Justin Nedelman knows how to make a brand successful. In 2009, he co-founded Eureka Restaurant Group, a full-service hamburger restaurant, and led the company for over 12 years as its CEO. During his tenure, the brand grew to $100 million in run rate sales, according to a press release emailed to Restaurant Dive. After he left Eureka in 2021, Nedelman oversaw real estate at Fat Brands across 2,300 restaurants.
In June, he became CEO of health and wellness brand Pressed Juicery. And he has some big plans for the chain. Nedelman wants to bolster the company’s customer experience by reimagining the store and launching new products.
Nedelman joined Pressed after following the brand as a consumer since its launch in 2010. The brand offers a menu of cold-pressed juices, wellness shots, dairy-free soft serve, smoothies, smoothie bowls, snacks and supplements.
“It looked like just a phenomenal opportunity,” Nedelman said, adding that he felt like there was plenty of untapped potential within the chain, even though it has already expanded to 112 units.
The company itself wasn’t so large that it would be impossible to make quick moves, nor was it so small it needed to hire up quickly, he said. Pressed has scale and significant manufacturing capabilities, he said.
“It was just the perfect size where we can make changes pretty quickly,” he said. “I think the brand is really strong in people’s eyes. I think the consumers are waiting for us to, frankly, do more.”
Doing more means maximizing Pressed’s existing store model. Some ideas to improve the chain’s use of space include adding new products without artificial colors or flavorings alongside items that complement its juices.
“We’re not just going to put products in there to make money. It has to reinforce our overall corporate ethos around health, wellness and making people happy,” Nedelman said.
The company also plans to highlight its plant-based, non-dairy frozen yogurt that Nedelman says is a “sleeping dragon.”
Pressed, which is exploring hundreds of new SKU options, is able to quickly launch new items due the existing team’s talent and expertise in product innovation, Nedelman said. The juicery will test new items at a handful of stores before they are rolled out across the system.
“If we’re wrong, I’ll raise my hand up and say, ‘Yup, we’re wrong. Let’s move on. Let’s try something different,’” Nedelman said.
New store openings are on hold while the company works to optimize its current store count. First, it wants to best understand how it can optimize its return on investment given the amount of work that goes into finding a location, building it out and staffing it and delivering strong sales, Nedelman said.
“Before we continue to grow locations, we need to reimagine what it’s like to enter a Pressed and why you want to come to us, in addition to the juice,” Nedelman said. “As we do that … it’ll help us think about where we want to grow. Do we want to be in a mall or do we want to be in a more urban environment?”
Pressed will also focus on growing its wholesale business. The company has products in over 3,000 grocery stores, including Whole Foods, Sprouts and Target.
“I think ultimately, [wholesale] is going to be the largest part of our business. It isn’t now by any means,” he said.
Expanding its grocery presence entails leveraging people’s trust of the brand, and ensuring products don’t include artificial ingredients and added sugars. The company also will find ways to leverage its manufacturing facility that has underutilized capacity and capabilities, Nedelman said. Pressed could also acquire brands that offer products that could be sold adjacent to Pressed menu items in its stores and alongside its retail offerings.
Over the next five years, Nedelman said the wholesale business will grow within grocery and natural food stores, fitness and restaurants.
“[Wholesale] is going to be much larger than our retail stores,” he said.
The company will have a slew of new SKUs product partnerships with other brands that fit within the health and wellness space. It could eventually grow to have an international presence, he said.
“I think there’s almost infinite [possibilities in] what we can do with this brand,” Nedelman said. “The question is prioritizing and making sure our core competencies are coming through.”
