"Together Talks" feature # 69: Main Squeeze Juice Co. presented by KLS, freight company
Some Background on Main Squeeze Juice Co.
Today's edition of "Together Talks" campaign, KLS had the privilege to speak with Main Juice Squeeze Co. and Chief Dietitian Officer, Julie Nieto Canseco. In a world full of 'fast' and 'dead' foods they are dedicated to serving the highest quality, raw, and unpasteurized juices, superfood smoothies, handcrafted açaí bowls, & plant based snacks. Their cold-press process ensures each juice is packed with the maximum level of vitamins, enzymes, minerals, and nutrients possible! Main Squeeze Juice Co. strongly believe in reviving the idea of 'food as medicine' through their menu - combining the timeless simplicity of fruits and vegetables in a nourishing and refreshing way.
Quality + Convenience + Approachable
The company started out as a Yoga studio juice bar in 2017. Quickly they realized there was an opportunity. Main Squeeze Juice Co. bet on the quality of their product, going all in with their motto, "Never compromise". They have created an environment that serves products where customers are consuming healthy ingredients such as kale and don't even notice it!
Julie credited what our country experienced during the Pandemic as an opportunity to try new foods and lifestyles. "Individuals were more open to hearing alternative options. The Pandemic helped boost people’s willingness to approach new foods and evaluate their personal health.", Julie explained. The company views direct competition as other healthy juice bars, wellness cafes, and smoothie bars. But also all types of food and beverage companies provide competition as they are fighting for consumers consumption. Main Squeeze Juice Co. believes the trend towards investing in our own health puts them in a position to continue creating meaningful impact. Another aspect of their operations that sets them apart if having drive thrus. They are able to blend not only healthy options, but convenience as well. As Julie mentioned, "The best of both worlds, while also affordable."
The company prides itself on being extremely approachable. They want to embrace all people and all aspects of people, Whether a super health-conscious individual or a mom trying to get her kids trying to eat healthy, they are providing trusted and quality products that are truly great for everyone.
Julie applauded the company being able to grow starting in the unhealthiest state (Louisiana). This provided an immense challenge to inform, educate, and convince a demographic not accustomed to this lifestyle. In addition to healthy eating, their products 100% plant-based. To start it was extremely challenging getting the messaging out, but what ultimately excited the team so much.
With Main Squeeze Juice Co. being a franchise company, it has provided Julie an opportunity to learn about people. At its core, franchising is about people and Main Squeeze Juice Co. is a people business. In order for the company to grow and expand partnerships must be created and nourished. Julie told us she had no experience with franchising prior to this, but it has been an incredibly fun adventure.
As Julie told us, "We always say, 'We aren't blending smoothies, we are blending happiness'."
Partner with KLS
KLS offers LTL and FTL for both dry and reefer transportation.
Our nationwide coverage provides companies a reliable, consistent, and dependable logistics partner to handle your trucking needs.
For more information on how we can help call our office today 708-980-0920 or reach us via our email quote request here!
Pandemic
Going into 2020, Main Squeeze Juice Co. was rolling on all cylinders. They had just signed a 10 store deal and felt like this was the year they'd be on the map. Collectively they had a vision that this was going to be their year. 2 months later, the world shuts down. Julie mentioned that challenges that came with production and logistics. Also she mentioned how the company understood the opportunity of grabbing customer share, "What do people want and what are they willing to spend their extra dollars on?" Main Squeeze Juice Co. was prepared to weather the storm and remain approachable for their customers.
Their biggest goal was not wanting to shut a store down in 2020. They also wanted to stay committed to their "Never Compromise" motto, by not changing any product during shortages. They were pushed to crease an app in 6 months, which Julie applauded the response of the team to further provide a seamless experience for customers. She also commended the willingness of franchisees to push and keep going. Everyone believed that product was there and people will come.
Julie shared with us that of the 18 locations not 1 was shut down during Covid! A remarkable feat. She alluded to fatigue the company and franchisees have battled coming out of operating business during Pandemic. But again she gave all the credit and accolades to the Franchisees, who she says are incredible people.
Those people have the support of corporate to participate in charity and community work quarterly. Julie said that they leave it up to the Franchisees to lead the way. She said that the Franchisees engage and interact within the community. "It is important to give back to their neighbors and create even further good in their respective communities. Good people, through and through.", Julie shared.
Incredibly 2020 ended up being a huge year, one of strongest years in sales in fact for the company. While it wasn’t the year they pictured, it ended up being a year of incredible perseverance and success for the company.
Now or never
Previously Julie was a Registered Dietitian. She thought she would be a consulting role or working directly with people. Prior to Main Squeeze Juice Co. she worked at a non-profit working with restaurants and working with chefs. Julie credited her parents for having her strive to create impact, always excited her to make a difference.
When she was approached by her Husband and Brother about joining Main Squeeze Juice Co., the startup could only promise her 3 months of salary. Her first visit at one of the locations she saw a kid asking for green juice and beat juice. "I was shocked", Julie shared. She had been torn on leaving her current position as she had worked so hard to grow it and had recently won a grant to grow it even further. But the challenge of creating and connecting with people even further spoke to her. Then the opportunity to impact eating behaviors on not just a city or state level, but national and potentially global was too much for her to pass up. "This was it when I saw that kid order, this is the vehicle.", Julie told us.
