If four hundred bucks is still a little steep for you get into the Juicero business, don’t worry: if you live in southern California, you can now head down to the local Whole Foods and throw down some Green Zing for five bucks a glass. The two companies announced this week that Juicero cold-pressed juice will be available at 11 locations across southern California.
Whole Foods is a perfect match for Juicero. The food retailer’s high-income shoppers expect to pay a premium for healthy and fresh food, and $5 a glass is a bargain compared to what you pay at your local juice bar.
For Juicero, this is just another move further into the pro market. As I wrote last June, the company has been finding early success in the pro market ever since the launch of the cold press juicer, in large part because Juicero provides a way for on-site pressing without the huge cost of a professional presser or having to put a giant machine in a space-constrained kitchen.
The company started its relationship with Whole Foods last spring when the food retailer launched in Silverlake, California. Under this new expansion, each location will feature four to seven juice blends and from one to three Juicero machines. Consumers will insert their own packs and pour their own juices in the store.
What strikes me most about this announcement is the pricing. It’s unusual that a price at retail would be lower than that for the home consumer, but that’s exactly what we have with this new announcement. A glass of juice at Whole Foods will go for $5 vs. $7 per pack for the Juicero home consumer. Normally retail pricing is higher since the store has to add in its own margin. My guess is Whole Foods made the lower price a requirement of doing business and Juicero complied.
Lower pricing is a trend lately for Juicero, which dropped the price of the juicer to $399 (from $699) a couple months ago. The company’s new CEO, Jeff Dunn, comes from the high-volume packaged good food market (Coca Cola and Campbells) and looks like they are trying to push down the gas pedal on Juicero’s growth.
Leave a Reply