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You see a juice shop sprout at every corner of your yuppie neighborhood, and you read about the success of Keurig, who married the coffee machine with the consu

You see a juice shop sprout at every corner of your yuppie neighborhood, and you read about the success of Keurig, who married the coffee machine with the consumer-level printer, which allows you to control which consumables go into your machine, and you think that this can somehow be translated to said fresh juice craze. So I don't think it's completely crazy. But a back-of-the-envelope calculation should have shown that it's probably not a great idea.

dzhiurgis 9y ago
Juice is not addictive as caffeine, perhaps that’s why.
- briandear 9y ago
  It is probably because I can go to the store right now and buy pretty great Odwalla stuff that tastes good and is healthy. However, pre-brewed coffee from a bottle isn’t at the same level as fresh coffee. The point is that there are reasonable substitutes for a Juicero, but coffee at home is something people already make but most people don’t care about making their own juice — and if they were aficionados, they would have a real juicer. Juicero just didn’t make much sense. It wasn’t solving a problem most people had. Many people make coffee each day and they might even drink juice, but most people drink juice from bottles, so Juicero was solving a problem that didn’t really need solving for the average consumer.
  - hannob 9y ago
    > It is probably because I can go to the store right now and buy pretty great Odwalla stuff that tastes good and is healthy. Contrary to popular belief none of that stuff is healthy. It doesn't matter whether it comes from a juicero or from a bottle, it just all contains far too much sugar.
    - zzleeper 9y ago
      For some reason, people seem to think that eating 40 grams of apple sugar is healthier than eating "sugar cane sugar" or "corn sugar". IMHO, of you take an apple and extract the fiber and water, you shouldn't be calling that fruit any more.
- NoPiece 9y ago
  Maybe not enough for Juicero, but sugar is addictive. Their 'juices' had a lot of sugar (via fruit) in them. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081210090819.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081210090819.h... https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jan/05/is-sugar-worlds-most-popular-drug https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jan/05/is-sugar-wor...
- marcosdumay 9y ago
  - A capsule coffee machine is way cheaper than an expresso machine. - Expressos are minimally hard to make correctly, and those capsules are above even the quality of some coffee shops. - There is a big movement of gourmet coffee that favors high priced drinks with the correct marketing (not perfectly correlated with quality). None of those seem to apply to Juicero. They may have aimed at the last point, but I don't think it's something you can create on a startup's budget.
  - fron 9y ago
    I know what you meant, but the word doesn't have an x in it. Espresso is the correct spelling of the word.
  - tesin 9y ago
    It's espresso, not expresso. Capsule is far more expensive over the it's lifetime than something like a Gaggia Classic. Capsules aren't anywhere near the quality of coffee shops, unless you're counting Dunkin.
    - krrrh 9y ago
      > It's espresso, not expresso. Nitpick on your nitpick. While the word originated in Italy as espresso and that is mostly what we use in the English-speaking world, expresso is not totally uncommon and it's not necessarily a misspelling or folk-etymological error. French and Portuguese use the expresso variation for instance, and the x spelling is considered 're-latinized'. Depending on where you live the beverage may have entered your culture via French or Italian influences, perhaps one reason why expresso seems more common in Canada than in the US (though espresso dominates in Canada as well, no doubt helped by the ubiquity of Starbucks).
      - tesin 9y ago
        I think that's giving too much credit - for most it's the same mistake as axe and ask (you a question).
    - dunmalg 9y ago
johnhenry 9y ago
The parallel to Keurig is a key piece of insight. Investors see "Coffee -> Starbucks -> Kerrig", and think "Juice -> Jamba -> $$$".

dzhiurgis 9y ago

Juice is not addictive as caffeine, perhaps that’s why.

briandear 9y ago
It is probably because I can go to the store right now and buy pretty great Odwalla stuff that tastes good and is healthy. However, pre-brewed coffee from a bottle isn’t at the same level as fresh coffee. The point is that there are reasonable substitutes for a Juicero, but coffee at home is something people already make but most people don’t care about making their own juice — and if they were aficionados, they would have a real juicer. Juicero just didn’t make much sense. It wasn’t solving a problem most people had. Many people make coffee each day and they might even drink juice, but most people drink juice from bottles, so Juicero was solving a problem that didn’t really need solving for the average consumer.
- hannob 9y ago
  > It is probably because I can go to the store right now and buy pretty great Odwalla stuff that tastes good and is healthy. Contrary to popular belief none of that stuff is healthy. It doesn't matter whether it comes from a juicero or from a bottle, it just all contains far too much sugar.
  - zzleeper 9y ago
    For some reason, people seem to think that eating 40 grams of apple sugar is healthier than eating "sugar cane sugar" or "corn sugar". IMHO, of you take an apple and extract the fiber and water, you shouldn't be calling that fruit any more.
NoPiece 9y ago
Maybe not enough for Juicero, but sugar is addictive. Their 'juices' had a lot of sugar (via fruit) in them. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081210090819.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081210090819.h... https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jan/05/is-sugar-worlds-most-popular-drug https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jan/05/is-sugar-wor...
marcosdumay 9y ago
- A capsule coffee machine is way cheaper than an expresso machine. - Expressos are minimally hard to make correctly, and those capsules are above even the quality of some coffee shops. - There is a big movement of gourmet coffee that favors high priced drinks with the correct marketing (not perfectly correlated with quality). None of those seem to apply to Juicero. They may have aimed at the last point, but I don't think it's something you can create on a startup's budget.
- fron 9y ago
  I know what you meant, but the word doesn't have an x in it. Espresso is the correct spelling of the word.
- tesin 9y ago
  It's espresso, not expresso. Capsule is far more expensive over the it's lifetime than something like a Gaggia Classic. Capsules aren't anywhere near the quality of coffee shops, unless you're counting Dunkin.
  - krrrh 9y ago
    > It's espresso, not expresso. Nitpick on your nitpick. While the word originated in Italy as espresso and that is mostly what we use in the English-speaking world, expresso is not totally uncommon and it's not necessarily a misspelling or folk-etymological error. French and Portuguese use the expresso variation for instance, and the x spelling is considered 're-latinized'. Depending on where you live the beverage may have entered your culture via French or Italian influences, perhaps one reason why expresso seems more common in Canada than in the US (though espresso dominates in Canada as well, no doubt helped by the ubiquity of Starbucks).
    - tesin 9y ago
      I think that's giving too much credit - for most it's the same mistake as axe and ask (you a question).
  - dunmalg 9y ago

johnhenry 9y ago

The parallel to Keurig is a key piece of insight. Investors see "Coffee -> Starbucks -> Kerrig", and think "Juice -> Jamba -> $$$".