Jamba Juice Opens Vegan-Friendly Eatery

A new Jamba Juice concept café will open in Pasadena, CA on Monday with many vegan-friendly food, juice, and smoothie options. The store features a vegetarian menu of easily veganized items such as quinoa bowls, breakfast energy bowls, cold-pressed juices, and smoothies (including cashew milk blends made with cashew milk, dates, agave nectar, and sea salt). VegNews Food Editor Jennifer Chen got an advance tasting of the Southwest Bowl—with quinoa, kale, corn, black beans, avocado, and Beanfield pico de gallo chips—made without mayonnaise and honey, along with a flight of eight cold-pressed juices and an açaí bowl (sans honey). Former Jamba Juice CEO James D. White announced plans for the new eatery last year and explained that “the Jamba Concept Store will allow us to push the boundaries of the brand and enable us to innovate in three key areas: product development, technology, and the customer experience.” Should the Pasadena location prove profitable, Jamba Juice plans to expand the concept to other markets. Global chain Pret a Manger launched a similar all vegetarian pop-up store in London recently and announced its plans to open more locations after a surprising 70 percent surge in sales.