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INDUSTRY
WITH ITS ENTRY INTO THE ULTRATRENDY JUICE
MARKET, STARBUCKS AIMS TOHAVE AMERICANS
SIPPING THEIR SALADS IN NO TIME
BY ALYSSA GIACOBBE
RETURNOF THE
LIQUID LUNCH
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
•
AUGUST 2012
67
REUTERS/ANTHONY BOLANTE/LANDOV
ocated about 20 minutes from downtown
Sea le, the Bellevue Square mall is a study
in Pacific Northwest posh. The shops are
upscale; the clientele is overwhelmingly
sporty, blond, female. On the mall’s ground
floor, two women enter the juice bar Evo-
lution Fresh. The kid at the counter greets
them, asking—with an earnestness befi ing
his position as a “juice tender”—where they
are on their “juicing journey.” Behind him
there’s a digital display listing today’s “on
tap” selections (such as Coconut
Zen, a blend of coconut water,
cucumber juice and pineapple
juice) that can be poured as is
or custom-blended. The blondes
opt for Bit-a-Green (greens, cucum-
ber, ginger, apple) in the 16-ounce
size, fork over a whopping $8 apiece
and rejoin the throng coursing
through the mall.
Eight dollars for juice may sound
outlandish, but the Bellevue Square
sippers seem happy enough to hand it
over. Though everyday juice has fallen
out of fashion in the post-Atkins years
as being too low in nutrients to be
worth the calories, premium juice—
pasteurized minimally or not at all,
and preservative-free—has caught
on among Americans obsessed with
all things organic and unadulterated,
eager to claim the promised benefits of
adiet unencumberedby solids. Gwyneth
Paltrow juices. So does Steven Spielberg.
At the moment, natural
L