Smoothie King Reports Significant Growth During First Half Of 2014

NEW ORLEANS, July 31, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Smoothie King Franchises, Inc., the premier smoothie and nutritional lifestyle center, released statistics today showing significant growth during the first half of 2014 compared to the same timeframe last year. Same-store sales jumped 7.16 percent in the first quarter compared to last year and increased to an even stronger 9.79 percent in the second quarter. Additionally, within the past six months, the smoothie franchise has opened 21 new locations across the U.S. The award-winning smoothie company now has 690 stores worldwide and plans to open an additional 55 by the end of 2014.

"While much of the foodservice industry experienced decreased traffic and sales earlier this year because of severe winter weather, Smoothie King remained ahead of the competition and continued that momentum into the second quarter with positive same-store sales and aggressive franchise development," said Smoothie King Global CEO Wan Kim. "Smoothie King's continued success is credited to our strong operators who are committed to providing an outstanding in-store experience year round and our active, healthy fans that continuously include Smoothie King as part of their daily lifestyle."

Same-Store Growth
Traffic and sales in the second quarter were driven by the success of new products, including Veggie Blends and the brand's new Greek Yogurt Smoothies featuring Chobani®. Veggie Blends grew to 3rd overall in smoothie sales and Greek Yogurt Smoothies are 7th overall in smoothie sales.

Franchise Expansion
In addition to the recent store openings in 2014, Smoothie King has signed 27 franchise agreements to develop 44 locations in markets such as Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Texas. The company 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, Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Turkey, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates over the next five years.

As part of its aggressive growth strategy, Smoothie King is targeting multi-unit owners and operators in the food and beverage or retail industry. To attract this audience, Smoothie King began offering reduced royalties and free equipment to franchisees that sign an area development agreement for a minimum of three stores. Through its reduced royalty incentive, franchisees will receive:
-         In the first year of operation, a 50-percent reduction on their royalty fees, paying just 3%.
-         In year two, franchisees will pay royalties of 4.5%.
-         In year three, royalties are charged at the full rate of 6%.

Additionally, franchisees will receive an entire blender equipment package, which includes five Vita-Mix Quiet One^® blenders, for each of their first three stores.

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 [email protected] or (985) 635-6984.

About Smoothie King Franchises Inc.
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 690 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.

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SOURCE Smoothie King Franchises, Inc.