Having opened his first store at the Trafford Centre this year with lifelong business partner Mario Budwig, the duo have since opened a store at the Clarendon Centre in Oxford, and the next group of openings includes the Victoria Centre in Nottingham as well as Manchester Picadilly station and the Chill Factor indoor ski slope in Manchester.

A Mancunian himself, O'Sullivan has 25 years of experience with Millie's Cookies. Having built the brand up to over 100 company-owned stores with Budwig, the pair bought the company in 2003. O'Sullivan stood down as chairman in 2005 and sold the company to Compass for £25m, and with his children all grown-up he had plans to take it easy. But after discovering his wife was pregnant his plans changed and it was his eldest daughter who spotted Boost while in Australia and knew it would be right up her dad's street.

"We took a look at Boost and thought it was a fantastic concept," he says. "I've been exposed to juice bars for many years and my partner and I opened our first one in Harrow in 1987."

The pair quickly bought the rights to the UK and Ireland and now have plans to open between seven and 10 Boost Juice Bars before the end of the year. By Christmas, they will have tested eight different formats including out-of-town shopping centres, town centre shopping centres and secondary shopping centres.

So far they're doing well. Despite there being 200 Boost Juice Bars across the globe, to date the Trafford Centre store has been the most successful ever. And with 150 potential shopping centres in the UK that fit his criteria, O'Sullivan is keen to see the brand spread.

"We're not rushing into anything," he says. "It's not about what you can make, but what you can lose."

He is quick to point out that it's not an easy business to enter and compares entering into a juice and smoothie operation as similar to buying a boat. "Everyone loves the idea of owning a boat but in reality there are only two good days - the day you buy it and the day you sell it," he says, pointing out that many juice and smoothie operations have closed down because the idea is much different to the reality, while others have morphed into cafés that sell coffee and sandwiches.

O'Sullivan explains that the market is highly competitive. "There must be 40-plus branded juice bars, but there is nothing on the market that gets close to us. There is juice and smoothies and then there is Boost. The marketing is way ahead of anything that's in the marketplace. Whether it's the vibe created by the music, the look of the stores or the image, it has evolved over six years.

"I've worked in branded food all my life and I've never worked with marketeers and brand development people that are in the same league. It's the best in class in what it does and the product is to die for."

O'Sullivan has also made it clear that he's not interested in franchising the company, but he has still had to employ someone to deal with the 150 franchising queries he has received to date. And he has also received enquiries from Europe, with Portugal, Estonia and Turkey showing a keen interest in the brand.

Like Millie's Cookies, Boost Juice Bars trades out of 250 to 300-sq ft units, and O'Sullivan says that it's always getting hold of suitable sites that is the single biggest challenge. However, he's confident in the brand he's selling and with a great deal of experience of operating units in shopping centres he believes Boost Juice Bars has a lot to offer. "We have a global brand, which has been going since 2001, with 200 examples of successful users," he says. "Really it should speak for itself."

Statistics

boost juice bars

Founder and CEO: Janine Allis

Managing director: Richard O'Sullivan

Leasing director: Mario Budwig

Letting agent: Brasier Harris

Average store size: 250-300 sq ft

Annual group turnover: In excess of AU$100m

Annual average sales growth: 142 per cent

Number of stores worldwide: 200

Number of UK stores: two (three in the pipeline)

Website: http://www.boostjuicebars.co.uk

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