Staffing

Main Squeeze COO promoted to chief dietitian officer

Image provided by Main Squeeze Juice Co.

September 25, 2023

Main Squeeze Juice Co., a juice bar and smoothie franchise based in New Orleans, has promoted COO Julie Canseco to its newly created role of chief dietitian officer, where she hopes to create a 30% fresh food category by 2024. Canseco is also closely working with the marketing team, launching a fall LTO line that includes a protein bowl and toast, revamping menus and recipes, adapting to changing consumer demand for grab-and-go hot food, organizing food design, photo shoots and more.

"It's an incredible, exciting and humbling opportunity for me," Canseco said in a company press release. "There isn't another franchise company I know of that has a CDO like me."

Canseco's journey into the world of nutrition began at Louisiana State University, where she studied to become a registered dietician. Unlike many in her field who ended up in hospitals, she set her sights on community and public health.

"I wanted to live our mission of helping people before they got sick with preventative wellness by combating those common diseases I've seen growing up in Louisiana," Canseco said."Since the age of 9, my dad has dealt with heart bypasses, strokes and other health problems. It was due to our typical South Louisiana lifestyle, not just genetics. I want people to live their best life."

This desire led her to work at an outpatient clinic at the age of 22.

"That was a great experience, and I learned a lot about managing my own practice," she said. "I was helping clients who wanted to meet their weight loss goals or get off their blood pressure medicine or be able to go out to eat with their grandson again. It was a very meaningful role."

Canseco then ventured more into community nutrition with the nonprofit health initiative Eat Fit NOLA, where she worked directly with restaurants to create healthier menu options. Through her efforts, she was able to secure grants with BlueCross BlueShield to expand the program statewide.

"Louisiana isn't known for its healthy food, so it was quite a challenge, but I was able to work with the best dietitian in the business," Canseco said. "We held community education classes, we worked with teachers to provide cooking classes, we connected restaurants with vendors. It was a very exciting time."

When it comes to her introduction to Main Squeeze, Canseco's connection is stronger than most — she's actually part of the brand family. Her brother, Thomas Nieto, and husband, Michael Canseco, are the two co-founders.

"I had my first visit to the first store in Lake Charles and I saw a little kid drinking (and enjoying!) a green juice," Canseco said. That's when I knew this was it. This is how I can bring healthy eating to the people in a way that is approachable, accessible and delicious."

Canseco officially joined the Main Squeeze corporate team as the quality assurance manager and gradually climbed up to the role of COO in 2020.

"We built our first corporate location, and I was involved in the design, the construction, the product development," she said. "I moved more into the operations side — the training, in-store operational efficiencies, the distribution. Eventually, I was working between all of the departments to ensure stores were operating the way they needed to."

The concept and business model proved to be a hit; it now has 30 locations open in five states, 80 committed franchise locations and a plan to open nearly one per month in 2023.

"We've been growing the franchise rapidly — we have a lot of faith in the business, the team and the franchisees," Canseco said. "Being able to impact every department as the COO was an incredible experience."

In addition to the menu, Canseco will also be responsible for strategic partnerships and development, whether that be finding vendors for the e-commerce site, working with the LSU Tigers or aligning with other dietitians.

"We really want to find new revenue streams for the brand," Canseco said. "We want to ensure this new role has the best impact on Main Squeeze franchisees as possible."

Overall, in this role and beyond, Canseco said her primary focus is on "servant leadership," a value instilled in her by her parents.

"The reason I got into nutrition in the first place was to empower people and help them live their best life," Canseco said. "Main Squeeze allows me to do that on a much bigger platform. I want to make a change in the world — one little change leads to another change and then another. That is how positive habits stick. We can have a true impact here and I'm ready to bring my experience and my passion into this role."