Fresh!
Delicious!
Do I have your attention yet?
Of course I do.
The trigger words of a generation.
Let’s use that to your advantage and get some fresh, clean, delicious, and natural juice into your customer’s hands.
I'm Ippei, your friendly neighborhood online entrepreneur and lead generation specialist.
We’ll dive into the investment, the reality of creating a juicing business from the comfort of your home, getting your brand into the world...
And finding the best people at the right prices to juice your way to the top.
How to Start a Juice Business in 2021
Want to Start a Juice Business in 2021?Here's how to make those lemons into lemonade!
Commit to get your licensing and permits approved, especially if you’re at home. Acquire the most reliable equipment, choose a business model, market yourself well. Buddy up to your vendors, find the magic numbers for an affordable product and profit, get experts, and consider franchising with an established business.
Start Up Costs
While this list is not a comprehensive compilation of every you need to start a juice business, it provides a snapshot of what you need to add into your business plan.
Annual Revenue of Established Juice Business
According to Fit Small Business, the average annual revenue of this kind of business is:
| $100,000-600,000 |
Profit Margins of Established Juice Business
According to this website, the average Profit margin of this kind of business is: 20-30%
9 Tips Quick Start Checklist:
1. Licensing + Laws
Just like any, old business, your juice company will require a general business license so that you become a viable location in your state.
UNlike any other business around, your juice business is extra special…
And will also require extra special legal action to ensure that you’re not going to get shut down by the health department…
Or sued by an unhappy (or unwell) customer.
Your home juicing empire will also need…
a food handler’s permit, vendor license, and a health permit meaning that you met local, state, national safety requirements.
Basically keeping you out of trouble, and keeping you from putting your customers in a troubled tummy state.
There is also the Cottage Law to consider...
Cottage laws list what food can and cannot be handled and prepared inside someone’s home, and the list varies depending on which state you are in.
For example, the list of approved foods that a food entrepreneur can sell from a residence in the state of Georgia is:
Take heart, and be confidence that it can be done at home.
Suja, Sol-ti, JRINK, and Naked all began in homes.
Now, their juices are in our homes around the world.
2. Making Sure Your Juice Business Passes Inspection
Plot twist!
It is illegal to run a juice business from your personal kitchen.
Sorry. No juice selling for you.
Kidding!
Though I am not kidding about the illegality of using your personal kitchen, there are legal ways to create a space, away from your family’s kitchen..
for you to juice and make bank the whole night through.
You must have a specified location where your business is conducted like a garage, basement or spare room.
Whatever area you choose, all surfaces must be…
wipeable and cleanable (i.e. concrete floors, fiberglass on the walls and ceilings).
So this may take a small investment to convert whatever magical space you’re thinking of to dedicate to passing all health codes.
A few other things to consider in legalizing your juice are the kind of water you have access to…
and you’re gonna have to count your sinks.
If you are planning to use well water, it must be tested and approved before any distributing takes place.
You must also have 3 sinks.
Extra special, of course.
A sink for produce washing, a sink for hand washing and a sink for sanitizing.
Check this legal list, and you’ll be free to juice!
3. Finding the Right Juicing Equipment
To make all of your juicing business dreams become realized...
equipment, good equipment is necessary to invest in.
Of course, the juicer.
The price of the “right kind” of juicer may cause some cringing…
But if you’re heeding the advice of experts, you’ll want to cringe through the investment.
You’d rather purchase something long-lasting and will hold up to continuous use for years to come instead of having to buy cheap juicers over and over again and also pay labor costs for repairs.
Not to mention suffering cashflow stops if you can’t juice and stick to your production schedule.
Pro Tip:
You’ll want to find a genuine juice press juicer that is NSF certified. Like the M1 or X1-mini. There are more essential items that your juicing space should host: a portion scale to weigh ingredients by exact gram measurements, storage containers, good knives, and cutting boards and helpful small wares.
Now may be an excellent time to search for the kitchen equipment as restaurants and businesses are closing up shop.
And if you’re feeling discouraged because there’s not enough in the account to cover the cost for quality equipment...
wait and save. Juice isn’t going anywhere.
OOOOOR find an investor for those early needs.
4. Set Your Juice Business Apart from the Rest
It’s difficult to think about reinventing the wheel when it comes to a thing like juice.
It’s only been around since forever.
Squeeze a fruit or vegetable tightly enough and voila!
The factors what will set you apart are, most likely, not going to be your ingredients or concoctions.
It will be things like…
your brand, sales strategy and the speed in which you can get your juice to market.
