CHARLOTTE — Once high-flying Clean Juice is facing a franchisee revolt.
More than 51 stores — roughly 45% of the Charlotte-based organic juice chain’s current footprint — could close this year with many franchisees pursuing legal options to exit their agreements.
They claim dwindling sales, mounting losses and questionable accounting practices with a major shift in the company’s juicing strategy are driving their concerns.
Clean Juice CEO Landon Eckles disputes many of the claims. He says the company isn’t responsible for the struggles of individual franchisees. He and wife Kat Eckles launched Clean Juice as the first and only U.S. Department of Agriculture-certified organic juice bar, later expanding it to offer healthy foods. They went from a solo location in Huntersville in 2015 to the first franchise opening in 2017. Clean Juice now has 112 locations after 32 stores closed in the last 12 months.
Thirty-plus franchisees are now engaged in mediation with the chain, says Leon Hirzel, an attorney for the Independent Association of Clean Juice Franchisees, a group of current and former franchise owners that came together to discuss issues and pursue possible recourse.
Some franchisees recently spoke with the Charlotte Business Journal under agreement that their names would not be published for fear of retribution. CBJ also caught up with Eckles, several successful franchisees and a franchise consultant who’s not connected to the conflict for an in-depth look at what’s happening.
Read more here.
VIDEO: Bojangles’ CEO steering restaurant chain ‘out of the chicken business’
©2023 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
