Juice Plus+ Review: Subscription-based nutritional supplements?
Juice Plus+ operate in the health and nutrition MLM niche and are based out of Tennessee in the US.
The company was founded in 1970 as “National Safety Associates” by Jay Martin.
National Safety Associates started out marketing a range of fire detectors (smoke alarms) and air and water purifiers via door-to-door sales.
Juice Plus+ was introduced in 1993 as a product line and subsidiary of National Safety Associates.
Despite still being a part of NSA, today Juice Plus+ is established well-enough to be recognised as a stand-alone MLM company.
Since a an investigation into reported inventory loading back in 1993, Juice Plus+ hasn’t had a run in with regulators.
In 1990 a proposed class-action lawsuit was filed against NSA, alleging it to be a Ponzi scheme.
More than 100,000 water-purifier sales people, who contend they were bilked out of $5,000 and up apiece by National Safety Associates Inc., will get a chance to prove their charges.
Their lawyers say they were victims of a giant “Ponzi” or pyramid scheme.
Class certification was granted in early 1991, however Juice Plus+ challenged the decision with a reconsideration motion.
The motion was granted and class certification revoked in May.
Within two months the case was confidentially settled.
NSA has been party to a number of civil cases, however nothing recent after 2005.
Read on for a full review of the Juice Plus+ MLM opportunity.
Juice Plus+ Products
Juice Plus+ market their supplements as “the next best thing to fruits and vegetables”.
Juice Plus+ is whole food based nutrition in a capsule and chewable form, containing juice powder concentrates from 30 different fruits, vegetables and grains.
Juice Plus+ helps bridge the gap between what you should eat and what you do eat, and provides the starting point for a healthier way to live.
Juice Plus+ products are all-natural and made from quality ingredients sourced from farm fresh produce, so you can enjoy improved nutrition and wellness.
Specific products featured on the Juice Plus+ website include
- Orchard & Garden Blend Capsules – “provide(s) added whole food based nutrition from 20 different fruits, vegetables, and grains in convenient capsule form”, retails at $178 for a four-month supply (billed at $44.50 monthly)
- Orchard, Garden & Vineyard Blend Capsules – as above but with Vineyard Blend (see below for description), retails at $285 for a four-month supply (billed at $71.25 a month)
- Vineyard Blend Capsules – “provides added nutrition from Concord grapes and a wide variety of berries − including blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, bilberries, and elderberries”, retails at $113 for a four-month supply (billed at $28.25 a month)
- Orchard & Garden Blend Chewables – same as the Orchard & Garden Blend capsules but in chewable form, retails at $190 for a four-month supply (billed at $47.50 a month)
- Vineyard Blend Chewables – same as the Vineyard Blend capsules but in chewable form, retails at $123 for a four-month supply (billed at $30.75 a month)
- Complete French Vanilla and Dutch Chocolate – “a whole-food-based beverage mix that provides balanced nutrition in every scoop”, retails at $123 for a four-month supply (billed at $30.75 a month)
- Complete Nutrition Bars (tart cherry & honey or spiced apple & raisin) – “provide balanced nutrition on- the-go”, retails at $130 for four-month supply (billed at $32.50 a month)
- Tower Garden Growing System – a “vertical, aeroponic Tower Garden” that has “everything you need to start growing up to 20 plants now”, retails at $543 ($1707.96 family size) annually (billed at $45.25 a month, $142.33 for family size)
Note that each Juice Plus+ product can either be purchased monthly as above or upfront for a slight discount.
Of additional note, there seems to be a strong connotation between Juice Plus and curing cancer.
This appears to have started after Jim Sears appeared on national television in 2009 and claimed Juice Plus “helps fight cancer”.
Outside of broad nutritional benefit that is obviously beneficial to one’s overall health, there doesn’t appear to be any supporting evidence of Sears’ claim.
In a 2009 published report, the Cancer Network advised
due to its antioxidant effects, Juice Plus may interfere with chemotherapy.
Juice Plus should not be taken during cancer treatment.
