Philippines—The latest craze in the US is opening its Philippine flagship store in Bonifacio Global City on November 11.
Jamba Juice hopes to establish its position as a healthy yet tasty option to the growing active lifestyle of Filipinos.
Jamba Inc. tied up with Max’s Group of Companies to develop 40 Jamba Juice locations in the Philippines over the next 10 years.
“The Philippine market is a market that we feel we could be strong here,” answers Sharon Fuentebella, EVP for Max’s Group of Companies and managing director of Jamba Juice Philippines on why they’re choosing the country.
She adds that since tropical fruits are endemic here, the creation of their famous juices will be enjoyed by most Filipinos.
Jamba Juice will sit on a 130-square-meter area with 50 seats and over 100 juices and smoothies to choose from. This will be the first store for the Southeast Asia region.
“We believe that the Philippines will be a natural fit to this brand,” Fuentebella says.
In the United States, Jamba Juice has been synonymous with fun and great taste.
Jamba Juice has always adhered to its commitment of bringing great-tasting juices as well as smoothies.
The emerging trend toward a healthier lifestyle also attracted Fuentebella—who is a longtime fan of Jamba Juice—to bring and introduce the brand here. “We have this vision of mixing the bestseller juice like Mango-a-go-go and Strawberry Surf rider with our homegrown fruits like papaya and coconut juice,” she says.
A specialized team studies and monitors the latest trend for each state and country that Jamba is in. It has concluded that the brand has always been driven by psychographics rather than demographics.
In addition to drinks, Jamba Juice Philippines will carry a line of food wraps and slow-cooked oat meals topped with berries, apples and bananas. The store will open its doors at 7 a.m. to cater to those who are working out every day.
The word “Jamma” is Swahili—a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups in the Indian Ocean from Northern Kenya to Mozambique—which means “to celebrate.” The US-based team added the letter “b” and since then the brand has been known to be a celebration for a healthy lifestyle.
And since Filipinos enjoy adding a bit of variety to their food and drinks, Jamba Juice Philippines will be offering a boost of soy milk, whey protein, protein, antioxidants, immunity and truckloads of vitamins to their drinks. These “boosts” are nutritional supplements to be added to the drink.
In the US, Jamba Juice has been involved in the campaign to fight obesity. They educate parents to teach their kids to eat right and eat healthy. Surprisingly, Jamba has been phenomenal with the youngsters. They drag their parents to the nearest Jamba store for their healthy dose.
However, in the Philippines we fight a different battle and that is malnutrition. Jamba Juice Philippines will address this problem by reaching out to public schools and poverty-stricken neighborhoods. The team aims to teach them how and what to eat right.
“Hopefully Jamba can make a difference,” says Mark Gamboa, marketing manager of Jamba Juice Philippines. While feeding programs really do help the kids, they believe that educating their parents to make the most out of our limitless options of fruits and vegetables is a better way to make the problem of malnutrition just a thing of the past in the Philippines.
A research and development team is constantly coming out with something creative to offer to their growing market. The US-based team shares that most of its ideas actually come from employees and consumers.
“In the US, customers tend to customize their own drinks and these get around through word of mouth,” Sharon adds. Customers usually post their own juice recipes online and the R&D just picks it up and eventually carries it out in its product line.
“The website has been a platform to invent juices and hopefully our Filipino customers would do the same,” she adds.
Jamba Juice Philippines also wants the Filipinos to interact with the brand. With over 750 stores in the US, the brand has truly endeared itself to the Americans.
On October 13, Jamba Juice will attempt to set a world record of having people perform jumping jacks for over a minute in a span of 24 hours. It will begin with US first lady Michelle Obama at the White House. There will be over 20,000 people participating in this event.
Last year, they set a world record for having 88,000 people perform jumping ropes across America.
But quality control is the top priority of Jamba. They only pick the freshest and scour the world for the finest and ripest fruit for picking. Some fruits are frozen to ensure their freshness and to maintain their great taste and lock in their nutrients.
Just like a fruit, Jamba Juice aims to grow its stores to other vital locations such as Greenhills, Mall of Asia and Alabang Town Center.
