Smoothie King Recognizes Franchisee Of The Year

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 2, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Smoothie King Franchises, Inc., the premier smoothie and nutritional retail lifestyle center, announced its Franchisee of the Year during its annual conference in New Orleans, where more than 1,000 corporate team members, franchise partners and partner vendors franchise partners and partner vendors from all over the world gathered. This year, David and Dawn Cotrone and their son David Cotrone, Jr., were recognized for their exceptional operations, sales and contributions to the success of the Smoothie King brand.

"We are pleased to honor the Cotrones for their commitment and dedication to Smoothie King and for inspiring people to live a healthy and active lifestyle," said Smoothie King Global CEO Wan Kim. "The Cotrones exemplify our ideal franchise partner who truly understands our business and values focused on offering smoothies with a purpose. As we continue expanding both nationally and internationally, it is important for us to continue adding strong candidates like the Cotrones to our existing network of dedicated and successful franchisees."

The Cotrones opened their first Smoothie King location in Bradenton, Fla., in 2007, earning them the New Franchisee of the Year Award, and have since opened two additional stores in the area. The family plans to open a fourth location with a drive-thru in 2015.

"This recognition is a huge honor for our family and I am very proud of our dedicated team for its hard work," said David Cotrone, Sr. "Smoothie King has done an outstanding job of delivering high-quality products, while continuing to evolve the brand through a new store design and exciting product pipeline, further positioning it as a leader in the competitive smoothie industry. We look forward to our continued partnership and growth with Smoothie King."

Even with more than 500 locations in the U.S., the brand still has extensive smoothie franchise opportunities across the country. Smoothie King has an aggressive growth strategy to add more than 900 new franchised and corporate stores domestically over the next four years and is currently targeting expansion in Tampa, Chicago, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio. Internationally, Smoothie King has plans to develop 500 new franchised and corporate locations in target markets such as Singapore, Japan, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, the Philippines, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Turkey, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates over the next five years.

To learn more about the benefits of owning a Smoothie King, or for more information, please visit www.smoothiekingfranchise.com or contact Natalie Johnson at [email protected]. For information about international franchise opportunities, please e-mail [email protected].

About Smoothie King Franchises Inc.

Smoothie King Franchises, Inc. is a privately held, New Orleans-area-based franchise company with more than 690 units worldwide. By creating each smoothie with a purpose, Smoothie King makes it simple and pleasurable for guests to achieve their individual health goals. The franchise also offers a number of healthy retail products, including sports beverages, energy bars, vitamin supplements and more.

Smoothie King was founded in 1973 by Steve Kuhnau, whose mission was to help others achieve better health in a tasty way. In 1989, Smoothie King became the first franchised smoothie bar/health food store in the U.S. and currently operates 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. In 2014, Smoothie King partnered with the New Orleans Pelicans to launch the Smoothie King Center, a multi-purpose indoor arena in New Orleans, Louisiana. Visit www.smoothieking.com or www.smoothiekingfranchise.com; engage on Facebook www.facebook.com/SmoothieKing; follow on Twitter at http://twitter.com/smoothieking.

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Claibourne Smith
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SOURCE Smoothie King