The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center claims there is “no scientific evidence” to support claims Juice Plus prevents or treats cancer.
Both of these advisories were published in 2009, seemingly in response to “aggressive promotion” of Juice Plus to cancer patients at the time.
For their part Juice Plus don’t seem to push cancer treatment marketing beyond prevention via general nutrition.
Juice Plus affiliates on the other hand…
To the best of my knowledge the FDA hasn’t taken any action against Juice Plus+ for its distributor’s cancer preventative and treatment marketing.
The Juice Plus Compensation Plan
The Juice Plus+ compensation plan combines a five-level deep unilevel team with generational backend.
Additional performance-based bonuses are also available.
Juice Plus+ Affiliate Ranks
There are seven affiliate ranks within the Juice Plus+ compensation plan.
Along with their respective qualification criteria they are as follows:
- Independent Representative – sign up as a Juice Plus+ affiliate
- Direct Distributor – accumulate $2000 in GV, $500 of which must be PV in your qualifying month
- Virtual Franchisee – accumulate $6000 GV, $500 of which must be PV in your qualifying month
- Sales Coordinator – accumulate $12,000 GV , $500 of which must be PV in your qualifying month, recruit three Direct Distributor or higher ranked affiliates and maintain monthly Performance Bonus qualification
- Senior Sales Coordinator – earn the Performance Bonus on at least $9000 GV each month (no more than 66% from any one unilevel leg) and recruit and maintain at least three Virtual Franchisee or higher ranked affiliates (one Virtual Franchisee recruitment leg must have a Sales Coordinator, the other two Virtual Franchisees must also qualify for the Performance Bonus)
- Qualifying National Marketing Director – earn the Performance Bonus on at least $20,000 GV each month (no more than 66% from any one unilevel leg) and recruit at least four Virtual Franchisee or higher ranked affiliates (three Virtual Franchisee recruitment legs must have a Sales Coordinator, each of which is Performance Bonus qualified and two of which are also Promote Out Bonus qualified)
- National Marketing Director – earn the Performance Bonus on at least $33,000 GV each month (no more than 66% from any one unilevel leg) and recruit at least five Performance Bonus qualified Virtual Franchisee or higher ranked affiliates (five Virtual Franchisee recruitment legs must have a Sales Coordinator and three of which are also Promote Bonus qualified)
Note that Juice Plus also offer alternative “Fast Track” qualification up to Sales Coordinator.
- Direct Distributor – generate $500 PV within your first thirty days
- Virtual Franchisee – generate $2000 GV within your first sixty days ($500 of which must be PV)
- Sales Coordinator – generate $8000 GV within your first six months, be Performance Bonus qualified and recruit at least three affiliates, two of which must be Virtual Franchisee or higher
PV stands for “Personal Volume” and is sales volume generated by retail sales and an affiliate’s own orders.
GV stands for “Group Volume” and is PV generated by an affiliate and their downline.
Retail Commissions
Juice Plus+ affiliates are paid to sell products to retail customers.
Base retail commissions on the nutritional products range from $11 (Juice Plus+ chewables children size) to $38 (Orchard, Garden & Vineyard Chewables).
Base retail commissions on the Tower Gardens range from $55 for a single unit to $180 for family size.
The Juice Plus compensation plan suggests the base 6% retail commission rate is only earned once an affiliate has qualified as a Direct Distributor.
Higher ranks equate to higher retail commission rates as follows:
- Virtual Franchisee – 14%
- Sales Coordinator and higher – 22%
MLM Commission Qualification
To qualify for MLM commissions, a Juice Plus+ affiliate must generate at least 90 PV a month.
Performance Bonus (residual commissions)
Juice Plus+ pay residual commissions via a unilevel compensation structure.
A unilevel compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a unilevel team, with every personally recruited affiliate placed directly under them (level 1):
If any level 1 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 2 of the original affiliate’s unilevel team.
If any level 2 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 3 and so on and so forth down a theoretical infinite number of levels.
