The founder of Boost Juice Bars, Janine Allis, noticed the fad of the juice bar when on holiday in the United Statesin 1999. With her husband, Jeff Allis, Janine decided to bring the idea to Australia. In 2000, Allis opened her first Boost Juice Bar in King William Street, Adelaide while she was on maternity leave. At the end of 2004, Boost Juice had 175 stores operating across Australia and New Zealand. In May 2006, Boost Juice Bars ceased operations in New Zealand after the franchiser was put into liquidation. The stores were sold to Tank Juice, which now operates the concept under the Tank brand. In 2007, the founders of Millies Cookies, Richard O'Sullivan and Mario Budwig, signed an agreement with Boost Juice Bars to launch the brand in the United Kingdom. By the end of the year, the company had also expanded into Chile, Kuwait, Singapore, Indonesia and, most recently, Thailand. In 2008, Nestlé launched a range of fruit smoothies in association with Boost Juice Bars, to operate alongside the company's expansion into the United Kingdom. Between 2009 and 2012, a Boost Juice store operated in China, but it was plagued by problems—the store opening was delayed, the shop-fit was average and the product was not as good as expected. In 2010, Riverside Company bought a 65% stake in the Boost Investment Group, paying around $65 million for the share. That year, Boost Juice launched "Boost the way you feel" rebranding to mark its tenth anniversary. Allis also participated in the Channel Ten TV showUndercover Boss. In 2011, Boost Juice signed a franchise agreement for India. In 2014, Bain Capital bought out Riverside Company to take over as the majority shareholder in Boost Juice. In 2015, Janine Allis signed onto Channel Ten's Shark Tank as one of the five sharks. In 2016, Jeff Allis signed into a partnership with AIA as a part of product enhancement program.
Operations
As of January 2020, stores operate in Australia, Brunei, Chile, Estonia, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Kuwait, Lithuania, Macau, Malaysia, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Franchising agreements have been secured in The Baltics, China, India, Mexico, Ireland, South Korea, Thailand and Bangladesh as part of a global expansion programme. In 2007, Boost Juice Bars attempted to acquire the Canadian juice bar company Booster Juice, which would have led to the company being floated on the stock market, though this was unsuccessful. As of June 2017, Boost Juice has 270 stores in Australia with another 197 stores worldwide for a total of 467 stores.
Environmental Commitments
When Boost first launched in 2000, Janine employed the use of Styrofoam cups with sustainable manufacturing to minimize costs and to establish Boost as an environmentally friendly brand. In late 2013, Boost changed its cups from Styrofoam to paper cups. It did so because:
The Styrofoam cups were visually dated;
Paper was seen as the more environmentally friendly option, despite not necessarily being better for the environment than Styrofoam; and
The bumpy surface of the new paper cups was more aesthetically pleasing to hold and to touch.
Not long after inception, Boost Juice released an Enviro-Cup. This reusable cup could be constantly reused in store. Users of the Enviro-cup received a $1 discount per use. In 2017, Boost updated its Enviro-Cup with a new Fill-Up-Cup, which maintained the size and discount; however, this cup was considered by the company to be more aesthetically pleasing and was ergonomically designed to be spill-proof. Later in late 2018 Boost introduced their new Reusable Stainless Steel Cup and their Stainless Steel Straw and Straw Cleaner Kit. Boost Juice maintains a pledge to plant 10,000 trees per year.
