Like any great entrepreneur, Ross Franklin was inspired to create an empire that would be an immeasurable good for the planet. His company ‘Pure Green Franchise’ was established in New York City in 2014, where it quickly became a sensation in the health community for its nutritional benefits as well as remarkable taste.
Like all business leaders, his intention is always to become better than yesterday, and its this rhetoric that has led him to develop his company into the fastest growing cold-pressed juice company in the USA. He took the time to sit down and discuss the origins of his company, his history with health, and of course, the COVID19 pandemic affecting his approach and perspective of business.
Hey Ross, thanks for taking the time to speak with us today, let’s start at the beginning. What sparked the idea for Pure Green Franchise?
I was previously in the health club industry for over a decade launching new health club brands, turning around struggling companies and I even owned my own gym and had a successful exit. After years of consulting for high-end fitness companies, I branched out and started consulting for specialty boutique fitness studios, yoga studios, Pilates studios and finally juice bars. I came to the realization that fitness only accounts for 20% of optimal health while nutrition accounts for 80%.
With the goal of making the most massive impact on people’s health as possible, I concluded that superfoods the key to helping the mainstream population shift toward a healthier lifestyle. In 2014, I founded Pure Green in New York City, one of the most competitive cities in the world. I started Pure Green’s wholesale division in 2016 and in 2020 I created Pure Green’s franchise division. Pure Green is now the fastest-growing cold pressed juice company and one of the fastest-growing juice bar franchisees in the United States.
The Juicing industry is certainly a competitive one, what is it that makes your product stand out?
What makes Pure Green products stand out are two key distinctions. The first is unparalleled taste. Most people will not be attracted to products that don’t taste good. I walk into competitor juice bars all the time and buy their smoothies, acai bowls and juice and throw it out after the first sip or bite. 99% of time, they taste terrible! Products have to taste good and I’m shocked my most juice bars don’t focus on taste as much as they should.
The second distinction is high-performance nutrition. Our product is consumed by over 50 professional sports teams and our products meet the high standards for nutrition that the professional team nutritionists require for their athletes.
All Pure Green products have both unparalleled taste and high-performance nutrition.
With COVID still rearing its head around the world, there have been countless stories of people adapting, how have you adjusted to this ‘new norm’?
With COVID-19, there has never been a more important time in our nation’s history where people place a higher value on their health and their family’s health. We have been very fortunate to remain open during the pandemic. During COVID, our stores have experienced higher levels of delivery orders. The pivot that we made was installing additional coolers in our stores for the delivery couriers to access delivery orders which reduce the wait in line for our guests and create more of a seamless guest experience. We also created dedicated delivery websites for all of our stores so our guests can order for at-home delivery with a better online experience.
Any unexpected lessons you’ve learned from your journey with Pure Green Franchise?
A major obstacle I’ve had to overcome was the impact on COVID-19 on the restaurant industry in investor confidence. The restaurant industry was particularly affected by COVID and when the pandemic hit back in March 2020, we had just started an equity crowdfunding campaign for Pure Green Franchise and our campaign reached a near halt because of all the uncertainty in the economy.
Our team’s morale was shattered, and there were many who questioned how we could continue our campaign given the state of the industry with the pandemic on the rise. As a leader, there are certain times where we need to dig-deep and inspire our teams despite how bad things may look. I believe that more than ever, these are the times where companies need to stay true to their mission.
Our mission at Pure Green is to build healthier communities around the globe. When the pandemic hit, within our local communities, we saw that the people who needed the most support were the front-line workers. At Pure Green, the way we handled the uncertainty of the pandemic was by shifting our focus to the front-line workers. We donated thousands of bottles of cold pressed juice to over 5 different local hospitals and along with our team, I personally handed out juice to doctors, nurses, hospital administration, police, fire fighters and other front-line works.
You can watch the video here:
As a result of staying true to our mission, the investors in our crowdfunding campaign rallied behind our commitment to our mission and our work in supporting our local community. We ended up maxing out our campaign raising over one-million dollars and building a supportive community of mission-driven investors in our company.
What is the most common misconception that people have about cold-pressed juices?
One common misconception that people have about juice in general is that fresh juice is the best form. The juice that is made “fresh” at many juice bars is made on centrifugal juicers which have blades that create heat and damage the nutritional profile of the juice. Cold pressed juice is made using hydraulic presses that retain all the nutritional benefits from the fresh fruits and vegetables. One bottle of cold pressed juice is equivalent to 5X the nutrition of juice made on a centrifugal juicer and at Pure Green, one bottle of cold pressed juice contains up to five pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables.
What has been your proudest moment in the business?
One of my proudest moments in business was signing our first franchisee for Pure Green Franchise. Our mission at Pure Green is to build healthier communities around the globe and to fully achieve this goal we need to recruit passionate entrepreneurs who are aligned with our mission. We are currently a national company within the United States, and we hope to soon become an international company. The path toward international expansion is recruiting the best and the brightest franchisees across the globe who are working with us to achieve our mission.
Finally, what is next for Ross Franklin and the Pure Green Franchise?
It is my hope that our work at Pure Green inspires other entrepreneurs in their pursuits. It is with this intention that I recently published my first book, The Founder Success Formula which is available for purchase on Amazon Kindle and paperback on Amazon. The book provides actionable strategies that both founders and entrepreneurs can use to grow their company to new heights. I am humbled that the book has quickly become a best-seller on Amazon.
Thank you Ross for your time!
You can follow up with Ross Franklin via IG @rossffranklin
