One press of the little red button and the Robot Coupe in AJ’s Café shudders to life. With a whirr and churr, it crushes two cups of fresh fruit into eight ounces of juice.
“The apple juice you get in a bottle is pretty much all sugar, but this is actual apples. They cut them up, put them in, and that’s what you get,” Director of Health Services Brock Lutz said. “It’s good.”
Saga Inc. president Tim Morrison and manager Kevin Kirwan first got the idea for a juice bar when they stopped at a “fresh new age restaurant” at a conference in Scottsdale, Ariz.
“We’re trying to provide food that is fresh and that is healthy,” Morrison said. “Our goal was to provide another health option that students would enjoy.”
And students do seem to enjoy the new additions to the AJ’s menu.
“We’ve been getting a good response,” said AJ’s manager Lisa Beasley. “More people try [the juices] every day and the people who try them usually come back.”
The fresh juices have become a staple for sophomore Jasmine Noman, who has tried five of the six current menu options.
“I like that they’re both healthy and taste great. It’s better than ice cream when you just need something sweet because you don’t have to feel guilty at all,” Noman said.
“I’ve been trying to drink them before my afternoon classes. I usually fall asleep, but the jolt of vitamins are pretty effective in keeping me awake.”
“It’s so much easier to drink a cup of juice rather than eat two apples and six carrots, but you get the same thing out of it,” said Lutz. “And fruits and vegetables are the things that most students have trouble fitting into their diets.”
The juice menus include ratings that show how each juice bolsters energy and immunities, aids digestion, detoxes, and clears skin.
“It’s a great option for students to supplement their diets,” Lutz said. “Kevin [Kirwan] has a really good perspective on wanting to change things and make them as healthy as possible, and that perspective is what led to the juice bar.”
“We wanted to add another item you don’t normally see on college campuses. The streets of Ann Arbor, yes. But the cost is pretty high and it’s a bit of a drive,” Morrison said.
Morrison, Kirwan, and Beasely personally tested AJ’s repertoire of recipes over Christmas Break, determined the amount needed for each individual serving, and worked out the selling price of each drink.
“There’s a range,” Morrison said. “Because the fruit is all fresh, we’ll see some fluctuation in price throughout the year.”
The cost of the juices, ranging from $1.25 to $3.40, are reasonable considering the start-up costs associated with the initial cost of the juice machine or the higher labor cost, Morrison said.
“It’s not a hard process, it’s just a little time-consuming and messy,” Beasley said. “But we’re continuing to streamline the process.”
Because of the extra time needed to man the Robot Coup and clean the juicing plate, AJ’s added a third employee during peak hours, Beasley said.
The juice recipes are expected to vary throughout the year to take advantage of seasonal produce, and AJ’s has 20 different combinations ready to launch as the ingredients become available, Morrison said.
“So far, I’ve had more juice than ice cream. Which is impressive,” Noman said. “Especially if you saw my ice cream intake last year. These juices are my favorite.”
vcooney@hillsdale.edu
