New Orleans City Business: Main Squeeze Juice Co. Opens New Location, Plans to Maintain Acquisitions

Main Squeeze Juice Co., the plant-powered smoothie and cold-pressed juice franchise, has opened its newest location in the New Orleans Place St. Charles office complex as executives continue to pursue growth through acquisitions.

With 30 open locations and another 100 in development, the franchise is nearly doubling its operating unit count with the acquisition of I Love Juice Bar, a Nashville-based concept with locations focused in the South. To complete this acquisition, Main Squeeze Juice Co. partnered with private equity investor Conscious Capital Growth, calling it “a natural next move to accelerate growth, drive store economics and increase brand equity for franchisees in both systems.”

Though the franchise will continue to grow through partnerships with local franchisees, choosing to acquire other similar concepts provides an additional boost as the brand works to establish itself as the dominant player in the space.

“Really, there is an opportunity for market share in our segment because there is nobody who has substantial footprint,” said Thomas Nieto, CEO. “For us, it’s that opportunity to establish that market share and become a really dominant player in the space and becoming a household name in our space. From that standpoint, there’s just that opportunity and kind of a race for market share.”

As it grows in the space, Main Squeeze Juice Co. is looking to increase its market share in the fresh food category, as well. Rather than shifting away from or reducing the availability of juices and smoothies, the brand will simply grow on a larger scale, incorporating additional options into the menu.

“We’re pushing really, really hard on fresh food, which target different-day part sales initiatives we have, to really grow the business and raise the tide for all locations — our existing locations and locations we are acquiring,” added Nieto.

With these efforts, Main Squeeze Juice Co. sees an opportunity to further drive growth with additional acquisitions and is already working on a potential second acquisition.

“Obviously the demand for all-natural, healthy, clean eateries has continued to rise over the last few decades,” said Nieto. “That demand from the consumers of all-natural clean eateries continues to rise and the supply remains relatively low. In this environment, the larger we get the more leverage we have, the more immune we become.“