Smoothie King Franchises, Inc., the premier smoothie and nutritional lifestyle center, announced today the opening of its first location in Jacksonville, N.C., with local franchisee Quamisha Nelson. Located at 460 Western Blvd., Smoothie King will host a grand opening celebration on Saturday, May 24, from 1-5 p.m. where members of the community can enjoy half-price smoothies.
Prior to becoming a Smoothie King franchisee, Nelson lived in Greenville, N.C., with her husband, Spc. Joshua Nelson, who was serving in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. After he was killed in 2012, Nelson returned to Jacksonville to be closer to her parents, who are both military veterans, and decided to open her first Smoothie King.
“I never thought about owning my own business, but after my husband passed away, I needed to shift my focus and put the pieces back together. We both loved Smoothie King so much and were such frequent customers that it just made sense. It is so much easier to sell people a product you’re passionate about,” Nelson said. “Other than my love for the brand, I wanted to partner with a company that I believe in, a company whose mission and values matched mine, and a company with which I could grow.”
“Veterans continue to make significant contributions to Smoothie King every year and we are excited Quamisha took advantage of our VetFran discount and joined our system to expand the brand to her hometown of Jacksonville,” said Smoothie King Global CEO Wan Kim. “We are confident residents will love our variety of fresh-blended, nutritious smoothies and healthy retail products and we look forward to growing our presence in the market and across North Carolina over the next several years.”
Additionally, Smoothie King on Western Blvd. will have a variety of family-friendly grand opening activities, fitness demonstrations by Iron Forged Fitness, contests and giveaways, and a dedication of a fallen soldier statue to commemorate Memorial Day and service members.
Smoothie King plans to add more than 900 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 North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, as well as across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Smoothie King also aims to add more than 500 new franchised and corporate locations internationally over the next five years in target markets such as Singapore, Japan, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Turkey, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.
Smoothie King is targeting multi-unit owners and operators in the food and beverage or retail industries. Franchise candidates should possess a passion for the brand and be dedicated to serving the community. Potential franchisees should have a history of success, knowledge of the real estate market, and the willingness to devote a full-time team to the Smoothie King brand.
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 675 units operating in 33 states, the Caymans, Singapore and the Republic of Korea. In 2014, 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. Visit www.smoothieking.com or www.smoothiekingfranchise.com; engage on Facebook www.facebook.com/SmoothieKing; follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/smoothieking.
