Operations

Nekter opening 200th location

Provided by Nekter

June 29, 2023

For Steve and Alexis Schulze, it seems like just yesterday when they opened their first Nekter Juice Bar in 2010, but the co-founders will celebrate their 200th U.S. location on July 8 in Kirkland, Washington.

"We are incredibly proud of this milestone, not only from a growth perspective but also because it validates and underscores what we set out to do with Nekter Juice Bar — to help people on their individual paths to wellness," CEO Steve Schulze said in a company press release. "Alexis and I had a humble dream but now as we see it blossom across the country, we are more energized to grow and bring health and wellness to even more communities. We also would be remiss if we didn't acknowledge the incredibly hard work of our team and our dedicated franchise family, who have all contributed so much to the brand all these years."

Schulze said growing from 150 locations to 200 is a huge step for any brand.

"You really learn who you are, what you can do, and more importantly, what you can't do. We've seen too many restaurant brands, even some of our competitors, grow too quickly, or too sporadically, and unfortunately, they crash and burn," he said.

With nearly 330 locations open or in development across 26 states, Nekter's cost-effective operations, efficient supply chain strategies and robust marketing have created a sustainable brand that has led to one of the category's highest top-quartile average store sales of $913,314, Schulze said.

Also driving franchisee success is the fact that 31 of Nekter Juice Bar locations are corporate-owned, effectively making Nekter Juice Bar its largest "franchisee." These locations serve as fertile testing grounds before new menu items, equipment or other operational changes are introduced and implemented across the system.

For example, Nekter teamed up with the cosmetic brand, Too Faced, in May to create a limited-edition smoothie that became its most successful limited-time offering smoothie. The promotion's success was attributed to the smoothie's flavor appeal and to the strong collaboration between the two brands, plus a robust and integrated marketing campaign including in-store presence and social and digital amplification supported by both brands, Schulze said. Nekter saw increases of 21% in new Instagram followers and 25% in profile visits from the previous month. Moreover, the healthy living brand enjoyed more than 2 million organic views or engagements on social channels related to the collaboration.

"People are continuing to raise the stakes when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle, increasingly demanding authenticity and truthfulness, and that's where Nekter delivers real value for its guests," Alexis Schulze said in the release. "Our mission has always been to support our guests' paths to wellness through a menu rooted in nutrient-rich foods that can really make a difference in people's lives, and we have never veered from that vision."