Landon Eckles, Co-Founder and CEO of Clean Juice & freecoat nails, was interviewed on Mission Matters Business Podcast by Adam Torres.
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Landon Eckles and his wife and co-founder, Kat, founded Clean Juice in 2014. Since then, the couple have launched additional brands, from a series of freecoat non-toxic beauty bars to their Be Organic podcast with 130k+ downloads in just over a year.
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What mission matters to you?
“Our mission is pretty simple,” Eckles says. “We want to help you discover a healthy lifestyle. We provide a healthy product in a fantastic environment of love, kindness, and friendship for our guests, employees, and vendors across their brands.”
“Entrepreneurship is essentially risk management,” he continues. “Take advice from your loved ones and go with your gut. At some point, it’s going to work.”
Clean Juice
Clean Juice certified organic restaurants offer a selection of fresh and bottled certified-organic juices and smoothies, as well as a menu of certified-organic salads, wraps, acai bowls, toasts, and sandwiches. Their cold-pressed juice cleanses are hugely popular.
Launched in Charlotte, North Carolina in 2015 and initially expanding to three more locations, Clean Juice eventually grew into an award-winning nationwide franchise opportunity. Today, the home office has 30+ people supporting Franchise Partner growth and guiding them through the process of setting up their franchises. The brand currently has 180 stores open and in development in 28 states across the US.
“My wife and I do it differently,” Eckles says. “We spend a lot of time getting to know our franchisees to hear their hearts for the business. We decide on who the franchisee is and where their location is going to be. The process is about three to four months.”
How is Tim Tebow involved?
“Tim is a healthy guy,” Eckles notes, “and as we started to know him more, we thought more of what a business partnership can be. We were blessed to sign a national brand ambassador deal with him over the summer.”
Tebow, Eckles explains, is an integral part of their brand, from social media posting to a national television commercial featuring him, which ran in August. Now a partner, he’s helping them open more stores together, beginning with a location in Jacksonville, Florida.
”We couldn’t have carved a better ambassador for the brand from the faith, philanthropic, health, and wellness perspective,” he says.
freecoat nails
freecoat, a non-toxic beauty bar, was launched by the couple in 2020. Specializing in “toxic-free, fume-free, jet-free” manicures and pedicures, it also offers a non-toxic waxing service and an infrared sauna.
“Our salons are absolutely beautiful. It’s a younger concept for us,” Eckles says. With five locations already open and more in development, he says they’re excited about the brand’s future.
Be Organic Podcast
Eckles launched “Be Organic” about 18 months ago. Recalling its initial stages, he shares, “We connected with amazing people in the health and wellness category and there was a lot to talk about. With Be Organic, I want to be looked at as someone whom people can trust when thinking about health and wellness.”
Be Organic features people who are passionate about health and wellness, and Eckles says his favorite episode so far has been with Tebow. “It’s been amazing because we dive into him, what he’s all about, why he chose to partner with Clean Juice,” he says.
What’s next?
“Our goal is to keep bringing in excellent partners, finding great real estate, and perfecting the business model,” Eckles says. “We’ve got a fantastic home office team, highly sophisticated individuals who are good at knowing how to run clean juices. We want to develop and support them from a marketing perspective.”
To learn more, get in touch with Landon Eckles on LinkedIn or visit Clean Juice’s franchising website, visit cleanjuicefranchising.com.
