Pure Green opened in New York City as a cold-pressed juice and handcrafted smoothie company with the mission to promote fitness and cultivate a healthier way of living within the community. Founded in 2014 by wellness advocate and Forbes Next 1000 award recipient Ross Franklin, the company now has 55 locations across the country with plans to double that amount within the next year.
Pure Green has seen exponential growth in the last few years. The first reason is Pure Green’s commitment to high-quality products with zero fillers or added sugar. Consistently sourcing the most nutrient-rich superfoods on the planet makes the business a rare gem in the space and a unique experience for customers. The second reason is a two-pronged business model with franchising and wholesale. This diversified revenue approach enables the business to solidify contracts with clients like the NBA and NFL, helping to establish brick and mortar stores across the nation. The third reason is Pure Green’s strategic use of Square to franchise, quickly train staff, track sales numbers, and spot major growth opportunities.
Investing in more than a point-of-sale system
To foster speedy, streamlined growth, Pure Green developed a franchise strategy composed of two parts: they train new partners for a week at their corporate headquarters and another week on-site at the franchisee’s new store. This helps the business maintain consistency and quality while scaling, ensuring staff and customers from Seattle to New York receive the same experience.
Using Square across the entire business allows leadership to offer the same training experience to every franchisee. It’s beneficial both to Pure Green as the franchisor — giving them the resources they need to scale fast and smart — and to individual franchisees, around 75% of whom commit to more than one location.
“We chose Square initially because it’s not only a POS,” said Michael Cecchini, Pure Green’s vice president of franchise operations. “It also incorporates marketing, loyalty, invoicing, and then the relationship with your guests.”
With everything under one roof, franchise owners can worry less about juggling each individual aspect of their business and more about what moves the needle: bringing in new customers and getting existing ones to return again and again. “We wanted something that’s user-friendly, that’s affordable for our franchisees,” Cecchini added. “Something that’s going to help them run their business on a daily basis and understand their numbers, how their sales are doing, and what their returns are.”
Using connected tools to streamline every part of the business
Having a connected system empowers Pure Green to build a fully integrated tech stack with third- party apps like Uber Eats, available through the Square Partner Directory, which helps businesses to connect their POS to the apps and technologies they depend on. “Previously, you would’ve needed all these different tablets. You’d have to receive the order, make sure it’s ready, and then continue the process on those different third-party platforms,” Cecchini said.
Being able to manage everything from one place can help the business focus on the things that matter most with ease. “Staying ahead of [the third-party landscape] is incredibly important to us. You can see the different orders coming up on our screens, whether that be in-store or online. It’s easy for the team member. … And again, at the end of the day, the most important thing is that our franchisees can see their information on one device,” Cecchini emphasized.
Connected tools also have a notable impact on the corporate level. His team looks at the reporting in their Square Dashboard on a daily basis in order to get a clear understanding of trends, individual product performance, impact of certain price points, and other factors that majorly influence overall business success.
“Everything for us is data-related,” Cecchini noted. “That goes from pricing of products to which products we offer within the store, the decisions we make, and the different products we require our franchisees to hold on to. Everything needs to serve its purpose. The only way we can understand that information is through data, which is through Square.”
Leveraging tools to build relationships
Because every single decision the business makes is to benefit and satisfy the customer, the Pure Green team takes pride in hearing how they feel about the business. “It’s the most important thing,” Cecchini emphasized. “And the way we measure that is to see what the feedback is. Through Square, guests can give us feedback, whether it’s good or bad, so we can take those opportunities to fix things if we need to.”
But Pure Green centers the guest experience through more than just feedback; they’re also mindful of how their checkout process impacts every customer’s time in-store. Key to this is their team’s ability to use Square like it’s second nature. “If they can’t utilize the technologies efficiently and effectively, they’re not going to be effective for our guests,” Cecchini said. “Being able to make modifications, changes, adjustments, and so forth is very important to us.”
Cecchini cited their Square KDS as a particularly big deal for the Pure Green customer experience. “Having that information [onscreen] allows other team members to start working on the different aspects of an order — an açai bowl, a smoothie — and to speed up the timing. Everybody has very, very busy lives, so we want to make sure that experience is as efficient as possible.”
