Online Forty Niner: v8n1: New juice bar quenches healthy thirst at CSULB

In recent years hundreds of health conscious establishments have opened up to provide an array of fruit smoothies injected with a mixture of vitamins. Among the more popular places are Jamba Juice and Juice It Up!

However, Robeks Juice, which opened Aug. 2 in the University Student Union, is not merely a juice bar, it is a nutritional provider. That is what Robek's development coordinator Mike Butler, says separates his franchise from the other places.

"What we offer is not only a place to buy smoothies, but rather a unique nutritional brand offering information, vitamins and other healthy products," Butler said. "We provide an alternative to the normal fast food meals and we are more serious about nutrition than the other establishments."

Robeks, with its neon green and orange fruit-color design, combines with the new Coffee Bean to create the new area of the student union on the East side. Five high chairs and tables line along the large windows giving customers a chance to sit down and enjoy the East campus view.

The menu reflects the wide variety of health-related products that make the juice bar different from the other juice stores: smoothies, soups, fresh juices, frozen yogurt, and healthy gourmet, such as focaccia sandwiches, salads, hot soups and low-fat baked goods. All are made from their own recipes.

"What we're dealing with here is how to deal with stress for people," Butler said. "Our products are made with the most quantity of qualified vitamins. If you fill your body up with grease and starch, you're going to want to get more energy from vitamins from fruits and other healthy foods, which is what we want to provide."

The juice bar opened its first store in Westchester in 1996 with the goal of becoming "the highest quality operator in the made-to-order juices smoothie/juice bar industry," Butler said. In the last four years, it has opened more than 20 stores in Southern California (the student union is the 28th store) and expects to reach 50 by the end of 2000.

The choice for a location at CSULB is perfect because we have "an active campus," Butler said. "Our customer base can be summed up in one word: active. We think that because of the high sports reputation that CSULB has, many athletes and students will find it a good healthy addition to Carls Jr, Taco Bell and Subway."

Although the juice bar hopes to make a big impression on CSULB, certain constraints might make that job a bit harder.

"The hard part about being on the East side of campus is the light traffic," said Jill Lening, a junior liberal studies student and Robeks employee. "Many students have never heard or Robeks and being on this side does not give it the most exposure."

But Butler feels that through promotion -- thousands of commuter mugs will be given throughout campus-- ads, sponsorship and word of mouth, students on campus will eventually embrace the juice bar.