Jamba Juice announced the completion of its refranchise initiative, originally announced in May 2009, with the sale of 41 stores in the Chicago/Minneapolis markets to J J Maa, Inc.
The company was successful in completing the sale of 173 stores, exceeding the original goal to refranchise up to 150 stores primarily outside of California. In conjunction with several of the refranchise transactions, development agreements for an aggregate of 52 additional new Jamba Juice stores were entered into as well as commitments to refresh and refurbish select mature stores.
"To have exceeded our goal is a significant accomplishment. I could not be more proud of the entire team," says James White, chairman, president, and CEO of Jamba Juice Company. "Refranchising these stores will allow us to better focus our operational resources on our company-owned stores in California and New York and improve efficiencies and performance. It also creates a business shift to an asset-light business model that is less capital intensive.
“We were able to find new or existing highly qualified and successful franchisees who wanted to be a part of the Jamba team," White says. "We welcome all of our new franchisees into the system and look forward to working with them in their respective markets.”
The company believes that the completion of the refranchise initiative will better position Jamba for accelerated growth, increase brand presence and market share, provide the company with greater overall margins, and reduce capital outlays.
