Smoothie King Franchises, Inc. opens two new locations in New Orleans today. The first is located at 2801 Magazine St. and is a 1,903 sq. ft. store featuring the new Smoothie King store design developed by WD Partners. The second is a kiosk location in the new Outlet Collection at Riverwalk.
“Smoothie King was born in New Orleans and it is the ongoing support we’ve received from this community that has propelled us to be the leading smoothie franchise concept for the past 20 years,” said Smoothie King Global CEO Wan Kim. “Our three corporate locations in New Orleans will feature our new store design giving guests an opportunity to experience where Smoothie King is headed nationally and internationally.”
The new Smoothie King store design at 2801 Magazine St., the Outlet Collection at Riverwalk, and Clearview Palms reinforce the company’s new positioning of offering purpose-based smoothies for every need. Features include the company’s new logo, visuals reinforcing the brand’s purpose-driven positioning and a large mural highlighting Smoothie King founder, Steve Kuhnau’s original purpose (at the Magazine St. location only).
“By bringing the new Smoothie King design to these high traffic locations in New Orleans, we are sharing our future with the market that made us,” says Chris Webb, director of company store operations.
Smoothie King at 2801 Magazine St. will open today at 10 a.m. and will serve guests daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. The Outlet Collection at Riverwalk kiosk will open May 22 and the Clearview Palms location is open Monday-Friday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Smoothie King currently has 51 franchised locations throughout the New Orleans metro area. These two new locations bring the total company owned stores in the New Orleans area to three with plans to open more than 20 throughout the country this year.
Smoothie King reported strong same-store sales growth of approximately 7.2 percent for the first quarter despite a harsh winter that affected most of the country. The company’s aggressive growth strategy includes plans for an additional 940 new franchised and corporate locations domestically over the next four years. Even with more than 500 locations in the U.S., the brand still has extensive smoothie franchise opportunities available in Florida, as well as the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions, and Texas. Smoothie King also continues to expand internationally through both master franchise and corporate stores in South Korea, Singapore and the Cayman Islands, and is focusing on identifying partners in several key countries in Asia and the Middle East.
Franchisees should possess a passion for the brand and be dedicated to serving the community. While restaurant experience is not required, the ideal candidate for the smoothie franchise should have an entrepreneurial spirit, as well as sales, marketing, restaurant and/or retail experience.
To learn more about the benefits of owning a Smoothie King, or for more information and to register for a Discovery Day, please visit www.smoothiekingfranchise.com or contact Natalie Johnson at natalie.johnson@smoothieking.com or (985) 635-6984.
Smoothie King Franchises, Inc. is a privately held, New Orleans-area-based franchise company and the premier Smoothie Bar and Nutritional Lifestyle Center in the industry. Smoothie King offers guests the original nutritional fresh-blended smoothie and healthy retail products, including sports beverages, energy bars, healthy snacks, vitamin supplements, herbs, minerals and other sports nutrition products. Smoothie King opened its first store in 1973 and started as the first franchised smoothie bar/health food store in the United States in 1989. Smoothie King currently has more than 650 units operating in 33 states, the Caymans, Singapore and the Republic of Korea. In 2013, Smoothie King was ranked no. 1 by Entrepreneur magazine in the juice bar category for the 20th year and no. 86 overall on the 2014 Franchise 500 list.
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