Cucumber, lime and coriander instead of leather goods

How Rauch came to have its first Juice Bar

Juice Bars: a young team of baristas freshly squeezes healthy and exceptionally creative juice recipes before the eyes of the customers. Rauch had become acquainted with this fruit juice concept on international trips. A bar like this would be a direct line to consumers, a finely tuned seismograph for trends and perhaps also a new, authentic brand? It certainly had imagination! And it was an idea for a real start-up.

Young project, young project manager

"Wow! Rauch asked me if I wanted to set up their Juice Bar," Simon Parth remembers the call in spring 2012. He came from the catering trade, had already worked for Rauch in Rankweil, and had just finished his studies. He set to work on the basic concept with the marketing experts from Rankweil. "It was a nicely laid-back phase. We looked at the hottest juice bars in the world and learned a lot from them."

The facade preserved: traditional old shop becomes trendsetter

"A particularly important aspect was the location", adds Daniel Wüstner, who managed the project from Rankweil. "A happening district in Vienna, away from the mainstream." The search was on: Neubaugasse in the 7th district was the favourite. The long-established leather goods specialist Bartik at No. 15 might be available. "The owner liked Rauch very much. He much preferred a family business from the Ländle region to any global fashion chain as his successor". As soon as the ink was dry on the contract, concerned neighbours came forward. Please keep the façade! The front of the shop, which was founded in 1884, had been defining the style of this corner for decades - huge green walls with broad windows, big gold lettering. They had planned to do things differently, but Rauch liked the idea: "We'll honour the old and welcome in the new. That's how "BARTIK" became "RAUCH".

Textbook launch

The first team was put together while the conversion was still taking place. On 12.11.2012 the crew of 17 opened the first ever Rauch Juice Bar. From day one the "juice shop" enjoyed high visitor numbers. Training up the team in their juicing skills and beating the advertising drum in the neighbourhood had paid off. The team achieved a textbook launch. Now what? Could they perhaps sell the juices pressed here by hand in supermarkets, of course at Juice-Bar prices? The chief buyer for a large chain liked the idea. "We were invited to test the idea at 5 top locations. We put a Juice Bar fridge in each one and got going."

Brand power fathomed

Having only just closed, at 8 p.m. the bar and crew turned into a small factory. Squeeze. Fill. Cap. Often hundreds of bottles and sometimes until 4 in the morning. Consumers loved the hand pressed juices from the Juice Bar. When, with sadness and nostalgia, the experiment ended a few weeks later, two things had become clear. 1. A Juice Bar crew cannot generate 'mass production' over the long term. 2. The 'Rauch Juice Bar' brand also works excellently in the retail trade.

It was the beginning of a new brand. "We can't bring all people to the Juice Bar, but we can bring the Juice Bar to the people". And so the original experiment became not only a chain of 12 shops (as of summer 2019), but also the successful new brand "Rauch Juice Bar" for the retail trade.