"The Kickstarter campaign raised $13,000 and gave us confidence in our idea for Drought," said Caitlin James, 31. "That we could put the idea out there and so many friends, family and strangers supported it."

Today, Drought makes more than 5,000 bottles of cold-pressed juice and beverages per week and has several metro Detroit retail locations and ships nationally.

Drought sells more than a dozen products, such as Green #1 (chard, cabbage, apple, celery, kale and lemon) to Maple Water to Hemp Milk (almond-tasting and blended with dates). Because they are unpasteurized, Drought's blends need to be refrigerated and consumed within 3-5 days.

"Our natural talents led us to our roles," said Caitlin, Drought's CEO.

"I'm organized and comfortable making bigger decisions, and analytic," said Caitlin, a special education teacher by degree and a onetime Peace Corps volunteer in Jordan known for her budgeting prowess and decisiveness.

Julie James, 32, has a business degree and marketing background. She's brand manager and has relied principally on social media, word-of-mouth and posting photos on Instagram to market Drought products and retail locations.

Jessie James, 29, is director of Drought's retail business. Five years working with customers in a New York City hair salon prepped her for the ins and outs of retail and customer relations.

Jenny James, 28, who majored in art history, is production director. She oversees sourcing, patronizing local farms for produce and fruit and oversees production four days a week at the 3,500-square-foot commercial kitchen, which was first used to produce Garden Fresh Gourmet products.

"We're hoping some of their success rubs off on us," Jenny James said.

Homegrown salsa magnates Jack and Annette Aronson — the couple behind the Garden Fresh Gourmet product line that was sold to Campbell Soup for $231 million last week — has helped mentor the James sisters. That's really good karma for Drought.

When the sisters, graduates of Catholic all-girls Mercy High, moved back home, their dad cleared out his home office/library to establish the Drought conference room, a.k.a. "war room." The sisters posted a vision board with their ideas and plans. They did research. They showed up at a local vegetarian fair without any product, but just a blender, to talk up their idea and make connections.

Father Mark James and mother Beth James said they enjoyed the energy and drive — even all the fruit and juice bottles — that overran the house. Beth is a Northville schools nurse who runs Drought's Plymouth store on Sundays. Mark is a regional manager for True commercial refrigeration equipment.

"They gave up their home to let us live there and trash their kitchen," Julie said of her parents.

How they started

Like many good things, the story of Drought started with a bit of a bluff.

Jessie James, a hairstylist commuting back and forth between New York City and Detroit, bragged to salon patron and actress Michelle Williams — headed to Detroit for a film in summer 2011 — that she knew of a "thriving" fresh juice company.

Williams, as well as other actors such as Mila Kunis and James Franco, plus the crew and production team, put in orders when they got to Detroit. The sisters went into round-the-clock production to ramp up juice-making to fill the orders and shared their late grandfather's 1996 Lincoln Town Car to make regular deliveries to the Pontiac studio during the filming of "Oz the Great and Powerful."

"If you can deliver, smoke and mirrors is not the worst thing in the world," quipped Caitlin James about how the sisters took advantage of the opportunity.

Drought is a bright example of the growing impact of female-owned businesses in the U.S. that have grown at a greater pace than average since 1997. By launching in Michigan, Drought contributed to a 34% growth in women-owned firms since 1997, according to an American Express study.

However, compared with the rest of the country, Michigan dramatically lags behind the national pace in developing and growing female-owned firms. The state ranks near the bottom for its growth of female-owned firms (43rd), and revenue growth for female-owned firms (49th) since 1997.

Drought now has 28 employees and became profitable earlier this year, said Caitlin James. With three new store openings expected this summer, James said she expects revenue to increase by 60% by year's end.

Drought's success includes recognition from both connoisseurs and cultivators of female-owned businesses.

Last September, Drought won a $25,000 grant for female-owned businesses from fashion designer Eileen Fisher. The sisters were flown to New York City for a tour of the operations and met with the retailer's executive staff during a three-day workshop.

Food and Wine Magazine in September 2012 included Drought in its list of America's best juice bars, just months after the first retail store opened in a onetime Plymouth fudge shop.

The James sisters have been featured in a photo-rich blog about inspiring women for Dearborn-based, workwear apparel manufacturer Carhartt.

On Friday, the sisters met Virgin Atlantic airlines founder Sir Richard Branson during a meeting with metro Detroit entrepreneurs after a reception to kick off the airline's Detroit-to-London route.

These are accomplishments the James sisters didn't even imagine in the home "war room." From late 2010 through 2013, any or all of the four sisters lived at the family home. There are two other James siblings — Jane and Mark Jr. — who have successful careers but are not part of Drought.

"The cornerstone to our success was being really frugal in the beginning. You have to continually put everything back in the business," said Julie James. "We worked nonstop for 6-8 months, at least 20 hours a day, seven days a week. We bought the produce and the fruit, did the juicing and bottling ourselves and made the deliveries.

"Now we can pay ourselves enough to rent our own apartments," said Julie James. "We all made it out."

Tech at its core

Even though it's dealing with a food product, Drought's growth is also a tech story, said Rachele Downs, vice president for entrepreneurial strategies for Inforum. By being mentored by the Aronsons, the James sisters are learning how technology can maximize their natural foods business.

"I would say that it's absolutely that level of investment, grit and determination that's required. Too often we get excited about the overnight success stories. That's an overly romantic concept of what it takes to be an entrepreneur," said Downs.

"Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. It's ambiguous. It's uncomfortable and it's hard."

Drought's growth, said Downs, is "incredibly exciting for the region, and for the wealth, the jobs and the opportunities it creates for others."

"It's incredibly powerful … because of the technology that Garden Fresh shared with Drought that made it viable as a national product," said Downs. "It was really the sharing of knowledge and technology that is going to position Drought for explosive growth. It's a different story than making fruit juice in the basement."

Don't underestimate them, say the James sisters. And, please don't call them the "Juice Girls," which some people have.

"We're business owners," said Jessie James. "We're not little girls running a lemonade stand."

Contact Patricia Montemurri: 313-223-4538, pmontemurri@freepress.com or on Twitter @pmontemurri.