Smoothie King Announces New President and Other Leadership Changes

DALLAS, Sept. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Smoothie King CEO Wan Kim announced Thursday Chief Operating Officer Dan Harmon has been promoted to president and COO. As president, Harmon's expanded responsibilities for the 1,000-plus unit franchise include oversight of all the marketing and IT functions. 

"Over the last two years, [Dan] has demonstrated tremendous leadership and has really taken our store operations and relationship with our franchisees to a new level. He lives our mission to inspire people to live a healthy and active lifestyle every day, and I am thrilled to have him in this new, elevated role," said Kim.

In addition to this change, Smoothie King also announced Chief Development Officer Kevin King was elevated to chief business development officer, and Chief Marketing Officer Rebecca Miller was tabbed as head of field marketing. King's new role entails leading the charge on new growth opportunities as the franchise eyes strategic partnerships in the health and fitness space and potential acquisitions of complementary brands. As head of field marketing, Miller will continue to provide her marketing leadership and expertise to meet the needs of franchisees and field teams while also ensuring an alignment of resources. 

In May, the franchise also introduced IT expert and industry veteran Chris Andrews as its new chief information officer.

The restructuring of Smoothie King's executive team underscores the franchise's development efforts as it looks to sustain healthy, continuous growth both nationally and internationally for the rest of 2019 and beyond.

"Smoothie King has experienced incredible growth over the last couple years, and we want to capitalize on the enormous opportunity that lies ahead," said Kim. "These moves to our leadership team put our franchise in the best position to do just that."

The leadership reshuffle comes after a healthy and active second quarter for Smoothie King, which signed 25 development agreements for 29 committed stores in 14 states. A total of 18 existing franchisees reinvested, while the brand welcomed seven new owners to the system.

Highlighting Smoothie King's growth in Q2 was an area development agreement that will bring four new stores to Illinois, while also finalizing an agreement for a location inside New Orleans' Ochsner Medical Center. Other states where Q2 deals were signed include Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

"Our brand vision is to be an integral part of every health and fitness journey, and the growth we're experiencing is giving us the opportunity to better fulfill that vision," said Kim. "Our development is also an indication of just how much our brand and its mission is resonating with franchisees. While we signed agreements in a couple key markets in Q2, it's crucial we continue to evolve – just as our guests' needs do – if we want to keep growing like we know we can."

Smoothie King projects 65 more agreements for 100 committed locations by year's end, with target markets including Baltimore, Kansas City (Mo.), Little Rock (Ark.), New York, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Tulsa (Okla.) and Washington D.C.

ABOUT SMOOTHIE KING
Founded in 1973, Smoothie King is a lifestyle brand inspiring people to live healthy and active lifestyles via nutritious, great-tasting smoothies with over 1,000 locations in 34 U.S. states, the Caymans, Trinidad and the Republic of Korea. The franchise recently earned the No. 1 ranking among smoothie concepts for the 28th-consecutive year, and the No. 22 spot overall, on Entrepreneur's prestigious Franchise 500 list in 2019.

For more information on how to become a Smoothie King franchisee, please visit www.smoothiekingfranchise.com.

Media Contact: Brian Campbell Jr., Fishman PR, 847-945-1300 ext. 226 or [email protected]

SOURCE Smoothie King

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