NEW YORK CITY-Jamba Inc., the owner and operator of more than640 Jamba Juice stores in more than 24 states, has lofty goals ofgoing global, said CEO Paul Clayton in a presentation at the ThomasWeisel Partners Consumer Conference on Tuesday. He told theaudience that the company has a long-term goal of hitting the 5,000store mark, though he didn't give a proposed timeframe.

The blended juice company is based in Emeryville, CA, and hasmore than 50 percent of its stores there. It favors a company-ownedstrategy, with only just more than 115 stores run by franchisees.“We think there's a substantial upside in the development of thisbrand, and we'd like to control it's execution,” Clayton said.

Since its start in ??, the company has branched out to majormarkets such as New York City, Seattle, Florida, Texas and Chicago.Clayton said the growth will spread from these markets, but that hewants to make sure that target unit economics are adhered to asthey grow.