Juice Plus cap payable unilevel levels at five.
How many unilevel team levels an affiliate earns on is determined by specific Performance Bonus qualification criteria:
- generate $1000 GV a month and earn the Performance Bonus down three levels of recruitment
- generate $1000 GV a month and have four unilevel team legs with at least one Performance Bonus qualified affiliate in each and earn the Performance Bonus down four levels of recruitment
- have at least five unilevel team legs with at least one Performance Bonus qualified affiliate in each and earn on up to five levels of recruitment (based on rank)
Performance Bonus commission rates are based on affiliate rank:
- Virtual Franchisee to Senior Sales Coordinator – 5% on up to four unilevel team levels
- Qualifying National Marketing Director and National Marketing Director – 5% on up to five unilevel team levels
Promote-Out Bonus
The Promote-Out Bonus is a generational bonus that uses the same unilevel compensation structure as residual commissions.
Juice Plus+ define a generation when a Sales Coordinator (first generation) and then Promote-Out Bonus Sales Coordinators (second and third generations) are found in a unilevel leg.
- the first generation in a unilevel leg begins with a personally recruited Sales Coordinator
- the first generation ends when another Sales Coordinator is found deeper in the same unilevel leg, after which the second generation begins
- the second generation ends when a second Promote-Out Bonus qualified Sales Coordinator is found deeper in the same unilevel leg, after which the third generation begins
- the third generation appears to extend down the remainder of the unilevel leg
The Juice Plus+ compensation plan states that if the first Sales Coordinator after the personally recruited one is Promote-Out Bonus qualified, the third generation bonus for that level is forfeited.
Using the generational structure above, the Promote-Out Bonus pays a 4% bonus on GV generated by unilevel team purchases.
There are three ways a Sales Coordinator or higher ranked Juice Plus+ affiliate qualifies for the Promote-Out Bonus:
- generate $3000 GV a month (counted in each unilevel leg until a Sales Coordinator is found in that leg)
- generate $1500 GV a month (counted in each unilevel leg until a Sales Coordinator is found in that leg) and have at least two unilevel team legs with a Promote-Out Bonus qualifies Sales Coordinator or higher ranked affiliate in each
- have at least three unilevel team legs with a Promote-Out Bonus qualified Sales Coordinator or higher ranked affiliate in each
Business Incentive Bonus
The Business Incentive Bonus begins at the Senior Sales Coordinator rank.
- Senior Sales Coordinators and Qualifying National Marketing Directors earn a 20% Business Incentive Bonus
- National Marketing Directors earn “20% + benefits”
As to what the Business Incentive Bonus is, here’s all Juice Plus+ state in their compensation plan:
(The) Business Incentive Bonus … equal to 5% – 20% of your monthly earnings, subject to Team Structure, based on working legs, a minimum earnings requirement and a maximum bonus amount.
No specifics are provided.
Joining Juice Plus+
Juice Plus+ affiliate membership is $50.
Conclusion
When I saw the Juice Plus+ compensation plan was only four pages long I gave a sigh of relief.
Due to years of additions and revisions, it is common for compensation plans of established MLM companies to be overly complex nightmares.
To their credit Juice Plus+’s compensation avoids this pitfall and is pretty straightforward – but it does have its quirks.
Before we get into that, Juice Plus+’s product range.
The biggest problem I see with marketing Juice Plus+ products to retail customers is the mandatory four to twelve month subscriptions.
These can either be paid upfront or monthly (costs more), but what if I just want to try out the products?
Juice Plus+ do offer a 14 day change-of-mind policy;
Juice PLUS+ grants consumers the statutory right of revocation within a period of 14 days starting with the delivery of products.
If a customer returns products to the Franchise Partner due to the information about his right of revocation, the Franchise Partner on his part shall be entitled to return these products to Juice PLUS+.
But I’d assume that only covers unopened, unused products. If I put in an order and decide after a few weeks Juice Plus+’s products aren’t for me (or I want to try something else), as a retail customer I’m still locked into a four-month minimum subscription.
