Juicero

Juicero Inc.

Company type	Private
Industry	Food and drink, Kitchenware
Founded	2013 in San Francisco, California, United States
Founder	Doug Evans
Defunct	2017
Fate	Ceased operations and sold assets and intellectual property
Headquarters	San Francisco , United States
Key people	Doug Evans (CEO until October 2016), Jeff Dunn (CEO after October 2016)
Products	Juicero Press (Wi-Fi-connected juicing machine), proprietary juice packets

Juicero Inc. () was a U.S.-based enterprise that developed and marketed the Juicero Press, a Wi-Fi-connected juicing machine designed to work exclusively with proprietary, single-use packets of pre-cut fruits and vegetables, which were distributed through a subscription model. From 2014 until 2017, this San Francisco startup secured $120 million in venture funding.

The company encountered intense negative publicity after it became public knowledge that the juice packs could be manually squeezed just as effectively as by the costly juicer itself. Due to poor sales performance, Juicero halted its operations in 2017 and pursued the sale of its assets and intellectual property.

History

Established in San Francisco in 2013 by Doug Evans, who held the CEO position until October 2016, Juicero subsequently appointed Jeff Dunn, formerly president of Coca-Cola North America, as its chief executive. The juicer was introduced in March 2016 with a launch price of $699; however, sluggish market demand prompted a reduction to $399 by January 2017—well ahead of the initially intended schedule of 12 to 18 months.

In April 2017, Juicero initiated a federal legal action against Chinese rival iTaste, accusing it of patent infringement, trade dress violations, trademark breaches, and unfair competitive practices.

By September 1, 2017, Juicero discontinued sales of both its juicing device and juice packs, implemented a buyback program for customers, and declared its intention to find a purchaser for the company along with its intellectual property. The downfall of Juicero became symbolic of Silicon Valley’s overambition and strategic errors.

Design and usage

Juicero manufactured proprietary packets containing mixtures of pureed fruits and vegetables for use with its juicer; these were priced between $5 and $7 each and had an approximate shelf life of eight days. Each packet incorporated a QR code that was scanned and authenticated by the Internet-enabled machine prior to operation. According to CEO Jeff Dunn, this process ensured product safety by preventing expired usage and facilitating product recalls. Nonetheless, critics interpreted this as a form of digital rights management restricting use exclusively to company-approved packets. The industrial design of the press was crafted by Yves Behar’s Fuseproject studio based in San Francisco.

Criticism

In 2017, widespread criticism emerged after Bloomberg News disclosed that the produce packets could be hand-pressed effortlessly, producing juice nearly identical in volume and quality to that generated by the $400 juicer. Juicero defended its offering by emphasizing an improved user experience and reduced messiness, later extending full refunds to unhappy customers. The device also drew criticism for requiring Wi-Fi connectivity and an accompanying app for operation.

Venture capitalist Ben Einstein characterized the press as "an incredibly complicated" engineering feat, likely reflecting insufficient cost constraints during development. Constructed to meet commercial foodservice durability standards rather than typical consumer appliance requirements, it was suggested that a simpler and more affordable design could have achieved comparable juice quality at a fraction of the cost.