Entrepreneur turned restauranteur

Chicago born and raised entrepreneur, Anabelle Martinez, grew up working in the restaurant industry. In college, she worked at both a local bar and a popular taco spot. Business minded by nature, Anabelle was always looking for new processes, platforms, and strategies to increase reach and revenue wherever she was working. But deep down, she always wanted to do her own thing. Anabelle knew that if she had her own restaurant, she would be able to build it in exactly the way she wanted – implementing processes and strategies centered on efficiency and growth. “The thing about the restaurant industry is that there’s no blueprint. There’s no one way to run your operations, and there isn’t really anyone who will tell you, ‘Hey, do it this way.’ When you do your own thing, you get to start from scratch and experiment, and I'm a solutions person: I really enjoy finding the best way of doing things.” 

The inspiration behind Juice Vibe Bar‍

While traveling in Sayulita, Mexico in 2015, she came across a local smoothie bowl spot. Anabelle was super into the concept – a small, welcoming space with healthy options that tasted great and made people feel even better. She kept the concept in the back of her mind, and when she got back to her hometown of Chicago, she began looking for a juice bar locally. Anabelle discovered that there was nothing like that local Sayulita smoothie bowl spot in Chicago. At that moment, she began bringing her vision of starting her own to fruition. 
Her first Juice Vibe Bar venture was a pop-up in the trendy West Loop neighborhood. Her community loved the Juice Vibe concept as much as she did, so she began building her store in Berwyn, Illinois. “There was space available and it wasn’t crazy expensive. The Chamber of Commerce was super helpful, and Juice Vibe Bar opened its doors within 2 months. It was an instant success which reaffirmed my intuition: whether in Sayulita or Chicago, people love super foods, nice people, and trendy, welcoming environments."

Breaking into the delivery market at an unprecedented rate during COVID-19

In Juice Vibe Bar’s first few months, you could place orders online, but Anabelle wasn’t connected to any third-party delivery services. Then COVID hit, and everything changed. “Right at the start of the pandemic, our online orders tripled. People were focused on staying healthy, and Juice Vibe Bar’s menu is focused on health. So our online business increased drastically. I knew it was time to get Juice Vibe Barlisted on the delivery apps, but I wasn’t sure what the best way of doing this was.” 

Future-proofing Juice Vibe Bar’s delivery business with Otter

Solution oriented, Anabelle started researching the food delivery landscape when she came across Otter. “Before I even signed up for the third-party delivery partners, Otter popped up on my Instagram, and I was like let me see what this is all about.” Digging into Otter, Anabelle learned about how listing your restaurant on multiple delivery platforms is great for your bottomline, but it also requires you to have multiple tablets. And she decided to solve that problem before she even had it. “I spoke to an Account Executive and signed up for Otter that day. There was a few days while I was getting onboarded with Otter that I had to use multiple tablets from Uber Eats, Grubhub, and DoorDash. It was a mess. At the juice bar, people want to talk to you. And we love getting to know our guests! The people are the best part of the job. In our store, you can’t be like, ‘Hey I know you’re talking to me, but there’s three things buzzing and I’m out of avocado and I have to call Uber Eats.’ During that onboarding period, I actually had to have two employees working at all times. One covering in person orders, and one covering online and orders. When we received our Otter tablet, I was immediately able to go back to having a single employee in the store, and that employee was able to manage all of our delivery orders from a single tablet.”

Juice Vibe Bar x Otter

“The process of getting signed up was easy. I don’t remember having a single technical issue. Today, if I need anything, I just call or text my Account Executive, and he gets back to me immediately.” In addition to using Otter for order management, Anabelle plans for the future with Otter's Business Manager product. “Being able to see what menu items I deliver most often without downloading a spreadsheet from each delivery platform is a gamechanger. Business Manager has also given me insight on my delivery platform performance. If I see I’m underperforming on Uber Eats, I’ll run promos there.” 

“We would’ve gone crazy without Otter. We were training new people and they probably would’ve quit on the first day if we didn’t have Otter. I honestly don’t know how restauranteurs do it without you guys. I went to a restaurant the other day and they had four tablets. I’m like oh my gosh, I have to tell them about Otter. If you work in a restaurant, give Otter a try for even just one week – you’ll increase efficiency and sales, get food out the door faster and have fewer drivers waiting around with the ability to adjust prep times. The thing about Otter is that it’s innovative but simple, so even if you don’t consider yourself tech savvy, this is the tech you can handle.” 

While many restaurants sign up for Otter after listing their store on multiple delivery platforms, Anabelle and Juice Vibe Bar launched their third party delivery business with Otter. “The majority of my team doesn’t even know what life is like without it. I can’t imagine doing delivery without you guys.”

Support Anabelle and Juice Vibe Bar by ordering their most-loved menu items

Support Anabelle and Juice Vibe Bar by ordering some of her personal favorites from GrubHub, Uber Eats, Doordash, or Seamless. “My picks are the Selena Bowl - it’s a delicious strawberry pitaya bowl. I also love the Jungle Splash, it’s a green juice with a little sweetness. The Berry Bliss Smoothie with blueberry, spirulina and agave is another favorite. We’re huge on superfoods which is super important, especially during this time.”

Start succeeding in delivery with Otter today!