Smoothie King Selects Crunchtime to Improve Profitability and Efficiency Across Franchise Network

New Technology to Enhance Data Visibility Across 1,200+ Locations

BOSTON, Nov. 12, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Smoothie King, the world's largest smoothie brand, is partnering with Crunchtime, a leading operations platform provider for the restaurant industry, to enhance its inventory management, labor scheduling, operations execution, and data analytics capabilities. This strategic collaboration aims to help Smoothie King franchisees increase profitability and operational efficiency and provide the organization with trustworthy, timely data to fuel the brand's growth.

"At Smoothie King, we're committed to empowering our franchisees with the tools and technology that drive smarter, more efficient operations," said Camille Hymes, Chief Operating Officer at Smoothie King. "Our partnership with Crunchtime represents a meaningful step forward in delivering data-driven insights that improve profitability, strengthen operational excellence, and ultimately help our franchisees focus more on what matters most, our guests."

The Crunchtime platform will give Smoothie King a "single source of truth" for its back-office operations, providing managers with real-time data and business intelligence to help them make better decisions. The partnership is expected to result in significant cost savings for the Smoothie King system, with reductions anticipated in both labor costs and cost of goods sold (COGS).

"The Crunchtime solution allows us to simplify our back-office operations and give our franchisees the tools they need to gain better control over their costs in a competitive market," said Jyoti Lynch, Chief Information Officer at Smoothie King. "Crunchtime's proven track record and their robust platform with AI forecasting and real-time data capabilities make them an ideal partner in this next phase of growth for Smoothie King."

Key Outcomes of the Partnership

• Improved Forecasting: Leveraging AI forecasting with real-time data from the POS will automate ordering and staff scheduling and enable operators to adapt effectively to labor and food cost targets.
  
  
• Simplified Operations: With a robust operations execution platform, operators will have better control of brand standards, task management, store audits, food safety, and labeling.
  
  
• Company-Wide Visibility: Native platform reporting plus advanced business analytics will provide unparalleled access to store, regional, and corporate-level insights that will help managers make immediate, informed decisions and help above-store leaders uncover operational challenges.

Smoothie King expects its Crunchtime implementation to be complete by the end of 2025, setting the business up to support its aggressive growth trajectory in 2026. A total of 138 pilot and early adopter locations have been deployed so far.

According to Jason Luther, Smoothie King Franchisee and President of Smoothie King's Franchise Advisory Council, "Crunchtime has been a smooth transition for us. The scheduling system is straightforward, and the dashboard snapshots make it easy to stay on top of our operations. The phone app's inventory integration is a meaningful improvement from a convenience and efficiency standpoint. We also appreciate the auto invoicing, order recommendations, and the ability to upload invoices by picture. Having inventory and auto ordering right from the phone will definitely save us time and streamline our day-to-day processes."

About Smoothie King Franchises, Inc.

Smoothie King, the original U.S. smoothie franchise—founded in 1973—is a Dallas-based company with over 1,200 stores nationwide.

The brand is committed to its mission to inspire a healthy and active lifestyle through its Clean Blends initiative, which focuses on providing great-tasting smoothies with more whole fruits and vegetables while removing artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives and added sugars in many of its blends. In April 2023, Smoothie King launched Smoothie Bowls, topped with whole fresh fruit and premium Purely Elizabeth™ granola, made with wholesome ingredients, non-GMO fruits, and packed with flavor and nutrients. Smoothie King also offers retail products that include sports beverages, energy bars, vitamins, supplements, and more.

Repeatedly recognized as a top franchise opportunity, Smoothie King was recently ranked #19 in Entrepreneur's 2025 Franchise 500, #11 in Entrepreneur's 2025 Top Brands for Multi-Unit Owners, and #90 in Fast Casual's Top 100 Movers & Shakers. The brand was also featured in the top 100 of Technomic's annual America's Favorite Chains data, which resulted in ranking #8 in Nation's Restaurant News' "America's Favorite Chains" list earlier this year.

About Crunchtime

With Crunchtime, the world's top restaurant brands achieve ops excellence in every location. Crunchtime software is used in over 150,000 locations in 100+ countries to manage inventory, staff scheduling, learning and development, food safety, operational tasks, and audits. Through its recent merger with QSR Automations, Crunchtime has expanded its offerings to include kitchen automation and guest management solutions. Crunchtime enables customers, including Chipotle, Culver's, Domino's, Dunkin', Five Guys, and P.F. Chang's to control food and labor costs and deliver great guest experiences by providing the real-time data and tools essential for profitable, scalable growth. Learn more at www.crunchtime.com.

SOURCE Crunchtime