Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Ken Jones, general manager of the Bahamas Juice chain, offers lowfat shakes, juices, smoothies and an array of baked-on-the-premises goodies.

Bahamas Juice opens in Westgate Mall

By Suzanne Cristallo

You can get a blast, a breeze, a blitz or a chiller. It has nothing to do with the coming of winter. It has to do with juice. Bahamas Juice--the new juice, sandwich and bagel bar--in Westgate Mall. The company-owned store on Saratoga Avenue is the second to open since June, when a Cannery Row outlet in Monterey introduced the chain.

General manager Ken Jones says the Bahamas Juice bar offers what other stores of its kind lack--namely, a menu offering baked-on-the-premises muffins and bagels, sandwiches and lowfat milkshakes in addition to its juice smoothies and items like wheatgrass juice and spirulina for the health-conscious.

Jones should know. In addition to taking part in the extensive marketing survey his company did before designing a menu it believed would satisfy the hungry and health-conscious, he designed the buildings, purchased the equipment, hired and trained the employees and is overseeing the openings.

This is no small duty considering Jones, 38, commutes daily from Los Banos, where he lives with his wife and five children (one more expected at Christmas); swings over to the Stockton headquarters regularly to report to his boss, owner Pat Mathews; is readying plans for the next store opening in Sparks, Nev., in February; and serves as director of operations, which means taking responsibility for the success of all of the planned 200 to 400 stores throughout the United States.

"Every once in awhile, my wife tells me when it is right for me to stay home for a time," he grins.

Meanwhile, the Saratoga Avenue Bahamas Juice celebrated its grand opening Nov. 16 with store manager Laura Kompan and 12 new employees. Juicers were roaring as customers ordered single-fruit smoothies like Reggae Raspberry, which is made of fresh raspberries, raspberry sherbert and raspberry juice, or blends like the Mango Mama, which is passionfruit, pineapple sherbert, cut peaches and mango chunks. Omelet, turkey, ham and roast beef-bagel sandwiches round out the meals.

Bahamas Juice, 1600 Saratoga Ave., San Jose. Open Sun.-Thu., 8 a.m.-9 p.m., Fri.-Sat., 8 a.m.-10 p.m. 379-1499.