Don’t fret, my pet.
Remember all of those super successful people that started in a basement?
Let’s channel our inner self and get that juice of yours flying off of your shelves.
First, choose which business model(s) to use.
Will you deliver locally only?
Set up a retail store or juice bar?
Wholesale?
Or a combination of some sort?
Delivering locally is convenient and would help build your clientele.
A retail store or juice bar could be more quickly profitable, but a larger budget would be necessary for building and/or rental fees.
If you’re going all in for wholesale, it could save on costs per product…
but the money for space and equipment would drastically increase.
A combo may be the right path for you.
Distribute to local and national stores as a wholesale business, and also offer delivery, shipping, and even a brick and mortar location.
Multiple streams of income doesn’t sound too shabby.
Don’t feel like you have to bite off more than you can chew in this scenario, either.
Start small and grow.
Begin with local delivery and keep working for the dream of bigger and better.
5. Launch An Online Store
One of those small steps should be launching an online store.
Hire a professional photographer and food stylist to make your juice look irresistible to anyone who comes across your store.
People will find their way onto your store because you will also launch a social media blitz…
Tell people that you’re starting a juice business,
how you’re starting your juice business, and why.
Let people connect with you first, so that they’ll already feel connected to your juice when it’s time to buy.
The young and the old will connect to you, and also to your brand.
Create your brand: Your name, a memorable image, a snappy slogan.
Put all of those in your juicer and drink from the fruit of your labor.
Even come out of the gate with a weekly juice subscription offer and get the people hooked.
Hooked on you, your brand and your juice!
Through Lead Generation, I can help your future customers find what they're looking for:
YOU!
6. Be friends with Your Vendor, Your Earth & Your Customer
You’ve got the people hooked.
Let’s talk fulfillment.
Juice is a highly perishable item…
Hence all of those permits and licenses and health codes you have to abide by.
If juice is your game, we’ve gotta learn to play by rules to keep customers coming back.
A potential setback to the comebacks is...
making your juice affordable for the consumer AND profitable for you.
Buying in bulk is the way to win this battle.
Buy the produce in bulk so that your prices aren’t sky high and unreasonable, and you’re left wanting.
When you’re buying in bulk, also get to know the vendors you’re buying from.
Build relationship and rapport with your produce guys and gals.
Not only is it a great way to do business, but a great way to make sure you’re getting the quality stuff at the right price.
Once you’ve got the produce and the prices are right, you’ve got the toughest choice to make in your juice business career...
Plastic or glass?
Of course, price is a factor and plastic isn’t all that bad.
Glass is steeper in the cash money, but may be worth it depending on your audience.
A glass bottle is more appealing, more earth-friendly and will *potentially* hold better tasting juice.
Decisions, decisions.
When that’s taken care of, we come back to actual fulfillment and distribution.
Stick to a production schedule!
Consider when those vendors are providing you with the bulk produce...
plan to use the handy-dandy equipment on certain days to create the magic drinks…
and then get them to your customers in those nicely branded (plastic or glass) bottles.
Ah, like clockwork.
Seriously.
Make your schedule as predictable as the hands rotating around that clock.
Even though that schedule will be predictable, your produce may not always be so.
Communicate with customers about seasonal produce and availability.
The fewer surprises the better.
7. Perfect Your Recipes
We’ve discussed how everything under the sun that can be done with juice has probably already been done.
If you’re the powerful wizard who proves me wrong…
then go ahead and skip this section.
For the rest of us muggles, it’s time to talk recipes.
Especially if your juice business is taking flight from home, take this time to find your confidence and comfortability with your produce.
The key is perfecting five to eight recipes that will your be your go-to menu...
and then expand from there.
Wellness shots are also big hits in the juice business industry these days.
So adding a couple of options there could be beneficial.
Also keep in mind that a sweet, green drink is a popular choice for Americans out there getting their juice on.
While you’re tinkering and figuring your menu items…
let’s think about the cost of goods (COGS).
You’ll want to keep your COGS down to 25% of the final price of per drink.
If you’re spending 50-60% of the final price per drink, you won’t see a profit…
and we certainly don’t want that.
We want to turn a profit, baby!
8. Find an Expert in the Juice Business
To those juice business newbies out there…
find an expert to have on your team.
If not a juice expert, at least an expert who has been involved in management in the food and beverage industry…
someone’s who may know the rules of this game a little better than you right now.
Can’t find an expert to work with you?
Hire a business consultant.
