Jamba Juice CEO James White talks about a fruitful 2012, and how the company plans to continue juicing profits in 2013.

Air Date: 01/04/2013 Length: 03:27
Transcript

GHARIB:  And you can bet that companies like Jamba (NASDAQ:JMBA) Juice are paying close attention to that issue.  Jamba (NASDAQ:JMBA) is coming off a terrific 2012.  It's been cutting costs, launching new products and expanding outside the U.S.  The stock surged more than 75 percent in the past year.  Earlier today Erika Miller spoke with CEO James White and began by asking him what he sees as the biggest threat to Jamba (NASDAQ:JMBA) Juice's positive momentum. 

JAMES WHITE, CEO, JAMBA JUICE:  We're thrilled with the results that we had in 2012.  We grew our same store sales at really the top of our industry.  We had eight consecutive quarters of same store sales, growth over the course of the last two years, as we completed the turnaround of the company.  We'll restore the company to profitability in 2012, which we're really excited about. 

MILLER:  As you know, McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) is now selling smoothies and Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) has gotten aggressively into the premium juice business with its Evolution Fresh stores.  How do you plan to fend off those competitive threats? 

WHITE:  The competitors and their entries into the marketplace has
actually expanded, we think, the awareness of the importance of better-for- you and good-for-you products.  We are coming off the eight quarters of same store sales growth and that's in the face of McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) entering the marketplace some three years ago and all the various entries in the juice and smoothie space from Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) over the last several years.  So we actually believe the competition makes us better. 

MILLER:  As part of your turnaround strategy, you're now relying on franchising as opposed to opening more company-opened stores.  Why go that route? 

WHITE:  For us, we believe a core part of the strength of our
management team is in the product innovation and brand building and we've added great partners from a franchising perspective, which allow us to accelerate our growth. 

MILLER:  Traditionally, Jamba (NASDAQ:JMBA) is a very seasonal business and I know you want to change that.  How are those efforts paying off? 

WHITE:  We focused diversifying our overall business model in three
ways.  International has account of seasonal.  In fact we're in three markets international. Our Jamba (NASDAQ:JMBA) in schools is actually counter seasonal.  So if you think about the peak periods for schools, it's going to be the period leading up to back to school and then actually this time of the year is the second back to school time, so that's another counter seasonal play for the business.  And really the final point I'd make as it relates to our core business, we've added food products like our oatmeal, which is a more habitual item. 

MILLER:  As you know greening is a serious threat to the citrus industry.  Are you worried about what that could do to citrus price prices and your profit margin? 

WHITE:  Really for us, what we source globally, all the fruits and
vegetables so we literally play the markets on a global basis.  So we've been at it for a long time. 

MILLER:  Jamba (NASDAQ:JMBA) Juice hopes to become more than a citrus company, but a healthy lifestyle brand.  What will the Jamba (NASDAQ:JMBA) Juice three years from now look like? 

WHITE:  We'll be global in terms of size and scale.  You'll find more
better-for-you options for the whole family.  You'll see us available in schools so that young people have healthier options that they'll actually consume. 

MILLER:  James White, thank you very much. 

WHITE:  Thank you so much Erika for having me.

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