THE Juicy Unicorn smoothie and juice bar on Cunninghame St in Sale has closed after 10 months of operation, with the owners citing a lack of traffic to keep it going. February 24 2023 was the last day of trading.
Married couple and co-owners Sara and Matt Jackson launched the small business last May, after noticing a gap in the market for a dedicated takeaway smoothie and juice bar in Sale.
Mr Jackson said there was a lot of expenses in running The Juicy Unicorn, and they weren’t selling enough drinks for it to be sustainable.
“We would have hoped that we could have gotten more clientele in here, but it so happens that we haven’t, and it’s probably forced our hand in a way so we don’t drown in debt,” he said.
Asked about higher interest rates and inflation, Mr Jackson said it did have an impact, but cited the “cash flow the general public have”.
“It’s probably tight on them to go out and buy a juice or smoothie. It hurts them in the hip pocket as well. It’s probably a combination of that and the bad timing that we’ve opened up in that period,” he said.
“The rising costs affect us as well, so everything costs more. So price accordingly, and you hope that you get enough people in here to cover all that.
“And if you don’t, and it runs for a long period of time, it’s hard to stay afloat.”
Mr Jackson didn’t think the Boost Juice pop-up store in Sale took customers away from them.
“If that had an impact, it would have immediately affected our sales during the period they were down here. And they didn’t really,” he said.
The Jacksons knew from the start that they didn’t want to become overwhelmed by business debt.
“Too much debt would ruin us as a family. We started this business with personal savings, and we tried to mitigate as much debt as we could to get it up and running,” he said.
“We’ve called it before we’ve drowned ourselves in debt that you can’t come back from.”
The Jacksons haven’t decided what comes next, but are open to almost anything. Matt said he may look for a stable local job working for someone else, or return to fly-in-fly-out work which he had done previously.
As for the future of The Juicy Unicorn, a truck or van is one idea, but it would be very seasonal, and there are overheads and high costs associated with it. An interested party could purchase the business and run the existing shop as it is. It’s not impossible for The Juicy Unicorn to return in some way.
For now, the shop is saying goodbye. Mr Jackson said it’s been an invaluable experience for him and Sara to have started their own business and create something that the public enjoyed.
“It’s sad in a way, but (closing) is just something that happens in business. I wouldn’t change it for the world,” he said.
“We gave it a shot. You don’t try, you don’t know. We would have regretted the decision not to open if we didn’t.
“I want to thank everyone who came into the shop and supported us over the 10 months. We loved having a chat… and we loved seeing people walk out with a smile on their face.”
Mr Jackson’s personal favourite drink was the ‘Shot through the heart’, which had coffee, banana, cocoa, dates and milk. The public favourite was the namesake drink, ‘The Juicy Unicorn’, a delicious combination of pineapple, watermelon, orange and mint.
The branding and the name had also turned heads.
Matt and Sara’s daughter loves unicorns and rainbows, so the juice-drinking mythical creature became the face of the business.
The public will miss that familiar, colourful face, as well as the diverse selection of delicious drinks.
Photos: Stefan Bradley
