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I'll offer a brief glimpse into the future. Juicero, burnt by the ease at which consumers rob them of potential revenue poaches someone away from the likes of H

I'll offer a brief glimpse into the future. Juicero, burnt by the ease at which consumers rob them of potential revenue poaches someone away from the likes of HP or Gillette. That someone comes up with the perfect solution: add a coded valve to the juice bags which only opens when it has been inserted in a licensed Juicero machine. The added advantage is that the machine can refuse to squeeze more juice out of a bag which has been in the machine for more than X days, all for your protection of course. Next thing consumers take knives to the bags to circumvent the coded valves. Bags are reinforced. Consumers use better knives. Bags are made double-walled with some nasty tasting/coloured liquid in between the two walls, all for your protection. Next step is Juicero goes bankrupt, consumers are left with useless machines which end up on flea markets or landfills. Rinse. Repeat. Me? I just eat an apple, an orange or a banana. My daughter prefers to put them through the blender first and calls it a smoothie. Takes all of a few minutes and works with apples and oranges and bananas from any source.

dpflan 10y ago
Indeed! And at the $400 price point you could purchase a superb blender or a good one and save $ (blender drawbacks may be the cleaning and grocery shopping when viewed as customer for Juicero who is contemplating switching) but it's far more versatile beyond the context of just consuming produce in liquid or near-liquid/smoothie form.
- manigandham 10y ago
  Juicero also wants people to wash out and mail back used juice packs so it's not really a savings either.
roymurdock 10y ago
You should consider applying for an operations role at Juicero - the double-walled solution was truly a nice touch. On another note, Juicero doesn't care what you or your daughter do to make juice, because you were never meant to buy a Juicero. It's a safe bet that their strategy was to sell B2B to large corporations and into the high-end hospitality industry (hotels, cruise ships, colleges) rather than B2C. I'm sure they extrapolated some crazy TAM/SAM/SOM for the B2B amenities market based on Keurig's success and used it to score an easy $120m.
- Animats 10y ago
  No, it's built as a home appliance. If it was for the food service industry, it would be heavy stainless steel and cleanable with boiling soapy water, like everything else in that industry. And it would be faster; 10 seconds, not 2 minutes. It wouldn't look like an overgrown iPad.
  - roymurdock 10y ago
    It's a self-serve appliance, aka not meant to be used in a kitchen or prep room, but to be left out in common areas for customers to buy/take a bag and make their own juice, no mess no cleanup, see Keurig
    - DKnoll 10y ago
      Keurig markets itself to both consumers and businesses.
      - compsciphd 10y ago
        others like Flavia dont market to consumers though (its actually a selling point of theirs, "our machines are expensive and hence wont be purchased by consumers, so dont have to worry about people stealing your supplies")
- sgustard 10y ago
  This is like a Keurig if Keurig squeezed coffee out of pods that were full of hot liquid coffee.
narrator 10y ago
You can also buy a juicer. Takes a negligible effort to clean, and with all those grocery delivery services, the slogging vegetables around part is taken care of.
- nkristoffersen 10y ago
  That doesn't work in an office environment. The "K" coffee makers are a dream in breakrooms everywhere.
  - narrator 10y ago
    Yeah, that's a valid point. In a breakroom there is a commons and unless there's someone who maintains the commons it will get dirty and the refirgerator will get filled with rotting crap. Keurig side steps that by not needing cleaning or messy supplies. Just add paper cups and you don't even need a dishwasher.
  - shalmanese 10y ago
    Office break rooms solve this by having bottles of Odwalla and the like in the drinks fridge along with all the other drinks. Juicero is ostensibly fresher but, as the demonstration shows, it's really not and the quality is the same as any other cold pressed juice.
- justboxing 10y ago
  > Takes a negligible effort to clean Which one? Not trolling, but I've bought (and returned) 3 different juices in the 300 - 500$ range that were a pain to clean, dry and put away. Even the ones made in Korea that are "only 5 parts" are annoying. I've had soft shreds getting stuck in the ejection tube, and the only way to clean it is (that I've found out) by using an ear bud to push it out.
  - Yetanfou 10y ago
    I have a Braun MP32, bought by my parents when I was born. The thing works fine. Parts are still available, as are the machines (2nd hand but who cares?). http://www.dasprogramm.org/electrical/household/braun-multipress-mp-32.html http://www.dasprogramm.org/electrical/household/braun-multip... http://www.ebay.de/bhp/braun-mp-32 http://www.ebay.de/bhp/braun-mp-32
moonka 10y ago
They are starting from the other side: > The company sells produce packs for $5 to $8 but limits sales to owners of Juicero hardware. The products were only available in three states until Tuesday, when the company expanded to 17.
nommm-nommm 10y ago
Useless machines have even started with Keurig. "Owners Of Discontinued Keurig Rivo Having Trouble Buying Coffee Pods That Will Work" https://consumerist.com/2017/02/27/owners-of-discontinued-keurig-rivo-having-trouble-buying-coffee-pods-that-will-work/ https://consumerist.com/2017/02/27/owners-of-discontinued-ke...

