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Introduction
Company profile
[Boost Juice Bars™ (BJB), Singapore]
Subsequent to a trip from Australia to the United States of America where Janine Allis (mother of 3
kids) noticed the intensifying phenomenon of Juice Bars, it occurred naturally to her as the solution for
the problem of a lack of healthy dietary options for her kids and herself.
Upon their return, Janine started development on a business plan with the idea of healthy beverages
at its core. Through consulting nutritionist and naturopaths, Janine created a menu of juices and
smoothies that are free from preservatives, artificial flavourings, and colours and heavily emphasized
on health consciousness
After raising $250,000 through funds pooling by her friends as investments, the first Boost Juice
Bars™ store officially opening in 2000, In Australia, and by 2006 it has expanded into an international
retail chain of over 250 stores.
Boost Juice Bars™ came onto the shores of Singapore also in 2006, and in 2011 it went under the
management of Dr Soraya Ismail and Nick Tiernan who are currently the master franchise owners for
the Singapore and Malaysia. .
The pair became fans of BJB’s iconic beverages when they were expatriates in Melbourne but it was
not until their honeymoon that the newlyweds decided to bring BJB into the Malaysian market, which
was Soraya’s home who is half Malaysian and half Singaporean and the expansion into Singapore in
2011 was only natural progression.
Currently, BJB has 16 stores operational island-wide locally and many more stores being in plan to be
open.
Product offerings
Juices & Smoothies
Boost Juice Bars™ offers mainly a healthy menu that is alternative to main stream fast food. Product
offerings are consists of smoothies, fruit juices and crushes that are largely 98% fat–free with no
additionally sweeteners, flavourings or colourings.
Overall, Boost Juice Bars™ sells an experience that encompasses a combination of delicious healthy
beverages being served by people of positivity and energy in a store with vibrant and colourful
environment.
External Analysis
Pestle Analysis
Politic/ Legal
Singapore validates itself as a country that has low tolerance level for corruption with a score of
85/100 and rank of 8th in a list of 18 countries on Transparency International. Its results and ranking
has also been consistently excellent over the years (e.V., 2016).
Singapore’s ruling party, The People’s Action Party (PAP), has been Singapore’s only ruling party
since its first victory subsequent to the country’s independence. In the latest General Election, the
party secured 69.86% of the people’s vote, obtaining a landslide victory and effectively outdoing its
own performance in 2011 by 9.72% (Tay, 2016).
Corporate tax rates in Singapore has been maintained lowly at 17% with a wide range of schemes,
grants, rebates and exemptions to maintain a positive and business friendly environment locally
(Iras.gov.sg, 2016).
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Efforts to promote entrepreneurships and providing aid to the growth of localised SMEs has also been
evident from the wide array of schemes and grants facilitated by several governing agencies such as
SPRING. Quintessentially in Singapore Budget 2016, rebates for corporate rates were increased to
50% while loan scheme to aid SMEs potential cash flow issues were introduced (Nair, 2016).
Stable political environment with low tolerance for corruption makes business conducting favourable
in Singapore, though with the growing amount of SMEs, sustainability with innovation and enhancing
competitive strengths should be Boost Juice Bars™ ‘s prioritized consideration for strategic business
direction.
Economic
Growth rate of Singapore’s GDP grew sluggish by 0.8% in 2015 which was the most lack-luster since
the Global Financial Crisis in 2009 (Rumi, 2016).
Continuously affected by the global economy such as the ailing of Chinese, Japanese and European
markets spells weak demands and lower profit margins for local companies despite increasing cost
for business conducting (Chia, 2016).
20% increased of layoffs was experienced in 2015, though wide retrenchments are not expected,
higher unemployment is plausible in 2016 (Seow, 2016).
Consumer spending could plausibly turn adverse by such negative economic events, thus, the retail
sector’s outlook in Singapore can be considered gloomy to a large extent (Chia, 2016).
Price sensitivity and cost efficiency for both be Boost Juice Bars™ and its consumers could be
maximized to retain competitive edge in this uncertain economical period.
Social-cultural
The Singaporean population consist mainly of 4 different ethnicities; Chinese, Malay, Indian and
Eurasian. This effective shapes Singapore as a unique multi-cultural nation
Singaporeans, being a well travelled population have a tendency to be intrigued by foreign
experiences and its novelty; hence, fresh concepts are always well received when it reaches their
shores (Ranasinghe, 2013).
Diabetes is the number 2 cause for ill health of Singaporeans, 1 in every 9 Singaporeans suffer from it
and it does not include unknowing patients while governmental effort would be stepped up to combat
the disease starting from prevention and eating right (Lai, 2016).
Singapore has witnessed continual increasing sales of food products with the ‘Healthier Choice’ label
while its Health Promotion Board’s continues to partner with more supermarkets and F&B retailers,
while seeking even more, to launch campaigns as effort to promote healthier dietary options (Wan
Ching, 2016).
Also, (Singh, 2014) reported that a fad of juice cleansing has recently taken off in Singapore where
juices would be substituted for meals for supposed health benefits, albeit expensive, more and more
Singaporeans are subscribing to the change of dietary habits.
Sudden fads, short lived preferences and imperatives the diverse mix of ethnicities remains to be
variables that must be taken into serious consideration for Boost Juice Bars™ strategic business
direction.
Technology
Transcendence into a Smart Nation with a knowledge based economy has always been Singapore’s
vision where its commitment towards its R&D has been evident with a myriad of schemes.
For instance, the array of schemes unveiled during Singapore Budget 2016 that serves to promote
business automation and usage of robotics in order for SMEs to scale up their businesses (Chew,
2016). Amounting to S$4.5 billion, schemes included the likes of Automation Support Package,
incentives and grants by the government, for businesses to incorporate new technologies (Williams,
2016).
Additionally, the Product and Innovation credit (PIC) grant by the governmental agency IRAS, enable
tax rebates when investments for technologies are made by businesses to increase productivity
(Spring.gov.sg, 2016).
Boost Juice Bars™ should evaluate their current position in the market and develop strategies in
relation to new age technologies such as online media to stay ahead of competitors and ensure
sustainability in the long term.
Environment
With a considerable small population of 5.3 million, Singaporeans uses an alarming amount of 3
billion plastic bags per year (Reyes, 2013).
Others aside, Singapore Packaging Agreement is a joint effort that consists of the Singaporean
government, the Non Governmental Organization and the industries to urge adoption of alternatives
that can effectively reduce waste and waste pollution of firms (Nea.gov.sg, 2016).
Firms should adopt a leading role, consumers aside, to actively search for alternatives in effort to
reduce plastic waste, quintessentially the F&B industry, where each smoothie or juice would require a
plastic cup.
Boost Juice Bars™ currently uses Polystyrene cups for their beverages which are less resource
intensive and environmental friendly where no CFFs are involved in its manufacturing, and
imperatively are recyclable.
Porters’5 Analysis
http://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/rough-patch–for-smoothie-king-as–
it-closes-outlets-here
