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Juicero Is Shutting Down

fortune.com

191–200 of 413 posts

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's like... 70% fresh squeezed. The fruit is chopped up into smaller pieces, so for the most part there isn't much difference, and it is very new fruit. But to the target demographic 70% might as well be 0%.

Once you cut open fruit and vegetables, the elements and bacteria are introduced and they start to break down.

I'm sure it's processed under an inert atmosphere and whatever yadda yadda new age bullshit. It's all woo anyway.

Point being is it's not just a juice bag- they do at least have good intentions/make a show of having good intentions.

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trouble is, I've always thought Juicero was a bank shot for digitized food in general. If that's the case, they needed to be serving consumers not businesses. The concept of food that's uniquely tagged and tracked from origin to consumption is pretty attractive - makes contamination a breeze to trace back, keeps you from cooking with rotten food since the machine knows to reject it, and it could automatically tra…

> The concept of food that's uniquely tagged and tracked from origin to consumption is pretty attractive - makes contamination a breeze to trace back, keeps you from cooking with rotten food since the machine knows to reject it, and it could automatically track what you've got in your kitchen to suggest recipes / restock for you. What makes you think people want those things? I certainly don't, and I've never heard a…

People are way too paranoid over things "going bad" -- typically if something is unhealthy to eat, you'll see it or smell it. The expiration date is meaningless… I eat eggs or dairy past its expiration all the time. Meat and fish that's gone bad gets real smelly, there's very little chance you accidentally won't notice.

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#193
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Hell, you could just input a list you type up yourself. If you put that much effort into it, then you can just as well remember what you need to buy when.

I write down a shopping list because otherwise I forget things. It would be hard to make something more convenient than a pen and paper though. And in the store crossing things off the nigh indestructible scrap of worthless paper is better than fiddling with a device.

I use Simple Notepad[0] on my android phone. It has a checklist option that I go to the store with, which works much better than the list I write, which works much better than the list I keep in my head.

[0]https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mightyfrog...

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#194
post #19

I think they went about getting to market wrong. They should not have targeted end consumers with their equipment. They should have went after the convenience store market using the soda dispenser/automated latte/vending machine/icee making business model. Basically convince the store owner to have some refrigerated space dedicated to the pouches and then put the machine nearby for the customer to make their own juic…

The trouble is, I've always thought Juicero was a bank shot for digitized food in general. If that's the case, they needed to be serving consumers not businesses. The concept of food that's uniquely tagged and tracked from origin to consumption is pretty attractive - makes contamination a breeze to trace back, keeps you from cooking with rotten food since the machine knows to reject it, and it could automatically tra…

If you use a loyalty card at a Kroger owned store, they'll tell you if something is flagged for contamination, it's an automated call system. There is already pretty reasonable tracking on the industry side of the food equation; some things are better than others. It's just not at the point of consumption. I'm kind of okay with this, I'd rather the industry as a whole do more things to prevent contamination period. Making a more friendly notification is nice, it could be a phone call, and email, a notification with some app; it's pretty rare and I want it more rare, not a friendlier notification, that's just me though.

Now I think you could make that stuff better, don't get me wrong, I'm not going to hate on Juicero for that. Their entire play was just VC-Bingo though: they had a device, they had a subscription, they had "lock in" (device is only good with the subscription) they had internet attachment, it's a health and wellness type play, probably some other things I'm not thinking of. Anyone know if they had to subsidize the prices, that'd be the grand slam if they had to do that too. $30 a week for 5 packs of juice, that's $120 a month and you do the work and clean up the mess and you have to get different juice on the weekends. The bags aren't supposed to make that much mess but I think the psychology of it all is huge, a coffee maker doesn't make much mess either and you'll pay a gigantic premium at a coffee shop. How many months before you get a tip-top of the line cold press juicer that'll make juice out of any produce? With no subscription.

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#195
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Did you just call pressed veggies and fruits sugary drinks? Pressed fruits at least, are sugary drinks. Anyone who's calorie conscious is probably wary (as a calorie counter I know I am).

Eating them whole is even better. But calling pressed fruit the same thing as the poisonous crap they would rather have us drink isn't helping anyone. It's clearly not the same thing.

Who on earth is the "they" that you are referring to here?

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#196
post #19

I think they went about getting to market wrong. They should not have targeted end consumers with their equipment. They should have went after the convenience store market using the soda dispenser/automated latte/vending machine/icee making business model. Basically convince the store owner to have some refrigerated space dedicated to the pouches and then put the machine nearby for the customer to make their own juic…

But I already can buy cheaper juices at the grocery / convenience store. Why would this be any different?

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#197
post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trouble is, I've always thought Juicero was a bank shot for digitized food in general. If that's the case, they needed to be serving consumers not businesses. The concept of food that's uniquely tagged and tracked from origin to consumption is pretty attractive - makes contamination a breeze to trace back, keeps you from cooking with rotten food since the machine knows to reject it, and it could automatically tra…

A lot of my trust in Amazon eroded after the whole co-mingling fake-eclipse-glasses fiasco. If I can't trust Amazon to tell me accurately where the stuff I buy on their website is coming from… how can I trust them in the retail grocery world where there's so much more middlemen and variables in play?

Because they're different businesses run different ways? And the grocery store ultimately is governed by the FDA and a totally different set of regulations and expectations?

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#198
post #120
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Did you just call pressed veggies and fruits sugary drinks? As in more or less the same as Pepsi? Well, they didn't make any comparison to Pepsi in their comment, but I 'll go ahead and make that comparison. 12 fl oz of: * Orange juice: 31.2g of sugar * Apple juice: 36g of sugar * Coca-Cola: 39g of sugar * Pepsi: 41g of sugar Not the same, but in the ballpark. But iirc, regular Coke and Pepsi aren't growing. Diet P…

The diet sodas are getting crushed along with the regular: http://fortune.com/2017/04/19/coca-cola-pepsi-dr-pepper-soda...

Oh wow, water it is then. Thanks for the correction.

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#199

Even if the machine was $50, I don't think many people would want to spend that much for the privilege of being locked in to Juicero proprietary juice packs, letalone spend kitchen counter space to a dedicated juice squeezer machine. And everyone who did now has an exquisitely engineered $700 paperweight.

Ultra expensive juicers aren't new[1]. Even "normal" juicers are quite expensive[2]. Juicero was just trying to jump on a fairly well-established gravy train catering to the juice woo crowd.

[1]: https://www.acemart.com/equipment/beverage/juicers/zumex-ess...

[2]: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EXF4PLC/

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