Critic's Review
When I first moved to South Florida, I thought that Jamba Juice was the greatest thing ever. There was nothing similar up north, and the hot weather down here is more conducive to things like smoothies. Whenever I didn't feel like eating, I'd go to Jamba Juice. Luckily, I didn't think enough of it to invest; I know a guy who made that mistake and it didn't turn out well. If you bought JMBA in 2006 and you held it you've lost about 75% of your money. Good Ideas don't always make money.
The reasons that they don't make money became clear to me rather quickly. There are 2 JJ locations in my usual path of travel; this location and one by Cristina Wan's downtown. There were long periods of time when the orange juice machine would be broken; like multiple weeks, and they were broken at both locations. I remember thinking "how could a juice place have no orange juice for weeks on end"? Since my favorite drinks include orange juice, I usually just left.
I stopped going to Jamba juice when I came to the conclusion that sugar-laden drinks aren't healthy no matter how hard you try to rationalize it. You look at the ingredients; fruits, fresh juice, how could you go wrong? The truth is that an "original" is 500 calories; mostly sugar.
Jamba Juices are basically fast food, so the interiors are all about the same. They sell food now; I can't imaging getting a flatbread here. And the last thing I need with my 500 calorie sugar drink is a pretzel .
The gimmick here are the "extras"; you can get a "shot" of protein or fiber or nutrients, for an extra charge. I never get the extras. I just want the juice. All of the drinks have cute names that are supposed to be clever; I ordered an original Orange-A-Peel, which is strawberries, banana, orange juice and frozen yogurt.
You can argue about the healthiness of this stuff, or whether $5.40 is too much for this. But one thing you can't argue about; this stuff tastes fantastic. As I slurped out the last of it, a sadness came over me. It's never quite enough.