Prompted by Family Member’s Illness, Co-Founders of the Health and Wellness Franchise Focus Totally on Nutrition
Movita Juice Bar’s name says it all, a merger of “more” with “vita,” the Latin word for life. Co-founders Raul Rodriguez and Jorge Campos developed the health and wellness franchise concept after Campos’ daughter was diagnosed with cancer several years back. During the successful treatment, a doctor advised her to permanently forgo processed and canned foods while eating raw fruits and vegetables as much as possible. The doctor said he consistently advises patients to follow this diet, but that people don’t listen until illness strikes.
By contrast, the Movita Juice Bar franchise takes a proactive approach. “We do everything very healthfully and true to our name,” Rodriguez says. “We never intended to become a franchise. It was almost by demand. People were approaching us and asking, ‘Can I open a store?’”
Consumer and industry trends support the investment as Americans increasingly prioritize consumption of healthful ingredients, according to food analytics specialist Tastewise. Business research firm IBISWorld reports the juice and smoothie bar industry expanded 1.9% annually from 2019 through 2024 (including the pandemic years), and Grand View Research predicts the global smoothie market will grow 9.2% annually from now through 2030.
Origin of a Health and Wellness Franchise
Movita Juice Bar was born in 2015 after Campos asked Rodriguez, “Why don’t we start something where we can do good and well, where we make sure everything is healthy?” Rodriguez, a longtime restaurant consultant, already owned a traditional smoothie bar, one without a nutrition focus. Movita was quite a change.
“All of our juices are made after they’re ordered, starting with fresh ingredients instead of using cheaper frozen produce and juices. Nothing is pasteurized or pre-bottled,” Rodriguez says. “We make sure that the enzymes, which are the goodness in the juices, are fresh in your juice. Enzymes take work away from your pancreas and kidneys, and pasteurization inactivates many enzymes. We don’t even have freezers in our juice bars because everything’s fresh.”
The Movita Juice Bar franchise has a narrow but intense focus, with input from nutritionists at every step. “We don’t sell orange juice as a whole. We have combinations of maybe carrot juice and orange juice and apple and celery. And the reason is because orange juice is overrated. It’s purely sugar with vitamin C and water. Sometimes people come and want an orange juice, and we’re like, ‘No, that’s 80 grams of sugar.’ So we even protect our customers from themselves.
Other Nutrition Bonuses
“Smoothies are another example. Almond milk is the base for most smoothies. Our almond milk contains nuts and water, no added ingredients. Movita Juice Bar makes it in-house every day. Instead of sugar, we use organic agave nectar. It’s sweet but low-glycemic so you don’t get a spike of sugar in your system.”
The health and wellness franchise also hired a lab to develop a pure protein supplement to boost nutrition. “It’s 100% natural, no artificial ingredients. It’s clean. Every smoothie comes with a scoop of protein automatically.” Even Movita’s hibiscus-blend cold-brew organic coffee comes with protein, he says.
Movita’s foods adhere to the same high standards. “Our açai bowls are organic, non-GMO, fair trade, kosher. We make sure that we get the açai from the world’s No. 1 company, Sambazon. Our granola is gluten-free.”
Customers of All Ages
Of course, everything tastes great, too, Rodriguez says. “We get little kids, 9, 10, 12 years old, and people over 60 coming in. We realized they were being educated on the importance of healthy juice, ginger, turmeric, something that’s going to help you. So now if you ask me, ‘What’s your demographic?’ it’s even hard for a marketer to answer – because it’s spread so wide. We have multigenerational appeal.”
The educational aspect ramped along with Covid, before scientists developed vaccines and antiviral treatments. Doctors said “there’s nothing to fight the virus with right now except your own immunity, which helped us. And people wrote reviews saying Movita is a natural pharmacy,” also steering customers to the brand, Rodriguez adds.
“Today we get a lot of referrals from doctors and other people saying, ‘Make sure you go to this juice bar to get your smoothies because now you’re going to need extra nutrients.’ People going through chemotherapy – they go for the juices because they’re recommended, and pregnant women go for juices and ginger, for example. Ginger is very popular for pregnant women because of nausea and vertigo.”
Franchise Locations Coast to Coast
During the pandemic, Campos and Rodriguez operated about a dozen Movita Juice Bars. “We realized they were in different cities with very different demographics, and the concept worked in all of them,” Rodriguez says. “So we began to explore franchising. We started standardizing all the processes and recipes and all the things needed to become a franchise. It took us about two years.”
Today the brand has 18 open locations coast to coast and more than 30 franchises in development.
For more information about Movita Juice Bar franchise opportunities, visit https://movitajuicebar.com/.
