Justin Nedelman, the recently hired chief executive officer of Pressed Juicery, is approaching his new position with a hospitality-centric mindset.
With prior experience as the chief real estate officer at FAT Brands Inc., a restaurant franchising company, and cofounder of Eureka! Restaurant Group, a chain restaurant corporation, that thinking includes stocking its products in elevated coffee shops and grab-and-go restaurants and hotels, as well as the guest’s experience in its stand-alone locations.
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Currently, Pressed, which was founded in 2010, operates 112 storefronts nationwide, selling products ranging from juices and smoothies to shots and plant-based soft serves. The brand is also available at more than 3,000 retail locations, including Whole Foods and Sprouts, and is expected to grow its wholesale business with Nedelman’s leadership.
Below, he discusses his vision for Pressed.
What is your vision for Pressed over the next five years?
Justin Nedelman: The brand is strong as it sits so I think the question for us is first, “how do we reimagine the 100-plus locations we have to do even more than just juice, almost like an accessible wellness emporium that focuses on drinking your vitamins?”
First we have to reimagine the box in terms of different parts. How do we engage with the guests morning, mid-afternoon, afternoon and evening as part of their routine. It’s looking at our product offerings and making sure that we have something that the guest is going to crave from the moment they start their morning to again at the end of the day. Right now, we have some of that with our juices. We’ve got some smoothies. We’ve got some nut milk. We’ve got acai bowls, but there’s a lot of real estate in our four walls that we can activate. We have to test that and as that gets confirmed, then we can expand our retail storefront. There’s the restaurant/retailer play where our products can be sold in elevated coffee shops and grab-and-go restaurants and hotels where people are looking for high quality quickly. Maybe we do a minimal assortment of our best hits at the rest of the retail level.
What is the significance of expanding further into grab-and-go stores and other retailers?
JN: Because we are fully integrated and manufacture ourselves — we actually cold-press the juice — because we do that and because it’s cold and it’s kept cold the whole chain, we can pretty much hit almost every state, 48 states, pretty effectively. There’s a lot of opportunity to get our product in grab-and-go where the guest knows the brand but maybe doesn’t have access to a store.
What portion of the business do you foresee this accounting for?
JN: The white space for hotel and restaurant, grab-and-go and in grocery is much bigger than our storefront in terms of being able to expand so at a certain point, there’s a likelihood that that aspect of the business will be bigger than our stores. Our stores are still very important and will never go away. We will expand those at the right time. Those will just be deep brand representations and reinforce the full offering. That business [wholesale] can be potentially much bigger and faster just because of the tremendous amount of outlets that you can sell product.
How are you thinking about product expansion?
JN: There is the element of other aspects of wellness beyond juice, whether that’s supplements or actually food that you eat to nootropics. There’s all these elements of wellness that we’re going to start playing with. There are some fun, relevant and unique things in the fitness space that will be hitting this summer.
What’s the future of Pressed Juicery’s retail footprint?
JN: Our retail footprint right now is being fully evaluated in terms of how large the units should be and where they should be located. It’s too early to tell, to give a number there because we’re going to reimagine what we’re selling there and we need to determine what the sales lift and the return on investment is. We really don’t have that many locations relative to the potential but we have a pretty deep portfolio and generally high foot traffic, upscale retail trade areas that are really exciting and we’re adjacent to the right retailers.
How are you using your hospitality background to expand Pressed?
JN: Vibe and how a place makes you feel is really important to me. When you enter retail, we’re really lucky to have all these locations and there’s a huge amount of commitment that the guest gives us when they park their car and commit to coming into our location, go through the process of buying as opposed to just buying it online. There’s a big responsibility when a guest is going to be willing to do that. We have to deliver on more than just the product, so the smell, the sound, how we make people feel, the offering, making it efficient. Every piece of real estate in a box that you control as a retailer needs to either reinforce the brand, try to introduce you to something, maybe it just augments and supports what you’re already doing in terms of information, but there’s a big gap in how we tell the story.
As the wellness industry continues to grow and competitors come to market, how are you thinking about differentiating Pressed?
JN: We’re still a relatively approachable price point comparing to the most niche operators in the wellness and pressed juice and smoothie world, but we’re also at a higher price point to mainstream brands. We’re this kind of middle price point and we’re a healthy indulgence for some and an affordable indulgence for others. For us, differentiating means, we have to simplify it for the guests, declutter it, demystify it and curate it so that you can trust us.