Smoothie King Continues to Reign Supreme in 2021

By: Helen Bond | 3,059 Reads

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There's never been a better time to be a Smoothie King franchisee.

With over 1,300 locations and plenty of room for growth, the world's top smoothie brand—and global franchise leader—continues to dominate the industry with record-breaking sales, rock star marketing partnerships, and an ever-present eye on innovation.

Both sales and investor interest are sizzling. Smoothie King's same-store sales rose 18% percent in the first quarter, a new year-over-year high and strong follow-up to 12.2% sales growth posted in the second half of 2020.

Franchising also got off to a fast start in the first quarter of 2021, with 24 signed franchise agreements inked to develop 71 stores and nine new franchisees welcomed into the Smoothie King system. Additionally, the Dallas-based chain opened 32 stores in the first quarter, including 18 international locations.

"As this past quarter demonstrated, our purpose-driven mission of inspiring people to live healthy and active lifestyles continues to translate into success on the franchise development side of the business," says Wan Kim, CEO of Smoothie King. "Coming off 2020, despite everything that happened, we still opened a record number of stores and achieved our ninth straight year of same-store sales growth. We are very pleased to see this momentum has carried over into 2021 so far, and we look forward to growing even more this year with current and new franchisees."

Smoothie King's future-focused evolution into a top health and fitness brand has served the resilient franchise well throughout the pandemic to meet customers' changing needs.

In the past 12 months, the company introduced curbside pickup and delivery, a comprehensive online-ordering platform, and most recently, tablet-ordering capabilities at participating drive-thru locations nationwide. These digital platforms, introduced in February 2020, now make up a whopping 21% of the franchise's total sales.

"For our digital sales to account for nearly a quarter of our overall sales when not 14 months ago that number was at 0% says a lot about our innovations team and the likeability of our digital platforms," notes Kim. "It's also a number that will continue to grow as more of today's consumers gravitate toward convenient, online-ordering platforms."

Smoothie King's smart marketing moves have also bolstered the brand's presence creating industry buzz and deep connections with today's consumers. Among the most recent highlights:

A gold medal partnership. The brand joined forces with U.S. Olympian and five-time gold medal winner Gabby Douglas to promote the brand's newest menu innovations: a line of collagen-containing Stretch & Flex™ smoothies and two watermelon smoothies for summer.
Two Texas favorites team up. Smoothie King is now the official smoothie of the Dallas Cowboys as part of a new seven-year partnership. Smoothie King will work closely with the team's nutritionists to develop a custom-blended smoothie that helps maximize performance for Cowboys fans and Smoothie King guests to enjoy.

As consumers increasingly make purchasing decisions with their health and wellness in mind, Smoothie King is looking to expand to meet the demand with qualified franchise candidates in markets like Denver, Cleveland, New York, and Philadelphia. Smoothie King opened 263 units last year and is aiming to top that number by year's end.

Ready to join a world-class brand that makes a healthy difference in the lives of its guests every day? Discover your opportunity by visiting www.smoothiekingfranchise.com.