Locking in four-month subscriptions is pretty anti-consumer and definitely hurts the retail potential for affiliates.
Instead the subscriptions feel more like they were designed for affiliates looking to pay a monthly fee.
This is dangerous territory, as at the expense of retail we would be heading towards affiliate purchases as the primary source of company-wide revenue.
To their credit Juice Plus+ charge $50 to sign up and, at least as far as I could see, there was no required purchase.
That said once your signed up there are “Shred10 Packages” affiliates can sign up for, which are clearly presented as recurring monthly subscriptions.
Curiously there’s nothing about the packages on the Juice Plus+ website, so this appears to be entirely aimed at affiliates.
With respect to Juice Plus+’s products, having been marketed since 1993 there’s the benefit of demonstrated value – to a point.
Beyond the benefits of general nutrition, I’d be taking any claims with respect to Juice Plus+ products healing, treating or curing cancer with warranted scepticism.
At least until someone does a proper study that definitely links Juice Plus+ (not its ingredients in general) with what are otherwise unverified medical claims.
To be honest, given the pervasive nature of the cancer claims (on national television no less), I’m pretty surprised the FDA or FTC haven’t stepped in.
Maybe they did quietly, which is why Juice Plus+ themselves don’t make any specific claims, who knows.
At the very least though the company has a responsibility to internally police its affiliate’s marketing claims, which they don’t appear to be doing.
The compensation plan itself is pretty straightforward, offering five-level deep unilevel residuals plus generations.
Qualification isn’t set too high, with minimum PV required before residuals are paid out.
Ideally this PV would be retail but there’s nothing stopping an affiliate spending big to qualify.
$500 personal PV is required to qualify as a Virtual Franchisee, why not break that down into at least $300 PV of verified retail sales volume?
The only other thing that stood out was the Promote-Out Bonus only paying on downline purchases. Why is retail excluded here?
By tying a commission directly to affiliate purchases an incentive to pressure downlines to purchase products is introduced, which ties into the minimum monthly PV.
As a prospective Juice Plus affiliate you definitely want to verify your potential upline is making at least $90 PV in retail sales each month.
Anything less and they might be self-funding their monthly requirement. Worse still they’ll probably expect you to do the same, regardless of whether you’re making retail sales or not.
All in all there’s a lot to like about the Juice Plus opportunity, bar some likely long-standing quirks that need to be addressed.
The Tower Garden product caught my eye and, assuming it delivers what is promised, is certainly a differentiating offering against competing nutrition based MLM companies.
$50 isn’t much to test the waters, and if you can wrangle a product sample before signing up all the better.
Good luck!
This almost reminded me of LE-VEL with the vitamin claims.
Where as Juice+ is using the Cancer claim to drive sales.
LE-VEL is using Weight loss to drive their sales of their Vitamin stuff.
They just launched their Weight loss BURN that sold about $500,000 in product in one day.
I don’t know how I would feel trying to MLM sell people on the idea of VITAMINS as a business even in Juice+
IT might be worth an updated review.
LE-VEL is garbage. Their patch is garbage.
Anything with the thrive moniker is crap.
Ah, National Safety Associates — a blast from the past.
One of my previous employers was once tasked with doing an in-depth evaluation of some of NSA’s water filters (possibly regarding legal action — not sure about this because it was a long time ago and I wasn’t directly involved).
My recollection regarding the results of the testing was that the filters were worse than useless — they took chlorine out of the water, but then allowed bacteria to grow in the filter (that would otherwise have been killed by the chlorine).
A quick look at the Juice + article on Wikipedia shows that they used to feature testimonials by O. J. Simpson (before the murder trial) about how Juice + had cured his arthritis.
After he testified in his defense that he would have been incapable of committing the murders *because* of his arthritis, and was continuing to take anti-arthritis drugs (that he had claimed he no longer needed, courtesy of Juice +), he was dropped as a spokesman.
