In July, 3Natives Acai and Juicery changed its name to 3Natives Acai Café. It did this to reflect that it has expanded from juices and smoothies to acai bowls and wraps. That’s news enough. But the real revelation may be what it’s doing underneath.
Anthony Bambino, founder and CEO of 3Natives Acai Cafe
“One of the biggest things we’ve done is switch our POS system over to Toast,” said Anthony Bambino, founder and CEO, in an interview. “Instead of having IPads all over the counter, everything is streamlined and goes right into the register. It makes things easy.”
The brand may need to simplify things if it wants to keep pace with its growth. It is up to 46 locations and has commitments for several more by the end of the year. A shift in strategy is paying off.
“Over the last six years, the juice space has gotten smaller and smaller,” he said. “At one point, cold-press juicing was roughly 50 percent of our business. Now it’s less than 4 percent. We thought, Why are we even putting juice in our name when it’s such a small percentage of what we sell and when food continues to grow?”
Food now represents 25 percent of its business, a significant portion of which is ordered for off-premises dining. The brand works with both DoorDash and Uber Eats, with DoorDash first among equals.
“We have a good partnership with DoorDash and its Storefront program,” he said. “If customers use DoorDash, they can still get rewards with us. And if you look at our website, the DoorDash online-ordering page looks almost identical to our online-ordering platform.”
The brand has been optimized for off-premises pretty much since the day it first swung its doors open in 2013.
“Our first store was 900 square feet and had maybe eight seats in the store,” he said. “We’ve always had a small footprint with a heavy to-go emphasis. After Covid, we dove more into it.”
Covid accelerated things for the brand as consumers started to thinking more about health. “We used to say that our bread-and-butter were Lululemon moms. But after Covid, it morphed. Everyday people decided they wanted to be healthy.”
The brand grew, adding healthy food offerings like acai bowls and salads, and adjusting its footprint to better accommodate pick-up orders.
“It’s simple. Consumers show us their phone to confirm the order. We have a Go Fridge, where we keep cold items like smoothies, and we hand them the order and they’re out the door,” he said.
And it’s doing more with loyalty, offering rewards for both consumers and operators.
“In August, we are doing a competition with all of our franchisees. We’re giving $10,000 to first, second, and third-place stores who can get the most loyalty members signed up in 30 days,” he said. “Most of our own stores are in South Florida and this is a good incentive for summer, which is our slow time.”
Last year was a challenge on the cost side but 3Natives absorbed the margin pressures just fine. “Our food costs are now under control,” he said.
Prospective franchisees are burning up the phone lines.
“Our organic leads have grown almost 100 percent from where they were in quarter three and four last year, when everybody was sitting on the sidelines,” he said. “Our healthy profit margins are attracting people who may want to open two or three stores.”
