Morgan Hill couple own and operate three franchises in region
Published in the Jan. 22, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Photo by Marty Cheek
Jamba Juice co-owner Katie Howard accepts a smoothie from Sarah Miller at the Vineyard Town Center store.
When looking for a nutritious lunch or dinner alternative to fast-food restaurants, many South Valley residents head to a Jamba Juice store in Morgan Hill. There they find not only delicious fruit and vegetable smoothies, but a variety of other healthy food options as well.
Jamba Juice is now a $229 million corporation with more than 800 locations around the world. But Brian and Katie Howard, the owners of Morgan Hill’s two Jamba Juice stores as well as one in San Jose, got in when it was a small San Luis Obispo smoothie company. While they were both students at Cal Poly there, Katie started working for the Juice Club, the store that evolved into Jamba Juice. The couple married in June 1994 and opened their first store on Blossom Hill Road in San Jose in December 1994. Of the 30 original franchise partners that started with Jamba Juice, the Howards are one of four still remaining in business. They opened their second Jamba Juice store in the Vineyard Shopping Plaza 11 years ago and their third store on Cochrane Avenue five years ago.
The Morgan Hill Jamba Juice franchise stores have developed a loyal following of customers because of the fast service and quality of products they offer, Brian said. “It’s a convenient, healthy, good-tasting meal,” he said. “There are not a lot of other (restaurant) alternatives that offer those criteria. You can really use us to balance off the rest of your diet.”
Although Jamba Juice will always be known first for its fruit-based drinks, other options include healthy cereal bowls options such as its steel-cut oats and smoothies topped with granola and pieces of fresh fruit, Katie said. At the Vineyard store, customers can order small pizzas and sandwiches made fresh with whole-grain bread baked daily in the store’s convection oven.
Katie raves about the steel-cut oats slowly cooked for more than 30 minutes in a rice cooker and topped with berries, dried fruits and nuts, or apple slices. “It’s really good for you and it sticks to your ribs,” she said. “I can eat that at seven or eight in the morning and not be hungry until three in the afternoon. And it’s really delicious.”
Involved with the community, the Howards generously donate their fruit smoothies to Morgan Hill events focused on sports and health. For 11 years, they’ve helped the spring-time Wildflower Run that’s put on by the Morgan Hill branch of the American Association of University Women. “The first year we donated 400 smoothies because there were 400 runners. And now there’s almost 1,000 runners,” Katie said. “I think the smoothies are a draw for the run because they’re a 16-ounce smoothie. They’re not a sample size, they’re a generous size.”
Jamba Juice
Location: 317 Vineyard Blvd.
Contact: (408) 465-2456, or visit www.jambajuice.com
