Juice eh!

Business is naturally refreshing for Juice eh! owners

Take two creative minds, add a dash of homesickness, stir in a commitment to quality, and you have a recipe for success. You also have a recipe for more than 40 refreshing fruit and vegetable juices and fruit smooth eh!s made as only Juice eh! The Canadian Squeeze – Nova Scotia’s all-natural juice bar – can make them.

The seeds of success were sown more than five years ago when Jeannie Jones and Donna Gaskin were working in the IT sector south of the 49th parallel. "We believed the IT boom wasn’t going to last forever, and we both wanted to come home to Canada," says Jones, a native Nova Scotian.

So the two women put their heads together – and listened to their stomachs. "There were no juice bars in Halifax," Jones notes, "and we thought this would be a good testing ground."

Tasting ground, actually. The new entrepreneurs scouted out space, and prepared to open shop in the Halifax Shopping Centre. First though, they took stock of what they wanted their company to be. "We had two fundamental goals: quality of product and quality of service," says Jones.

Achieving the first goal meant making the best possible drinks – without compromising. "Our products are all natural. There are no preservatives, no additives," says Jones.

This sets Juice eh! apart from competitors. It also poses challenges. "It’s more expensive to use real fruit. But it tastes better, and it’s better for you," says Jones.

"Our menu is a flavour and nutrition encyclopedia," she adds. "It’s jam-packed with all the smart stuff that health experts urge us to add to our daily diets."

It’s also a growing menu – a reflection of the creative juices flowing between Jones and her partner. Indeed, says Jones, innovation is critical. "Once you have the customers, they’re always looking for new things to try. If you don’t change, if you don’t come up with new products, then you are not going to stick around."

One of the first additions to the juice bar’s menu had nothing to do with juice. The owners began serving panini sandwiches. This includes scrumptious chicken club, ham/cheese and all-veggie combinations piled between crusty ciabatta bread and squeezed (okay, pressed) so that all the flavours blend together. "It’s a healthy complement to our all-natural juices," says Jones, "and it helps us to reach more customers."

Now the Juice eh! owners are reaching beyond their own storefront. They’re going back to school – armed with healthy snacks called Freeze eh!s. "They’re made with apple juice, frozen yogurt and real fruit," notes Jones. "They’re very tasty, and they’re very healthy."

They are also very timely. As more and more schools are looking to put healthy-eating policies in place, they are looking around for options that will appeal to kids while still being chock full of nutrients. But Jones and Gaskin didn’t sit around waiting to be discovered. "You need to be resourceful," says Jones. "We started attending healthy-eating seminars at the Halifax Regional School Board, and we offered to do demonstrations. We’ve done half a dozen so far."

Meanwhile back at the store, customers are still slurping a Smooth eh! and enjoying a bite of lunch. They’re also receiving superior customer service. That’s the second goal Jones and Gaskin set for their business. "We have developed customer-service commandments for ourselves that we try to live by," notes Jones.

Those commandments, she adds, aren’t just for the mostly university students who staff the juice bar. "Both owners have to live by them as well, otherwise we haven’t lived up to our commitment," says Jones.

Plans are now in the works to franchise Juice eh! and the owners are also looking around for space for a second corporate store. But there’s no rush. "We want to do this right," says Jones.

In the five years Juice eh! has been up and running, Jones and Gaskin have discovered much about the "right" way to run their business. "We’ve learned to streamline operations, and we’ve learned what our customers want," notes Jones.

A lot of that learning, she adds, is a direct result of living in Nova Scotia where competition takes a back seat to collaboration. "There are so many people here who approached us and helped us along the way, so many experts who gave us free advice. You don’t get that in too many places." 

Indeed, it's downright refreshing.