Partner Profile: Doolies Coffee & Juice Bar

At Hamilton Beach Commercial, we build our blenders to last. And now, we may have a new record for the hardest-working HBC blender. At Doolies Coffee and Juice Bar in Sydney, a six-year-old HBH850 Summit recently clocked 138,000 cycles. That’s 63 drinks per day, on average, for six years. And it’s still going strong.

Here’s a look at how Doolies has been blending success for 20 years — plus a few surefire smoothie recipes from Down Under.

It started with a simple hunch.

While working in various restaurants, coffee shops and juice bars, Aphendoulis “Doolie” Davis observed a basic trend: at most coffee shops, sales dropped off during the hotter summer months, while juice/smoothie bars slowed down in the winter. Well, why not combine them? he thought.

When he opened his own place, he served both coffee and freshly made juice and smoothies, “which has been a major factor of the consistent success over the 20 years,” Davis says. The menu variety attracts customers in every season and at any time of day. “Just this week Sydney had three beautiful sunny days followed by two cold, windy, rainy days,” he says. Doolies stayed busy through it all.

Location was everything.

In 1996, a new shopping center called Market City had just opened in Sydney’s Chinatown. Filled with discount fashion boutiques and Chinese restaurants, it didn’t seem like a natural fit for Davis’ vision. Most of Sydney’s juice bars were found at the beach, or in malls.

Yet Chinatown’s central location proved perfect for Doolies. On an average day, customers include construction workers from nearby building sites, retail employees from the mall, residents of the neighboring apartment tower, students and staff from the University of Technology Sydney, office workers and tourists.

Quality is the secret of Doolies’ continued success.

Doolies thrived, and so did the competition. As juice-bar and coffee franchises spread throughout Sydney, three things helped Doolies maintain its loyal customer base. 

• The quality of employees: “Many juice bars are franchises and have a high turnover of junior staff,” Davis says. “My longest serving staff is still going at 12 years and another’s on his 6th year.” Employees typically stay three years or more, which means they deliver better service and recognize regular customers by name.

• The quality of his product: Walk into Doolies and the first thing you notice is the rainbow display of fruit in the display case. Fresh carrots and cucumbers, apples and oranges, lemons and watermelon are arranged with care, waiting to be blended into drinks.
  “Our smoothies and juices are made right in front of the customer using fresh fruit and veggies from the display counter, unlike major franchises that fill blenders out of sight using bottled orange/apple juice and mostly frozen fruit/yogurt,” Davis says. Customers can customize their orders, too.

• The quality of his blenders: From 6 a.m. until 7 p.m., Doolies’ three blenders are humming — and that’s why Davis relies on Hamilton Beach Commercial’s Summit blender. “Summit blenders have been the only blenders to handle the constant workload,” Doolie says. He uses them for smoothies, exotic juice blends, milkshakes and ice-blend coffees. “With so many previous blenders, sparks would fly. Others would overheat or burn out...some even on the first day.” Not so the Summit. Another secret: multiple jars. Doolies uses eight to keep up with orders.

Serving stellar smoothies with an Australian twist

Twenty years ago, smoothies were pretty basic. Doolies served a handful of flavors, such as banana, mango and mixed berry. Now, Davis offers countless combinations. The secret to making great smoothies, Davis says, are to use the freshest ingredients and ripe bananas; not to overdo the ice; and to make just enough to fill the cup without any left over in the blender jug, “because the most flavor is in the last drops.”

Some of his most popular smoothies: 

• GREEN SMOOTHIE- kale, spinach, celery, cucumber, green apple and ice (plus optional ginger and lemon)
• PINK DRAGON - pink pitaya (dragon fruit) and raspberries, blended with fresh-squeezed orange juice and ice
• BREAKFAST - banana, Weetabix, yogurt, honey, milk and ice
• WORKOUT - blueberry, banana, protein powder, yogurt, honey, milk and ice
• ENERGY - banana, mango, guarana, yogurt, honey, milk and ice
• REFRESHING - raspberry, mango, yogurt, honey and ice

Follow Doolies on Instagram at doolies_coffee_and_juice. Do you have a story to share about Hamilton Beach Commercial blenders have helped your business grow? Let us know!