Smoothie King's New Fit n' Crunchy Bowls Address Healthy Eating Trends

News provided by

Apr 26, 2010, 07:00 ET

NEW ORLEANS, April 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Smoothie King, the 1973 creator of the nutritional smoothie, is transforming the category once again with the introduction today of Fit n' Crunchy – a series of 12-ounce bowls filled with tart yogurt or sorbet in six flavor options, each topped with premium heart-healthy granola and packing nutrition worthy of the "superfood" moniker.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100426/AQ92682)

The new Fit n' Crunchy bowls mark the same spirit of innovation that characterizes the story of how Smoothie King gave life to the world's first nutritional smoothie. In the late 1960s, Smoothie King co-founder and chief executive officer, Steve Kuhnau, was trying to remedy his allergies and low blood sugar, and began experimenting with mixing real fruit, nutrients and proteins in a blender at home. His concoctions soon not only were making a huge impact on his own health, but on the health of others – as the brand has grown to over 600 stores across international markets.

Fit n' Crunchy marks how Smoothie King is once again driving the creation of a new product category of superfood tart yogurt and sorbet bowls – this time, designed to address key healthy eating guidelines leading nutritionists have outlined for today's consumers.

Tapping into Healthy Eating Trends

Planning meals used to be simple: breakfast, lunch and dinner. But a new trend toward a "meal replacement" structure to eating is changing that paradigm for those looking to eat healthy. Choosing several smaller meals per day to replace three regular meals a day has emerged as one of the most effective strategies for weight loss – and offers the added bonus of decreasing the risk of diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis and heart disease.

Superfoods – like blueberries and acai berries – are recommended parts of meal-replacement choices, because they are rich in antioxidants, fiber and an array of vitamins and minerals. All six of the Fit n' Crunchy bowls are designed to be excellent meal replacements, with the following superfood nutritional highlights:

All natural ingredients
Tart yogurt choices are made from real fruit (up to three servings per bowl), providing a high content of fiber (up to 44 percent RDA) and antioxidants
Fortified with vitamins and minerals (up to 80 percent RDA Vitamin C and 25 percent RDA Calcium)
Made from 100 percent organic acai and yerba mate (select bowls), offering a boost of natural energy
Good source of protein – up to 9 grams

There are six Fit n' Crunchy bowl options, including the Acai Bowl, Acai Mate Bowl, Blueberry Tart Yogurt Bowl, Strawberry Tart Yogurt Bowl, Raspberry Sorbet Bowl and Mango Sorbet Bowl.

"As trends in healthy eating continue to evolve, we continue to innovate new products to meet the changing needs of our guests," said Cindy Kuhnau, co-founder and vice president, Smoothie King. "Smoothie King invented the nutritional smoothie category in 1973, and Fit n' Crunchy is the latest addition to our heritage of innovation."

Serving up a variety of healthy function-based smoothies, Smoothie King offers cutting-edge nutritional products and snacks in over 600 locations across the globe.

About Smoothie King Franchises, Inc.

Smoothie King 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, and currently has more than 600 units operating in 32 states and the Republic of Korea. Additional outlets will soon be opening in Japan, Egypt, Turkey and the Caymans. In 2009, Smoothie King was ranked no. 1 by Entrepreneur magazine in the juice bar category for the 17th year and no. 80 overall on the 2010 Franchise 500 list. Visit www.smoothieking.com; engage on Facebook www.facebook.com/SmoothieKing; follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/smoothieking

SOURCE Smoothie King