Bruegger’s, Jamba Juice Begin Cobranding

A smoothie and a bagel with a schmear might be the hot new menu pairing.

Jamba Juice has teamed up with Bruegger’s Bagels to open the first of a planned nine co-branded units. The company-owned stores, bringing Bruegger’s bagel-focused menu under the same roof as Jamba Juice’s smoothies, will open in the Midwest, on the East Coast and in New England. Six of the locations will be under the ownership of Burlington, Vt.-based Bruegger’s; Emeryville, Calif.-based Jamba will operate three stores.

The success of a co-branded store that opened last fall near the University of Connecticut campus prompted the alliance. Franchise operator David Katz opened the new unit five years after his first attempt to add a Jamba Juice outlet to an existing Bruegger’s he operated in Orange, Conn., was rejected by then-Bruegger’s parent Sun Capital Partners. In 2011, Bruegger’s was acquired by Le Duff America, the Dallas-based North American subsidiary of Groupe Le Duff, which has embraced the concept.

Two stores will open this fall in Boston, one in Pittsburgh, one in Minneapolis and one in Iowa. The corporate, co-branded stores will feature two POS stations with service lines offering items from both brands. One will be devoted to beverages, and the other will offer bagels, sandwiches, smoothie bowls and other foods. Contractually, Bruegger’s will operate as a Jamba Juice franchisee.

Jamba Juice operates or franchises 805 locations in the U.S. Bruegger’s has 290 units across North America.