In 2013, Starbucks will open a state-of-the-art juice-making facility in Rancho Cucamonga that will employ 160 at what is to be the major production facility for the Evolution Fresh beverage company the coffee giant acquired in late 2011.
Evolution Fresh was created by Naked Juice founder Jimmy Rosenberg, who operated out of a 60,000 square foot production facility and executive suite in an industrial building in eastern San Bernardino. Evolution Fresh products were available only on the West Coast when Starbucks acquired the company for $30 million in November 2011. At that time, Starbucks said it intended to expand Evolution Fresh into a national and then international brand.
Bottled Evolution Fresh products are among a limited offering of foods and drinks beyond its own traditional coffees and teas which Starbucks makes available within its stores. In March the Seattle-based company opened its maiden stand-alone Evolution Fresh outlet in Bellevue, Washington and followed that up with another in Seattle in July and a third one in San Francisco in October. The company has plans of opening a string of Evolution Fresh stores or kiosks elsewhere on the West Coast before taking the brand nationwide.
Construction of the $70 million, 260,000-square-foot factory in Rancho Cucamonga has  begun  and will more than quadruple the production and distribution capability of the Evolution Fresh line. Upon completion some time after mid-year, 160 people will be put to work at the production and bottling plant. There are currently 120 employed at the Evolution Fresh operation in San Bernardino, which will be closed down when the new Rancho Cucamonga facility comes on line.
According to Starbucks spokeswoman Marianne Duong, “The new plant in Rancho Cucamonga will allow us to produce  four to five times as much juice as we are currently, still using our never heated, high pressure processing technology that allows us to keep more flavor and nutrients of the fruits and vegetables in our drinks. All of our current employees in San Bernardino have been offered positions at the new plant and we will be hiring at least forty more when the new factory is operational.”
Since Starbucks picked up Fresh Evolution, sales of the product have increased by more than 23 percent, and Starbucks has forged ahead with the creation of four new juices or juice combinations – raspberry watermelon, cucumber pineapple ginger, pineapple coconut water and spicy lemonade. The Fresh Evolution product is being marketed at Starbucks locations and the three Fresh Evolution stores, as well as in health food and natural food stores and grocery stores.
The Rancho Cucamonga facility will be Starbucks’ sixth manufacturing site in the U.S., joining ones the company has in Washington, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Nevada and Georgia.