Booster Juice - Canada’s Answer to the Smoothie

Selling Ice to the Eskimos has taken on a whole new meaning with the Booster Juice success story. The fact that Canadians want to drink something cold in the dead of winter speaks for itself. With a concept born on a camping trip along the border of Canada and Oregon that has resulted in over 170 stores in 7 short years, one wonders how co-founder, Don Wishewan, did it.

Originally from Wasketanau, an Alberta town of only 260 people, Don Wishewan never dreamed he’d be a part of something this big. But two months after the doors opened Booster proved its worth when one angry Canadian wife complained that her husband made her drive for 30 minutes in minus 25-degree weather to slurp on one of Booster Juices’ semi-frozen treats.

Still, Wishewan’s biggest challenge was taking the seasonality aspect out of the smoothie. A targeted marketing campaign settled the issue in 2005. “If you’re successful working for someone else, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be successful yourself doing something,” says Don, inspiring and logical words from an engineer who had no previous experience in the food industry when he started.