Why it belongs in ORBIS
Joe & The Juice began in 2002 when Kaspar Basse opened a juice bar inside a friend's Copenhagen clothing shop. It has since grown into a global chain known for its music-filled bars.
Before there was a global chain, there was one bar called Rue Verté, inside a clothing shop on Ny Østergade in central Copenhagen. In 2002, Kaspar Basse — a former advertising employee inspired by Starbucks and café-in-boutique concepts — persuaded two friends to let him open a juice counter in their store. He ran it largely alone at first, with a Coca-Cola fridge in the corner and liquor on the shelf for regulars.
The brand's culture took shape gradually. Philip "Pippo" Finsteen, hired after arriving from Milan, shifted the focus from products to people, training staff on personality as much as skill. Sebastian Vestergaard joined as a "Juicer" in 2005 after Basse recruited him at a grocery store checkout; he became CEO in 2019 at age 33, when Basse stepped back to chair the board.
The company opened its first additional stores inside Magasin department stores in Bremerholm, Aarhus, and Lyngby, then expanded into Norway, the UK, the US, and the Middle East. Swedish private equity firm Valedo took a majority stake in 2013, and General Atlantic invested in 2016, becoming majority shareholder in 2023. What began as one unbranded juice bar is now defined by its music-filled counters and self-described "ambience."