NEW ORLEANS, April 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Smoothie King Franchises, Inc., the premier smoothie and nutritional lifestyle center, announced today it reported strong same-store sales growth of approximately 7.2 percent for the first quarter of 2014.

"Many quick-serve concepts saw sales and traffic decline because of the severe winter weather we had in many parts of the U.S., but Smoothie King continued to experience impressive same-store sales results," said Smoothie King Global CEO Wan Kim. "As we continue to outpace the competition, Smoothie King has proven to be one of the best franchise opportunities in the segment as consumers' desire to live a more healthy, active lifestyle drives traffic to our locations year round."

Traffic and sales in the first quarter were primarily driven by the introduction of the brand's first smoothies featuring vegetables, Veggie Blends, which blend fruit with carrot and kale. Smoothie King also signed 14 franchise agreements to develop 22 locations, and is on track to open 26 new franchised locations and three corporate stores in the second quarter of 2014.

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 the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest and Northeast regions. 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.

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 more than 650 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