Innovation

Booster Juice is dedicated to serving delicious, premium products while emphasizing sustainable and organic food sources. They are committed to promoting and helping individuals make healthy nutritious food choices with the use of quality ingredients.

Nicolas Anbeek, the manager of the University of Guelph’s Hospitality and Food Services who looks over the University of Guelph’s Booster Juice stated, “Every brand tries to find a niche in the market and is going after some sort of demand. Booster Juice looked at the market and said that there isn’t a lot of smoothie concepts out there, so I’d say their niche is healthy, wholesome, and fast, an alternative to fast food. It is a meal replacement, which is the main concept behind Booster Juice.”

Inspiration

The innovation emerged from CEO and president of Booster Juice, Dale Wishewan, who came up with the idea of a fast-food chain for people with active lifestyles looking for a healthy alternative. This was the exact niche mentioned by Nicolas in which Booster Juice was targeting to hit once it began. Dale came across this idea while traveling to the U.S. where he noticed lots of smoothie bars opening up and realized that there was a desire for a concept like this in the Canadian market. This motivated him to take this idea home, using his own kitchen to create each unique smoothie recipe, while utilizing friends and family to test out the flavours. Soon after, he opened the first Booster Juice in Sherwood Park in Alberta. From that point on, Dale’s idea took flight.

When University of Guelph decided to open up a franchise in the University Center, Nicolas claimed that it was an instant hit “It’s been very successful, we’ve had it for about 11 years now. So it’s not new, but it’s always been very successful, it’s always been a very strong brand. Very weather dependent. When it’s decent out, the students are always lined up. The sales are strong, definitely one of the more successful places on campus.” Booster Juice is just one of many large brands that make up the University Center’s cafeteria, “we put Booster Juice in because it was a growing, recognized brand and a good fit for our students. We try to have a good variety of everything.” Although the University Center has lunch options such as Pizza Pizza, Subway, and KFC, Booster Juice provides students with a healthy and fast option that is perfect for on the go. This resonates well with Millennials, who are often health conscious, and the location on campus is ideal as it lies in one of the highest traffic areas.

Overall impact

The impact of the innovation on business was evident immediately. Being the first of it’s kind in Canada; the franchise grew at an astonishingly fast rate. In 1999, the very first Booster Juice opened and soon after 15 more locations were created. Obviously, there was a demand for healthy fast food alternatives. There was no one else in their market selling nutritious smoothies so it was very easy to expand and take advantage of the demand. Clearly there has been a major impact on business because today there are numerous smoothie places that are trying to recreate Booster Juice’s success.

The short-term effects are clearly seen through Booster Juice’s unparalleled success in their market. Even though the beginning of the company was just over 15 years ago, Booster Juice now includes over 300 locations internationally. Their innovation has not stopped yet, though. They have continued to use the best fruits and vegetables claiming to have established the “super food” movement. The short-term goals were to provide healthy food to those in a hurry, and by the looks of it, they have been extremely successful. The health conscious crusade has only gained speed. Booster Juice can definitely be credited for some of this success.

As far as long-term effects, Booster Juice is trying to benefit communities all around the world. Their end goal when they first started was to help reduce the growing cases of obesity in Canada. That dream has now expanded to creating healthier communities in every location around the world. Not only do they care about the food being consumed, but they also initiate fundraising campaigns and other charitable organizations to truly make a difference.

Business benefit

Creating a healthy alternative for students and promoting sustainability fits in with the culture and vision that the University of Guelph promotes so having the Booster Juice franchise on campus is very synergistic to the business of feeding students in a sustainable atmosphere.

Social and environmental benefit

Society benefited from the growth of Booster Juice because when consumers are pressed for time, they don’t have to opt for traditional fatty restaurants. One of the main goals is being part of the solution to the growing obesity problem in Canada and throughout the world by offering healthy products that are a true departure from typical “fast food.” Not only do they provide healthy meals, but they give back to the community as well.

In the past, Booster Juice has been a sponsor of CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada Play On festivities. Play On is meant to get kids in the community to be more active; they offer street hockey and other games to make the community get up and play. Booster Juice has also held community days setting up booths at local schools. They offered healthy dining solutions, educated students on the importance of choosing better food alternatives, and raised money for charities.

Booster Juice also has an impact on the environment. One of the most recent examples was providing free smoothies and meals to everyone in Edmonton that was affected by the Fort McMurray wildfires. Another example of the environmental impact is their proactive recycling method. Booster Juice uses fully recyclable cups and off the ability to buy reusable mugs. Brand name plastic mugs are made available to purchase to limit the amount of waste.

Interview

Nicolas Ambeek, Manager - Hospitality Services