Vrouw Achter Het Merk: Bibi Janus

34, living in New York, having the hottest guys in the country working for you and always having a Vanilla Sky juice within reach (because you are the founder of JuiceBrothers): Bibi Janus has it all.

Bibi, you come from Hoorn, ‘studied just because it had to’ and then pushed hard to New York to start a clothing line. From whom did you get that ‘dream big’ courage?
No idea actually. My whole family is a doctor or works in healthcare but I always wanted to start my own clothing line, so I think entrepreneurship came more from a passion. My mother often made dresses on the sewing machine in her free time and I could tell her what I wanted. Most of the time it was a dreadful request, like a white dress with all kinds of cats sewn on it.

Your clothing line was quite successful, but it must have been tough at the beginning. Do you have stories about a boiling hot apartment in the not-so-cool part of Brooklyn and rejection after rejection? Come on, tell me it wasn't all easy?
Haha, yes, it was absolutely not easy. My mentality was always ‘fake it until you make it’. Besides, I had a huge dose of courage and an attitude of ‘just do it and then we'll see’. Unfortunately, this doesn't always work in your favor... I stood with my first collection at one of the biggest trade shows in New York (Coterie), with a collection that purely consisted of passion projects but without any focus. I had one pair of jeans, one leather jacket, one silk top, and a few cotton pieces. Almost every fabric you could think of was used, because this was all fine to realize in one sample. I just had no idea that this would be a nightmare in production... After I wrote my first orders, I was super happy and started the production process. Almost my entire startup capital went to that first production run. I refused to say anything to my first customers about the logistical nightmare, but it was complete madness.

New York, the city of healthy juices, inspired you to do the same in the Netherlands. Brave, because seven euros for a juice is something that the somewhat frugal Dutch might not want to pay so quickly. How did you know it would work?
Due to my hectic life in New York and traveling (at that time I was producing in LA and doing trade shows in NYC, LA, Dallas, Paris, and Tokyo) I didn't have enough time to eat healthily. For me, cold-pressed juice was the ultimate life hack. A green juice that contains a kilo of vegetables in one bottle, to consume in five minutes? I was so impressed by this that I was sure everyone would think it was amazing. Additionally, my partner was always working with the power of organic food and he also believed in pure products. Green juices and the tastiest açai bowls.

Actually, we never thought about the price. We don't call our product expensive but valuable, precisely because there is so much fresh goodness in it. For a gin and tonic, you also pay around ten euros and it contains zero nutritional value, so if you think about it that way, a juice that contains all your daily vegetables for €7.50 is actually very cheap. We like to call it: ‘gold in a bottle’.

There are multiple juice chains. What makes JuiceBrothers unique?
We really provide flavor and a pure product. All our products are one hundred percent certified organic and cold-pressed. Additionally, we have an amazing team with a lot of knowledge that I am also super proud of.

Do you ever test as a secret shopper?
Absolutely! Because I spend most of my time in New York, I don't know all the store staff personally. The first thing I do when I'm in the Netherlands is a round of the stores as a secret shopper.

You can really wake me up for the Vanilla Sky. Just like during the corona period, I ordered seven bottles of it. They are in my freezer and when I feel like a healthy treat, I take one out. What is your personal favorite?

The Vanilla Sky is amazing. A little tip: I often use it in my coffee.
My favorite actually changes over time. It used to always be the Sweet Green Basil, but unfortunately, that is now out of the assortment. At the moment, it's the Tropical Green and the Skin Sister. The latter juice was created in collaboration with beauty platform The Coucou Club. The fun part is that the ingredients of this juice are specially selected to boost the skin from within. Win-win!

You have different cleansing programs: to detox, for your skin... How often do you do a cleanse yourself?
Four times a year, very consistently. It's super good for your body to do a detox when the seasons change. This way, your body can prepare and reset for the new season. So I always do one at the beginning of spring, in the summer, in the fall, and in the winter.

What does your life look like in times of corona?
Zoom, Zoom, Zoom. Normally, I always get up early so I have more time with the Netherlands, so I start every day around six or seven o'clock. Additionally, I am always in the Netherlands a few times a year. A fixed date was January because this is an important month for us (Dry January, healthy eating, good resolutions, etc.), but I skipped it for the first time this year due to the lockdown.

And further, I am mostly indoors, often found on Zoom, and I have worked very hard on our completely renewed webshop at www.juicebro.com. I am definitely looking forward to a time when everything becomes a bit calmer and normal again.

Thank you for your time and I am a fan!