dpflan 10y ago

Indeed! And at the $400 price point you could purchase a superb blender or a good one and save $ (blender drawbacks may be the cleaning and grocery shopping when viewed as customer for Juicero who is contemplating switching) but it's far more versatile beyond the context of just consuming produce in liquid or near-liquid/smoothie form.

manigandham 10y ago
Juicero also wants people to wash out and mail back used juice packs so it's not really a savings either.

roymurdock 10y ago

You should consider applying for an operations role at Juicero - the double-walled solution was truly a nice touch. On another note, Juicero doesn't care what you or your daughter do to make juice, because you were never meant to buy a Juicero. It's a safe bet that their strategy was to sell B2B to large corporations and into the high-end hospitality industry (hotels, cruise ships, colleges) rather than B2C. I'm sure they extrapolated some crazy TAM/SAM/SOM for the B2B amenities market based on Keurig's success and used it to score an easy $120m.

Animats 10y ago
No, it's built as a home appliance. If it was for the food service industry, it would be heavy stainless steel and cleanable with boiling soapy water, like everything else in that industry. And it would be faster; 10 seconds, not 2 minutes. It wouldn't look like an overgrown iPad.
- roymurdock 10y ago
  It's a self-serve appliance, aka not meant to be used in a kitchen or prep room, but to be left out in common areas for customers to buy/take a bag and make their own juice, no mess no cleanup, see Keurig
  - DKnoll 10y ago
    Keurig markets itself to both consumers and businesses.
    - compsciphd 10y ago
      others like Flavia dont market to consumers though (its actually a selling point of theirs, "our machines are expensive and hence wont be purchased by consumers, so dont have to worry about people stealing your supplies")
sgustard 10y ago
This is like a Keurig if Keurig squeezed coffee out of pods that were full of hot liquid coffee.

narrator 10y ago

You can also buy a juicer. Takes a negligible effort to clean, and with all those grocery delivery services, the slogging vegetables around part is taken care of.

nkristoffersen 10y ago
That doesn't work in an office environment. The "K" coffee makers are a dream in breakrooms everywhere.
- narrator 10y ago
  Yeah, that's a valid point. In a breakroom there is a commons and unless there's someone who maintains the commons it will get dirty and the refirgerator will get filled with rotting crap. Keurig side steps that by not needing cleaning or messy supplies. Just add paper cups and you don't even need a dishwasher.
- shalmanese 10y ago
  Office break rooms solve this by having bottles of Odwalla and the like in the drinks fridge along with all the other drinks. Juicero is ostensibly fresher but, as the demonstration shows, it's really not and the quality is the same as any other cold pressed juice.
justboxing 10y ago
> Takes a negligible effort to clean Which one? Not trolling, but I've bought (and returned) 3 different juices in the 300 - 500$ range that were a pain to clean, dry and put away. Even the ones made in Korea that are "only 5 parts" are annoying. I've had soft shreds getting stuck in the ejection tube, and the only way to clean it is (that I've found out) by using an ear bud to push it out.
- Yetanfou 10y ago
  I have a Braun MP32, bought by my parents when I was born. The thing works fine. Parts are still available, as are the machines (2nd hand but who cares?). http://www.dasprogramm.org/electrical/household/braun-multipress-mp-32.html http://www.dasprogramm.org/electrical/household/braun-multip... http://www.ebay.de/bhp/braun-mp-32 http://www.ebay.de/bhp/braun-mp-32

moonka 10y ago

They are starting from the other side: > The company sells produce packs for $5 to $8 but limits sales to owners of Juicero hardware. The products were only available in three states until Tuesday, when the company expanded to 17.

nommm-nommm 10y ago

Useless machines have even started with Keurig. "Owners Of Discontinued Keurig Rivo Having Trouble Buying Coffee Pods That Will Work" https://consumerist.com/2017/02/27/owners-of-discontinued-keurig-rivo-having-trouble-buying-coffee-pods-that-will-work/ https://consumerist.com/2017/02/27/owners-of-discontinued-ke...