There are a number of inaccurate statements in this article, including noting JP+ as an MLM, as it is not. JuicePlus+ does not claim to cure or prevent any disease.
There are many people with testimonials that claim it helped them with a number of issues, but that’s what they are is testimonials.
I’ve been involved in Corporate America more than 20 years and I’ve never known of a company to act with more integrity than JP+.
Additionally, you can’t refute scientific facts which is what JP+ research is based on, and published in major medical journals that you can’t buy your way into.
@Julie
MLM compensation plan = MLM company.
As noted in the article. In the past however the FDA has held MLM companies accountable for marketing claims made by affiliates.
Not withstanding any reputable MLM company should be actively policing medical claims made by their affiliates.
When those “issues” are diseases like cancer and the claims pertain to curing, healing and/or treatment, they are no longer testimonials.
They are medical claims of an unapproved drug that is not backed up by any documented evidence.
What facts and research would that be? And please don’t link to any “broccoli is good for you, OMG JUICE PLUS+ CONTAINS BROCCOLI!” type nonsense – it’ll be marked as spam.
If you have scientific studies pertaining specifically to Juice Plus+’s products I’m all ears.
Tsk, tsk. Just because a duck insists it’s not a duck, doesn’t mean it’s not a duck, not if it quacks like a duck and waddles like a duck and all that.
There is NO evidence that JP+ is NOT a MLM, except its own denial.
And the fact that you trust what the company says without thinking about whether it’s true or not… Tsk, tsk.
Quackwatch has a lengthy write up addressing that and other “juicy” details.
Just another multi-level marketing company pimping an overpriced product with exaggerated health claims, and duping people out of their money.
mlmwatch.org/04C/NSA/juiceplus.html
What is it then? I can’t wait to hear.
I used this product for about (2) years (2010-2012), and I stopped my “autoship” with the company, as I noticed NONE of the “benefits” that my so-called friend (a Juice + rep) told me that I would experience.
Now, I’ve been in the health and wellness industry for (27) years, and have seen a lot of crap products come and go, and while these products are not the worst I’ve tried, they are no where near what they are said to be able to do.
I know that they do provide some nutritional benefits, but to see a lot of the claims made just makes me shake my head – no wonder why MLM gets a bad rap.
Oh, just FYI, one of the claims that was made to me is that the products help with inflammation, which is one of the reasons I took it (along with “getting all of my daily amount of greens”).
And does it really help with inflammation? Ask my rep, as she had host of her large intestines removed due to – you guessed it – inflammation.
You wrote, “If you have scientific studies pertaining specifically to Juice Plus+’s products I’m all ears.”
I applaud you for stating that you are open minded. Finding the research on Juice Plus is not hard as links to the clinical research is right on the website.
To date, there are 37 published clinical studies on Juice Plus, and yes, even MD Anderson Cancer Institute is one of them.
Juice Plus absolutely does NOT make claims outside of what the research states: i.e., reduction of systemic inflammation, improved immune function, improved gum health, improved nutritional status in ovarian cancer patients, etc.
Sure, people can claim that the research is fraudulent, but by doing so, they are impugning the integrity of research facilities at universities such as Florida State, Brigham Young, University of Mississippi, King’s College London, University of Graz Austria as well as the medical, dental and nutrition journals where the research has been published. That’s a bit of a stretch to disregard such a body of evidence.
Juice Plus does not own it’s own laboratories or pay it’s own scientists or publish it’s own white papers like some companies are know to do.
Do they fund the research? Of course, the same way that pharmaceutical companies do, by supplying the products and placebos and paying for the lab’s time and effort. But are these universities and medical journals willing to risk their reputations by being bought off by a direct sales company? Uhhh… no.
Also, you posted a claim about Juice Plus being a “superb vitamin and mineral supplement.” Unfortunately whoever wrote that doesn’t even know what it is.
Juice Plus is simply concentrated raw micronutrients from a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, berries and grains. That’s it, food. And this is why so many cancer patients rave about the Juice Plus products.
