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Jamba held a grand opening ceremony for its Hollister location June 22. Attendees included the owners, employees, a representative from Assemblymember Robert Rivas’ office and Hollister Mayor Mia Casey.
The event also included free smoothies for attendees and a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Owner Joe Newman said when his friend and partner, Caleb Wiegand, came up with the idea to open a Jamba in Hollister, he jumped on board. A year and a half later, the shop opened at 1760 Airline Highway, in the business park that also includes Wingstop, Panda Express and Target.
He said the Jamba chain began as a senior project from a student at California Polytechnic State University.
“Then it blossomed to, I think, over 800 nationwide stores,” said Newman, who also went to Cal Poly. “So, I have a little connection to where we went to college and now we’re just trying to bring it to everybody here in Hollister, so we don’t have to drive to Gilroy or Salinas.”
Newman said since the new location opened on Feb. 12, it has been extremely busy, experiencing growing pains to fill orders in a timely fashion.
“We just keep getting faster and faster and hopefully people are understanding of the learning curve.”
He said the shop is averaging around 300 orders daily, which range from one smoothie up to six.
Wiegand said business is good.
“People are excited about it,” he said.
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