Reflecting on the transition she admitted she knew she'd regret it if she didn't at least try. She took the leap with nothing but confidence in herself and the team that was building the company. Julie began as Quality Assurance Manager and slowly got more and more involved over time. To the point where she evolved into interacting with every aspect of the business. She shared she was thankful had the confidence to take the leap.
Julie mentioned the opportunity to grow into a C-Suite position has been rewarding. But still the biggest thing for her is receiving testimonials from customers and hearing how lives have changed. One instance she shared with us, was a Manager at their Baton Rouge location had lost over 90 lbs. Prior to that she was told she wouldn't be able to have a baby and she is now the Mother to a 6-month old baby. These stories are the reason Main Squeeze Juice Co. set out to create sustainable impact and change for consumers.
Acquisitions and Growth
Do We asked Julie if there is a moment that brings her the most joy and the answer was complex, a rollercoaster to fully understand the events that took place.
"We were trying to grow and scale and we found incredible investment partners. During about the middle of it we had wire fraud happen. This was our lifeline to continue the business. The FBI had to get involved, it was a nightmare of a situation. But the most amazing thing happened, the investor had so much faith in our business and our mission, he cut another check and kept the investment going. What could have sunk us, turned out to be another feather in our cap of the amazing community being built. And the best part of this story is our investor was a customer first and believed in the company that much!"
She shared that the team jokes if they can get through that, they can get through anything.
The next phase for Main Squeeze Juice Co. is to integrate via acquisitions. Their first was completed in March of this year. The company wants to help juice bars before they have to shut down. The first conversion happened a few weeks ago. There will be 5 stores in total. Julie believes this new model will prove to be successful for further bran exposure and growth. The other component the company is working on is revamping the entire development process of store design and implementation. They are planning innovative and cost cutting measures to further support their Franchisees. Julie shared she is excited to see the data roll in and be able to quantify these changes in the near future.
We asked what brings Julie the most pride and she told us seeing when a Franchisee wants to expand. The desire to grow it and make it a career for themselves and their family is special.
Piece of Advice
We ended our conversation with Julie asking for her piece of advice and she shared:
"When you come into newer business or newer challenge, lean into your skills. Lean into confidence, can sit back and learn, but no one can see what you can do that way. Be humble enough to learn during the process. Have made mistakes while growing, but pride herself to not to make the same mistake twice. Learn from experiences. Don’t be afraid to fail, put yourself out there."
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Contact us as we would love to learn your story and share it amongst our audience.
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In Closing
KLS wants to thank Julie Nieto Canseco, Chief Dietitian Officer, of Main Juice Squeeze Co. for today's "Together Talks" feature. Keep up to date with Main Squeeze Juice Co. by following their blog on their website, check it out here. Follow along for the Main Squeeze Juice Co. journey with their social handles below!
LinkedIn / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Julie's LinkedIn
Klimson Logistics Solutions - Together Talks with Main Squeeze Juice Co. feature # 69
*Klimson Logistics Solutions is an Industry Leading Customer Service 3PL. Our focus and commitment to our clients has us striving to be the BEST customer service 3PL for LTL, FTL, Reefer, and Drayage in the country. KLS, freight company, is a 3PL providing nationwide logistics solutions. KLS shipping services include: LTL freight, FTL freight, Reefer LTL freight, Reefer FTL freight, and Drayage. Klimson Logistics Solutions thanks you for viewing our marketing campaign, "Together Talks". If you have any interest in being featured or questions regarding your freight operations please contact us today!
Why KLS?
Our precise and reliable effort.
We handle every shipment with the exact same process. It does not matter if you move one shipment a year or ten per day, you will receive the same level of customer service from us. When we started this company, we had one goal in mind, treat every shipment like it was our own. With our vast knowledge of the industry, we understood what a customer would want from a communication standpoint. We applied that process to be the standard here at KLS. Our reliability and being able to depend on our consistency is why we have such long-standing relationships with our clients.
Our Process?
Every shipment in our industry starts with a quote. We are firm believers that time is money, thus we strive to have quotes back in a 5-10 minute reply time for LTL and FTL, any FCL quotes are at the mercy of the carriers getting back to us. For LTL we have the flexibility to quote both off of NMFC and also Density depending on the carrier. Utilizing our services, you’re allowing us to use our expertise to class your freight accordingly to ensure we are providing the best rate we possibly can.
Once a quote has been submitted and a client chooses to proceed with KLS handling the arrangement of the shipment our full process begins. We create the BOL that will be used for the shipment. If it is a new location for our system, we will obtain all the important/special details (reference numbers, contact details, shipping hours, closed for lunch, dock/doors, etc.). We meticulously build every detail into our software for all future shipments involving that location. After we have both locations built and necessary reference numbers have been applied we will tender the shipment to the carrier. We use this method because it provides us a real time pickup number from the carrier to obtain updates prior to pickup. Our staff will either email the BOL directly to you or to the shipper (at your request) the minute after the tender has been accepted by the carrier. LTL carriers require a 2 hour window prior to close time in order to schedule it for a same-day pickup attempt.
