New UMC Jamba Juice provides competition
Baby Doe’s in the UMC is seeing a loss in revenue for the first time in a long time. And UMC director Carlos Garcia said Jamba Juice is likely to blame.
Garcia said that the coffee shop in the UMC is making less money for the first time since 1986, which was the last time renovations were done on the building.
“We believe that it’s because we have Jamba Juice now,” Garcia said.
According to data provided by Garcia, Baby Doe’s made about $6,000 less in the first quarter of 2007, which runs from July 1 to Sept. 30, than in the same period last year. Revenue went from $150,000 to about $144,000.
Jamba Juice opened in May 2007 and made almost $7,500 in commissions for the UMC in the first quarter of this year.
Unlike Baby Doe’s, Jamba Juice is not owned by the UMC. They pay a 9 percent commission.
To put this in perspective, Wok ‘n Roll and Subway made almost $10,000 in commission and the UMC-owned Alferd Packer Grill almost $350,000 in the same period.
“Jamba Juice is basically sharing customers (with Baby Doe’s),” Garcia said. “It’s the only logical explanation for us.”
Student loyalty between Baby Doe’s and Jamba Juice is about equal. However, many students prefer Baby Does if they are short on time.
Some students are not sure if it is fair to place all the blame on Jamba Juice.
“Jamba Juice is really popular, but whenever I go to Baby Doe’s there’s a line” said Julia Duryea, a senior sociology major.
Michelle Graham, a junior journalism and French major thinks that Jamba Juice might play a role in lost profits, but isn’t sure if it is the only cause.
“It could be, [but], there’s other factors,” Graham said.
Although Garcia attributes a loss in Baby Doe’s profits to Jamba Juice, he admits there could also be other factors.
“A lot of it depends on the weather,” said Garcia. “Competition up on the Hill affects us.”
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Sam Dieter at samuel.dieter@colorado.edu
