As the economic downturn continues, those in the food service industry are bracing themselves for the worst and attempting to update their game plans to fit the financial constraints of their customers.

Smoothie maker Jamba Juice is facing especially difficult challenges as it attempts to grow and establish a following. The slow economy in California has already dug into Jamba Juice, which relies on the state as one of its strongest customer bases.

One particularly stringent problem that the smoothie chain faces is the need to articulate exactly how its customer interaction works. For example, Starbucks is a company that does extremely well based on the convenience of its location. When customers crave Starbucks, one is never far away, and a large percentage of the time customers run into Starbucks while on their way somewhere.

Although they do not necessarily need or even heavily desire a Starbucks, the fact that it’s there provides the customer with the option to make an easy, fast and enjoyable pit stop. For some consumers, Starbucks has almost become like a bathroom in the sense that you hear people say, “Hey, there’s a Starbucks over there, might as well go.”

While Jamba Juice locations are far less frequent, they are still reachable in most areas if the customer craves one. But at this point, customers do not go to Jamba Juice regularly out of convenience as they stop into Starbucks locations. Currently, Jamba Juice is much more of a Dairy Queen or Cold Stone type of service. Customers are aware of their locations and will head to them specifically when they want a smoothie.

Thus, Jamba Juice’s rapid expansion in some areas has hurt its own growth. When the company opens another store that is in close proximity to an already existing location, customers are immediately drawn from the existing store to whichever location is closer to them. While some new customer will inevitably discover the chain, Jamba Juice does not yet have the addictive power that makes consumers stop in whenever they see one.

But the company is working on all that. Jamba Juice recently released a line of hot and cold breakfast options in an attempt to develop a larger menu, more of a culture and of course, increase the average guest check. If a customer walks into a store that only sells smoothies, they are limited to only buying smoothies. A creative idea such as the new breakfast smoothie that features granola is the perfect way for Jamba Juice to come up with an original product that fits the general framework of the company’s brand.

But the economy promises to provide Jamba Juice with even more challenges. Higher fruit prices have already lowered profit predictions for 2008 and other food chains have developed their own smoothie drinks due to the high revenue that these cheap and easy-to-make menu items generate.

Regardless of the competition, Jamba Juice still hopes that the investment they have made in the healthy food sector will pay dividends. Although the economy is rough, better branding, an extended menu, and cheaper prices could push consumers who are watching their wallets off of Starbucks and onto the somewhat healthy and tasty world of Jamba Juice smoothies. Who knows? Some people might just get hooked.

Photo courtesy of newyork808.