The following morning you’ll receive an email from us. It will either provide the reason the pickup was missed (driver’s trailer filled up, driver missed the close time, truck broke down, shipper said no freight, etc.) or if the pickup was successful you will receive the PRO (tracking) number from us, along with the eta for delivery. Our staff will track it throughout the duration of transit and advise if anything happens that will alter the estimated delivery date. The day the shipment delivers we will email you with confirmation and the POD (Proof of Delivery), should you require it.
Your shipment has been quoted, scheduled, picked up, and delivered. The next step is waiting for the carrier to invoice us and make sure the rate matches up. If it does, we close out the invoice from the carrier in our system and automatically your invoice is created and sent to the requested party at your company. In the event the carrier has an additional charge on their invoice “Variance”, we will never send you an invoice with an additional charge without first identifying you of the charge.
Let us repeat, NEVER WILL WE JUST BILL OUT AN EXTRA CHARGE WITHOUT YOU BEING NOTIFIED.
You are our customer, we represent you. Should the carrier provide an extra charge on an invoice, “Lift gate, additional weight, reclass, detention, etc.) We notify you of the charge via email first. Second, within that email we identify what is required should you choose to dispute the charge. Again our goal is to honor your request, if you want to dispute, we will dispute. During a dispute we will provide you updates every step along the way. Once a dispute is closed out, whether it is approved or rejected, then we will invoice you as the invoice has been resolved.
For reference, our company only had 6.2% of all shipments go to dispute in 2022 and we successfully won 91% of those disputes on behalf of our customers.
This is our process for every single shipment you move with us. We don’t cut corners, we don’t hide from difficult situations. We believe in being available, honest, and transparent. We don’t ever want to tell you that a shipment is lost, damaged, misrouted, but it is our duty to notify you the second we find out something has gone wrong. We hate to present bad news, but it is part of the job. What you can guarantee is that we will work a shipment all the way through and turn over every stone until we get a resolution for our clients.
Services offered?
Our core business is LTL and FTL. Within these options we have options for both dry and refrigerated/frozen. We also offer FCL/Drayage options. Our company as a 3PL has nationwide options and services clients across the US.
Let’s breakdown our services more in-depth
LTL:
Standard and Guaranteed
CFS (Imports & Exports)
Tradeshows
Hazmat
Anything that is on a pallet can be moved LTL. Typically LTL is up to 10 pallets, but the sweet spot for a carrier is 6-8 pallets at most for an individual shipment. LTL quotes are good between 5-30 days depending on the carrier. LTL can be quoted either via NMFC or density to determine the class (we do this for you).
Volume:
Anything over 10-12’ of space in the truck is the technical rule for a volume shipment. When we run a quote for you we will determine if it qualifies for volume and provide you a rate if available. Volume moves allow you to get a reduced rate for larger shipments. The caveat to volume shipments it the quotes are only valid for 3-7 days and they move on capacity between terminals. If a terminal is backed up they will move their LTL freight first before the volume freight, which can lead to longer transit times for volume moves.
FTL/Dedicated/Expedited: 53’ Dry and Reefer 26’ Box trucks with lift gate Sprinter Van The main difference for FTL vs LTL is space and transit time. For standard pallets you can fit either 26 or 30 pallets in a 53’ dry van. The other main difference is transit time, for FTL each day counts in the transit time, whereas LTL does not count the day of pickup, weekends, or holidays in their transit time.
Reefer/Frozen:
LTL and FTL
We specialize working in the CPG space with food manufacturers. We regularly deliver to
the following locations:
Kehe
UNFI
Core Mark
DPI
Wegmans
Cugini
H.T. Hackney
Netrition
HEB
ALDI
Chambers and Owens
EBY Brown
Nassau Candy
Harris Teeter
Wakefern
NU INC
Long Distribution
What makes KLS different?
There are thousands of freight brokers and 3PL in our industry. Barrier to entry is rather easy and agents or owners will often hire sales people without any intention of properly training them. It results in high turnover for many freight companies and a forgettable experience for the client. We choose to operate differently through our consistency. We truly care about doing right by our clients and prospects too. While we would love to help provide our services to every company we speak with, that just isn’t realistic. We won’t always be the right fit for every company that moves freight and that is ok. Our authenticity as a shipping company sets us apart from the competition and that is backed up by our testimonials. We also run a marketing campaign bi-weekly called “Together Talks”. We interview, highlight, and promote two businesses every week. Our goal is to grow our network, make new connections, and learn something new with each collaboration. Check it out on our website and if you’re interested in being featured reach out.
Our company also runs a year long charity promotion. Book your first shipment through KLS and we donate to the charity of your choice in your name. Our way of thanking you for giving us an opportunity to show you the KLS way and what makes us one of a kind. This entire package is what we offer to every prospect and every client. Our goal is to help provide answers that customers may have when it comes to shipping. We want to always be available as a resource and will always offer a lending hand whenever we can.
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