$400 Juicer Company Shuts Down as Founder Frolics at Burning Man

Juicero, the maker of a wi-fi enabled juicer originally priced at $700 and reduced to $400, has been squeezed dry. The company will be “suspending the sale of the Juicero Press and Produce Packs immediately” and offering refunds to customer according to a statement.

Juicero founder and raw food evangelist Doug Evans, meanwhile, is in the Nevada desert attending Burning Man and posting on Instagram. When life gives you lemons...

Funded during fatter times in Silicon Valley, the San Francisco-based Juicero raised $120 million in investments from the likes of Google Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Evans once told the New York Times that consuming raw Juicero juice, shipped in subscription packets to customers and squeezed by the company’s proprietary machine, was “like drinking the nectar of the earth.” He later told Recode he wanted to do for juicing what Steve Jobs did for personal computing.

Already criticized for its lavish price, Juicero became a Twitter punchline after a Bloomberg story last year pointed out that the company’s juice packs could be squeezed by hand right into a glass for roughly the same effect as using the juicer. In response to the article, CEO Jeff Dunn pleaded with customer not to “hack” the product in a somewhat desperate-sounding Medium post.

After vowing to build a better, cheaper Juicero machine and laying of 25 percent of its sales and marketing team in July, the company is finally throwing in the towel. According to the release today, attributed to “The Juicero Team,” Juicero is entering “a new chapter” — bankruptcy? — and wants “to express the deepest gratitude to our employees who have poured their hearts and souls into developing, launching and growing Juicero over the past 3 years.” According to Fortune, employees received their 60 day notice today.

Founder Doug Evans — who was replaced by Dunn as Juciero CEO last fall but who remained Chairman of the Board — made this statement from the playa.

Doug Evans/Instagram

• Juicero, maker of the doomed $400 internet-connected juicer, is shutting down [The Verge]
• This $400 Juicer Has One Big Flaw [Eater National]