There are even juicing consultants to be discovered...
to help you navigate through this new territory, and maybe avoid some of the bumps and bruises they endured.
This person, or these people, may also be helpful as you organize spreadsheets for things like…
inventory, COGS, projections, payroll, etc.
Just things that you as the new juice business king or queen will become more familiar with each passing day.
Speaking of payroll...
understand the disclaimer with your juice business that your employees will require extensive training...
so as to remain kosher with the laws and protocols that are oh-so-important in your success.
9. Consider Franchising A Juice Business
Say we’ve gotten this far in our juice business journey and you’ve decided,
“Nah, bro. I’m not up for doing this business alone, from my home.”
That’s okay.
In the words of Dory’s dad “There’s always another way.”
You can still get your juice on and it can be done through franchising.
With that post-covid lifestyle and citizens waking up to the important of health, nutrition and organic foods…
juicing franchises are on the freaking rise.
Sales of organic produce have increased by 20% since the spring of 2020.
It’s those millennials, I tell ya.
Eighty million of them.
And they’re the largest group of organic shoppers to date.
Not to mention how no one can resist the ease and convenience of delivery apps.
Clean Juice is a prominent leader in the juice business that offers franchising, as well as Tropical Smoothie Cafe.
Fifty percent of TSC’s franchise owners see $900,000+ average in net revenue…
They have opened 520 stores in the last 5 years...
and already have chefs and nutritionists on staff to develop recipes for your future customers.
It’s hard to go wrong using words like fresh, delicious, clean, simple.
Gets us every time.
And a slightly less grand gesture in comparison to franchising is...
offering a partnership to local restaurants to provide for all of their juice business needs.
Pros and Cons
of starting a juice business
Pros
The exciting part of the juice industry is that now more than ever before, we are living in an extremely health conscious society. People are waking up to the reality of how important it is to care for their bodies, and be mindful of the fuel that they give it. Organic foods and health are a cultural focus! This is good news for your juice business. The health conscious mindset that has become "popular" is more than just a passing trend, and you can capitalize on this.
Despite the fact that our modern day culture is becoming more health conscious... Most of us are still addicted to convenience culture. Fortunately, the juice business can fulfill both of these needs, as it makes a healthy choice more convenient. Especially since most people don't want to start juicing themselves!
While there are state specific cottage laws to consider, it is possible to start a thriving juice business from your home. In fact, popular juice brands like Suja, Sol-ti, JRINK, and Naked all began in homes. Now, their juices are in our homes around the world. Who knows... Maybe you're next?
Because there is the potential to start this business at home, you have the luxury of growing at your own pace. When you're ready to expand to online sales or a physical storefront, you can! You can even franchise your brand and expand across the world. The sky's the limit, but you can start as small as you'd like.
Cons
Need I say more? Dealing with a highly perishable product makes everything complicated... And risky. Not only is there a risk of accidentally selling or serving a spoiled juice, or one that has been accidentally exposed to contaminants... But there is also the financial risk of miscalculating how much fresh fruit and veggies you will need to be juicing. If your inventory is higher than your sales, you may find yourself out the money if the produce spoils before it can be juiced and sold.
Especially in the beginning, your income will be attached to your hours. While this is common with many business models, it's a poor set up for long term wealth or passive income. If your profit potential is directly tied to the amount of juice bottles you can manufacture in an hour... You will forever be trapped by the working hours in a day.
And inherent downfall of the juice business model is that it is difficult to make and distribute juice affordably to customers, while still being profitable for you as the business owner.
Due to the fluctuating costs of produce, and the distribution issues of the juice business, the profit margins can be slim. Especially once you add in shipping and labor costs down the line.
A Juice Business Can Be Profitable, If You Know This First
The initial investment in legalities, equipment, inventory and distribution products can quickly go sky-high.
Good news for you...
the population loves convenience and the world is turning their hearts toward organic foods.
A juice business offers both.
If you’re looking to provide the world with this winning combination, but don’t quite have that cashflow to get started…
Don’t let that stop you.
Way back in 2014, I was maybe $2K in a good month.
Until I came across a business model that has created over $50K a month in just five years.
Imagine the produce you could juice and give to the good people with that kind of monthly passive income.
Wanna know the secret?
Online lead generation.
It’s the process of local lead generation that relies on Google’s localization powers and strategic SEO to create a steady stream of new leads for small businesses.
You can help put juice in your customers hands while also helping other entrepreneurs reach their full potential.
So if you're ready to learn more about the potential of the local lead generation business model, check this out.
