Clean Juice Franchises: $576K Turnover & 5 Year Payback

Clean Juice is one of the recent success stories: since it started franchising in 2018, the chain expanded aggressively and now has over 125 stores in the US alone..!

Beyond the hype for organic juices, it’s also a very profitable franchise investment for franchisees. Clean Juice franchises are not only affordable (you would need to invest only $425,000 for startup costs), but also very profitable (the payback period is 5 years on average).

If you’re wondering whether you should open a new Clean Juice franchised store, you may want to know how much it really costs and how much profits you can really make with this business.

We’ve gone through the latest Financial Disclosure Document to give you a clear and transparent opinion on what you can expect as a franchisee. Let’s dive in!

Clean Juice franchises: key figures

Franchise fee	$45,000
Royalty fee	6.0%
Marketing fee	7.5%
Investment (mid-point)	$425,000
Average sales	$577,000
Sales to investment ratio	1.4x
Payback period*	5 years
Minimum net worth	$500,000
Minimum liquid capital	$120,000

What is Clean Juice?

Clean Juice is an American faith-based restaurant chain of organic juice shops headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

It serves organic juices, smoothies, acai bowls, wraps, salads, and sandwiches.

The chain was founded by Landon and Kat Eckles in 2014. Clean Juice began franchising in 2016 and has over 125 locations in the US.

Clean Juice franchises pros and cons

Pros

• Pre-opening training: The brand offers its franchisees comprehensive training about operating a successful Clean Juice franchise. Also, it trains them on how to operationalize the brand’s organic USDA standard, recruit and train staff, provide hospitality, and perform effective bookkeeping.
• Ongoing support: The brand provides its franchise owners with helpful continuous support and mentorship to establish and grow the restaurants. Franchisees benefit from meetings and conventions, periodic franchise inspections, performance analyses, and field operations to ensure quality and performance excellence.
• Real estate and development support: Clean Juice has a qualified real estate team to help its franchisees with site selection, lease negotiation, and building their restaurants cheaply. The franchisor employs reliable third-party data and demographic intelligence to help franchisees identify the perfect location in terms of market, visibility, traffic patterns, and competition.
• USDA-approved franchise: Clean Juice is the first and only USDA-organic certified franchise in the country. Franchisees have the opportunity to become part of a faith-based franchise with a great emphasis on organic, healthy foods and stand out from the competition, attract a lot of traffic, and improve the bottom lines.
• Exclusive territory protection: The franchisor grants its franchisees the right to operate in a specific, approved area. It may not authorize any other franchises or operate a competing business in the area.

Cons

• No absentee ownership: The franchise does not present a passive business opportunity. Franchisees are required to take an active role in the decision-making and daily operations of the restaurants.
• Not a part-time business opportunity: A Clean Juice franchise is not a part-time business opportunity. The franchisees should adhere to the agreed-upon working hours set by the parent company.
• Not a mobile-based business: The business cannot be run from home or a mobile unit. Franchisees should operate from a fixed office facility in or near their restaurants.
• No franchise financing: The brand does not finance its franchisees, directly or indirectly.

How much do Clean Juice franchises cost?

You have to invest around $425,250 to open a Clean Juice franchise restaurant.

This is an average: indeed, it varies based on many factors, such as the location of your restaurant and its size.

In addition to the initial franchise fee of $45,000, which you must pay to the franchisor, you would also pay for the leasehold improvements, furniture and fixtures, equipment, opening inventory, insurance, etc.

Here’s the full breakdown of costs:

Expense	Amount
Initial franchise fees	$45,000
Leasehold improvements	$100,000-$300,000
Furniture, fixtures, and equipment’s	$60,000-$100,000
Insurance	$3,000-$7,000
Additional funds -3 months	$15,000-$40,000
Other	$51,000-$84,000
Total	$274,500-$576,000

What’s the turnover of a Clean Juice franchise?

On average, a Clean Juice franchise restaurant makes $576,657 in sales per year.

This is the average turnover for the 84 of the 106 franchised restaurants operating in all  of 2021. This is an increase of 18.9% year-on-year vs. 2020 ($484,954, 52 units) as the chain recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic.

How profitable is a Clean Juice franchise?

On average, a Clean Juice franchise makes $142,414 in profits per year. This corresponds to a 25% adjusted EBITDA margin.

Clean Juice is a profitable franchise. We calculated this number using the information available in the Franchise Disclosure Document 2022. Unfortunately, Clean Juice has not provided detailed information on the cost of goods sold (COGS) and labour costs. Therefore, we used 25% and 29% of sales, respectively, as per industry benchmarks.

Profit and loss	Amount ($)	As % of sales
Sales	$576,657	100%
COGS	($144,164)	25.0%*
Labor	($167,231)	29.0%*
Rent	($45,000)	7.8%
Royalty + marketing fees	($77,849)	13.5%
Adjusted EBITDA	$142,414	~25.0%

Should you invest in a Clean Juice franchise?

Now that we know how much profits you can generate with a Clean Juice shop, let’s see how much money you can really make with this business to find out whether it’s a good investment.

Although adjusted EBITDA stands at 25% of sales on average, we estimate net profits (after all expenses have been paid) to be at around 12-15% of sales. This corresponds to a 5 years payback period on average.

In other words, assuming net profits represent 15% of sales, you would need to wait 5 years to recoup your initial investment (and pay back any potential creditors and investors).

This is a great payback period, and as such Clean Juice is a great investment if you decide to go ahead.

Yet, remember this is based on the average performance of all the Clean Juice shops disclosed in the FDD, and yours may be different.

How does it compare vs. other franchises?