Jamba Has Good News For Plant-Based Smoothie Fans

Smoothie chain Jamba is ringing in the new year with a just-launched beverage called The Go Getter. In a press release, the company explains that the new offering is a vegan combination of matcha green tea, mango, kale, orange juice, and a vegetable and fruit juice blend. Each green-hued smoothie will fill you with three servings of vegetables, as well as a bounty of vitamins A and C to "support immunity," the brand says. 

Not into the combination of kale and tropical flavors? Jamba has also brought back two vegan iced beverages — the Gotcha Matcha and the Bold 'n Cold Brew, each with the option of adding plant-based foam on top — to its permanent menu. You can round out your plant-forward Jamba meal with meatless food offerings, such as the Impossible breakfast sausage Handwich and the spring veggie egg bake. You're not imagining it: Jamba isn't the only national food chain to have begun introducing menu items containing zero or fewer animal products in recent months.

Jamba's Go Getter is part of a larger industry trend

Jamba is introducing The Go Getter at just the right moment. Talking to SFGATE, Mark Siebert, CEO of the iFranchise Group development and consulting firm, says that catering to vegetarians and vegans is "the next big thing" for major restaurant chains. "What you've seen in places like Burger King, with their nonmeat hamburger, and other places like McDonald's — the fact that these guys are experimenting with plant-based burgers says they recognize that it's a coming trend."

Indeed, the start of the new year has been marked by even more widespread offerings of non-meat and non-dairy menu items. On January 3, Cold Stone Creamery launched its first vegan ice cream, Silk Chocolate Almondmilk Frozen Dessert, according to a press release. The same day, Chipotle announced on its website the arrival of three new lifestyle bowls containing meatless chorizo to its nationwide menu. With all of this news, we won't be surprised if nearly every fast food chain in the country has a range of interesting vegan options by the end of the year.