Inside Smoothie King’s Transformation to a Healthy Lifestyle Brand

Becoming the SoulCycle of the restaurant industry

Kim envisions Smoothie King turning out to be an integral element of “every person’s exercise journey,” he states. “Think of Nike, Lululemon, SoulCycle, but from the restaurant field … I really think we can be the to start with model in the cafe market that can very own overall health and health and fitness, seriously in our DNA.”

Smoothie King is also taking advantage of the quick-services partnership frenzy. In actuality, the model has an full web site on its website devoted to its a variety of partnerships. In addition to remaining the “official smoothie” of the Dallas Cowboys, the manufacturer has the naming rights for 10 yrs at the Smoothie King Centre, the place the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans engage in. 

The franchise also lately joined forces with the American Cancer Modern society to make a smoothie to assist some of the facet results seasoned by people receiving chemotherapy, as well as Drew Brees and Challenged Athletes Basis to support help athletes with actual physical problems. 

In April 2020, Smoothie King teamed up with Underneath Armour to offer free of charge demo subscriptions for prospects left without the need of obtainable or affordable health and fitness alternatives when COVID shuttered fitness center doorways. 

Final yr, Smoothie King partnered with Gabby Douglas, a a few-time Olympic gold medal gymnast, to launch a Hydration Watermelon smoothie with a proprietary electrolyte mix and a Stretch & Flex smoothie line made up of collagen, which will help guidance joint wellbeing and flexibility. 

“What we do is incredibly different from Jamba or Tropical Smoothie or any other smoothie shops in our country, mainly because when they endorse watermelon or acai smoothies, which is flavor-driven, our smoothies are extremely functionally driven with distinct targets,” Kim states. 

That suggests a lot of its new products and solutions don’t have flavors in their names, these as The Activator Restoration smoothie line and HIIT Match smoothies, focusing on individuals who show up at higher-intensity interval classes these as SoulCycle and Crossfit, Kim states. 

“We attract a distinct variety of crowd. When you’re working out, performing yoga or pilates, in which do you go right after that?” Kim adds. “You have to have sure ranges of proteins and amounts of distinctive vitamins and minerals that juice simply cannot give you just after your exercise, usually it will get additional time to repair your body.”

New prototype, personalization aids future enlargement

Like many fast-assistance dining establishments in new a long time, Smoothie King not long ago announced a push-thru-only prototype.

“Today’s guest is wanting for accessibility and comfort, and the new model will optimize off-premise channels even though furthering our best goal to make the brand a lot more accessible, best aid franchisees, travel profits and fulfill the requires of our on-the-go visitors,” Harmon suggests. 

 Designed with the enable of Smoothie King franchisees and the functions staff, the prototype stands at about 800 square ft and features a classic drive-via lane on a single side of the constructing, with a lane devoted to online buying and third-occasion shipping on the other. 

“We’re seeking to give far more possibilities,” Kim claims. “If they want to order via the app or kiosk, they need to, or converse to us in human being, they should really be equipped to. How do we acknowledge them no matter what and say, ‘welcome back again, this is the smoothie you employed to get, and you can decide on several ways to speak to us.’”

Also, a pick-up window and outdoor seating will be on the entrance of the exterior.  Nevertheless, Kim nonetheless asks group members to provide smoothies directly to customers’ palms, as opposed to leaving the drink on the pick-up counter. 

“We truly deliver to your fingers, so you truly feel like we are coming out of our procedure line and into their territory to hand out the product or service,” he claims. “Moreover, the model nevertheless writes out buyer names on cups by hand to showcase that individual touch, versus other manufacturers that print stickers. It’s the very little things, but two methods far more will make a huge variance.”

Because Chris Bremer joined the group in July as chief development officer, the franchise has penned agreements to broaden its footprint in key development markets, these types of as the Upper Midwest and Central Atlantic areas, in addition Colorado and Texas. 

In addition to signing a lot more than 145 new deals this calendar year, Bremer says Smoothie King is poised for new development in metropolitan areas like Baltimore, Washington D.C., Cleveland, Cincinnati, Phoenix, Las Vegas Denver, New York, and Charlotte, North Carolina. Bremer touts the brand’s low-labor product and simple buildout to attract very first-time modest business enterprise homeowners as effectively as seasoned operators, and also lists a bevy of incentives for veterans, very first responders, and extra.