This article was published in the October 2016 issue of STORES Magazine.
Juice Press, New York City
Founders: Marcus Antebi and Michael Karsch
Locations: 53
Juice Press is emerging as something unique in both its form and its potential for expansion. CEO and co-founder Marcus Antebi says he opened the first Juice Press after not being able to find any healthy food restaurant that met all of his needs in his native New York.
“It had to be all vegan,” he says, “organic, nutrient-rich super foods, cold-pressed juices, all pure ingredients, tasty, served in a friendly, absolutely clean setting and with a very varied menu.”
Most items on the menu are prepared from scratch in a central commissary and finished at the stores, which range in size from 120 to 2,800 square feet. The bulk of sales are “grab and go” with wait times generally less than five minutes.
This spring, the company entered into a partnership with health club/gym chain Equinox Corporation to replace some 20 cafés in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut with Juice Press bars. Future plans include a supermarket presence, more supplements and a larger retail footprint nationwide.
In building Juice Press, Antebi says he applied a lesson learned from a mentor. “If you don’t believe in your purpose, you are going to fail,” he says. “Believe in your purpose, spend every dollar you have and even borrow so you can achieve your goal the way you envision.”