Getting enough nutrition when you’re struggling with cancer is difficult, but being well nourished is vital to recovery. We all know by now that getting enough quality fruit and vegetable nutrition is one of the biggest factors in maintaining good health, and certainly in recovering from illness.
There are thousands upon thousands of “micronutrients” in produce. If you remove the water, fiber and sugar, what you’re left with is the concentrated micronutrients.
By encapsulating those nutrients,it not only makes it simple to get them into your body, but it lends well to clinical research — after all, how can researchers do double-blind, placebo-controlled research on broccoli or grapes?
That’s why most nutrition studies are observational, but not conducted in the same manner that drug research is done.
Was I a skeptic? Absolutely. I wanted nothing to do with it. But I’ve got my degree in biology and I know how to read a research paper — or in this case, dozens.
That’s what convinced me that it wasn’t a gimmick. But the miraculous things it’s done for people I love is what sold me on it.
So, if you are indeed open minded, then read for yourself. Click through to any study you are interested in.
juiceplus.com/us/en/clinical-research/published-medical-and-scientific-journals
At least offer your opinion on something more substantial that “raving fans” telling you what they love about the product you’re critiquing.
@Holly
A few of those studies are Juice+ specific. Most are just “fruit and vegetables = nutrition”.
No shit.
The studies that are Juice+ specific are “Juice+ has fruit and veg in it, let’s test to see if it’s healthy”. Not seeing anything that’s “wow”, just a bunch of studies that confirm what I learnt in elementary school.
So unless I’m unable to eat because I’m undergoing cancer treatment, I’ll just continue to eat my balanced diet and we’re good? Much easier then taking an unnecessary fruit and veg supplement.
Not withstanding the Cancer Network’s warning not to take Juice Plus during cancer treatment.
I’ve provided you documented evidence of Juice Plus+ affiliates making unsubstantiated cancer treatment claims.
Regulators hold MLM companies accountable for claims their affiliates make.
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Source: Newsletter from the German portal network-karriere.com.
Thanks for that update Melanie.
I request you update your Juice Plus & Tower Garden review in early 2021 as a)the global rank names, compensation plan, products array and annual Partner fee have changed for the better
b) your article casts doubt on the effectiveness of Juice Plus’ nutritional impact for people by not mentioning the over 40 peer-reviewed, double-blind, highly-ranked publication published studies, and
c) the Tower Garden Boys & Girls Clubs, local TN, & national charity work the Partners & company support.
Thanks, I’ve queued Juice Plus+ for a review update.
False. The review points out trashy Juice Plus+ distributors making illegal medical claims about the company’s products.
If you have any peer-reviewed studies that show Juice Plus+ products have any effect on cancer, I’m all ears.
Basic nutritional studies were acknowledged in comment #10.
With respect to c), I wouldn’t include this in a BehindMLM review because it has nothing to do with due-diligence from a business opportunity standpoint. This is not Juice Plus+ specific.
A university professor and her students did some actual tests on this stuff.
The claims on the label are not even true, the closest actual nutritional element was only 7% of the amount claimed on the label, the rest were even less than that.
thenutritionguruandthechef.com/2019/10/24/the-truth-about-juice-plus/
Check into the actual credentials of some of the “medical professional” spokespeople with Juice Plus+.
One of the most popular actually lost his medical license decades ago. Another got her PhD from a diploma mill and her bio on their site has an MD after her name. She is not an MD.. It is all massive deception.
Also if you look at some of the “research” you will see the name of someone affiliated with the manufacturerof Juice Plus involved in many of the studies – so much for their hands off, impartial. “imperial” research.
Because some of this “research” is mentioned in publications, means nothing. It is not supported or promoted by the publications. It is known that some publications take money from companies to get in them.
It’s a known problem in the research community. That research that they tout as gold standard is absolute bunk.
If you’re claiming any peer-reviewed studies supporting claims related to Juice Plus+ products aren’t valid, feel free to provide evidence.
Failing which jumping on conspiracy theories is just as bad as making medical claims without the studies.