The Zumo Story
In 1999, the soft drinks industry was a lot like a bad New Year's Eve party: a lot of hype, but a let down in the end. Changing that became my mission: to make tasty, healthy drinks - And to have a lot of fun doing it!
Cathal Power, Managing Director, Founder, Entrepreneur
With the start of a new millennium, we saw that consumers were becoming increasingly aware of their personal health and well being, taking care of themselves and finding out about diet and nutrition. Since then, a massive health craze has swept the world bringing with it a new breed of health industry.
But back in 2000, good, fresh healthy drinks were few and far between. Consumers were growing weary of the same old sugar-packed fizzy cans, concentrated juices and high-octane drinks. They were eager for something new, healthy and refreshing. And luckily for them, that's exactly what Zumo founder, Cathal Power, had in mind.
There's not a lot the health-conscious Californians don't know about smoothie bars, except how to make the perfect smoothie. You've got to go further south for that!
Eoin Moore, Franchise Director
Before Zumo was born, we set about researching the smoothie and juice market all over the world to find out what makes a good bar, and what makes a great smoothie. We wanted to find the best of the best, so naturally we headed for the home of smoothies and sun-culture – California - and found some surprising results…
Despite the fantastic store layouts, brilliant ideas for menu formats, and interesting ingredients, the North Americans let themselves down when it came to the end product. The smoothies simply weren’t up to scratch.
It was then that we heard some rumours. Rumours of something greater, of ‘awesome smoothies’ and ‘out-of-this-world juices’. So again we went hunting and this time we headed south – to Brazil!
In contrast to the North Americans, the Brazilian smoothie bars seemed to have done everything wrong, except the way they made their smoothies! So we ignored their disastrous designs, and focussed on their purely delightful juices and smoothies, with quality, nutritious ingredients. They were indeed fantastic and so we knew what we had to do.
You see, we took the best of both worlds, combining the world’s best-designed stores with the world’s best-made juices. Then we came home to make a world-class smoothie and juice bar experience, right here in Ireland.
So after extensive research, lots of big decisions and an exciting leap of faith, Cathal unveiled the first Zumo Juice and Smoothie Bar on Jervis Street, Central Dublin in November 2001.
