Smoothie King Celebrates 800th Global Store Opening by Giving Back to First Responders in Orlando, Florida USA - English

NEW ORLEANS, July 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Smoothie King, the leader of the booming smoothie segment, has been raising the bar in the increasingly popular industry for more than 40 years. With the brand's mission to inspire consumers to live a healthy and active lifestyle, the company is able to reach new guests by supporting passionate franchise owners to open new locations in communities across the world. And now, Smoothie King is celebrating a major milestone: its 800^th store is opening for business.

The 800^th Smoothie King location will start serving customers "Smoothies With a Purpose.®" on Tuesday, August 2 at 7343 West Sand Lake Road in Orlando, Florida. To celebrate the grand opening, franchisees Todd and Lorraine Pater will give away 800 20-ounce smoothies. Smoothie King will also deliver free smoothies to police stations and first responders in Orlando, Winter Park, Oviedo, Lake Mary and Windermere.

"My vision is for Smoothie King to help more and more guests around the world achieve their nutrition and fitness goals by using our products to live a healthy and active lifestyle," said Wan Kim, Smoothie King's Owner and Chief Executive Officer. "Our pace of opening new locations shows that our strategic development efforts are working in highly competitive markets, and this milestone store is a precursor to where the brand is going in the future. Crossing the 800-unit mark is a major achievement that takes us one step closer to reaching our goal to have 1,000 locations open by the end of 2017."

The Paters first became familiar with the brand while living in Houston, Texas, where the brand has more than 60 locations. They were instantly hooked on the product and became frequent Smoothie King customers. However, when they moved to Florida, they noticed that there weren't as many Smoothie King stores in the market. So they inked a multi-unit development deal that will ultimately bring 12 locations to the state.

"The community here is really embracing the Smoothie King brand. Our first location has only been open for a few weeks, and we're seeing sales increase every day," said Todd Pater. "We're incredibly excited to celebrate this milestone with the brand and give back to the community with this special celebration. It's a great time to be a franchisee with Smoothie King, and with our current plans to develop a total of 12 stores, we are a clear example that Smoothie King is in rapid growth mode."

Smoothie King's 800^th store opening comes as the brand celebrates a strong start to the year. In the first half of 2016, the brand boasted a 12.4 percent increase in same-store sales. Smoothie King also opened 44 new stores in 13 states across the Southeast, Northeast and Midwest. That brand's growth is still going strong—year to date, Smoothie King has signed 64 franchise and area development agreements that will add another 105 stores to the system. That means the brand is on pace to meet or exceed its goal of opening 1,000 units by the end of 2017.

Multi-unit development—like the Paters' agreement in Orlando—is fueling a lot of that impressive growth. Between January and June, Smoothie King signed multi-unit area development deals in Chicago, Tucson, Dallas, Baltimore and Virginia. As the brand moves forward into the second half of 2016, it will continue to build on that momentum by expanding its reach in new markets, both domestically and internationally.

"Now that our 800^th unit is officially opening its doors, we're looking ahead to the next major development milestone. And more importantly, we are looking forward to bringing 'Smoothies With a Purpose.®' to new markets and guests all over the world," Kim said. "Bringing our products to new communities gives us the opportunity to help people reach their fitness and nutrition goals by living a healthy and active lifestyle."

About Smoothie King
Smoothie King Franchises, Inc. is a privately held, New Orleans-area-based franchise company with 800 units worldwide. By creating each smoothie with a purpose, Smoothie King makes it simple and pleasurable for guests to achieve their individual health goals as part of a low-calorie diet and regular exercise routine. The franchise also offers a number of healthy retail products, including sports beverages, energy bars, vitamin supplements and more.

Smoothie King was founded in 1973 by Steve Kuhnau, whose mission was to help others achieve better health in a tasty way. In 1989, Smoothie King became the first franchised smoothie bar/health food store in the U.S. and currently operates in 33 states, the Caymans, and the Republic of Korea. In 2015, Smoothie King was ranked No. 1 by Entrepreneur magazine in the juice bar category for the 23rd year and No. 92 overall on the 2015 Franchise 500 list. In 2014, Smoothie King partnered with the New Orleans Pelicans to launch the Smoothie King Center, a multi-purpose indoor arena in New Orleans, Louisiana. Smoothie King offers veterans a 20 percent discount off the initial franchisee fee. Visit www.smoothieking.com or www.smoothiekingfranchise.com; engage on Facebook www.facebook.com/SmoothieKing; follow on Twitter at http://twitter.com/smoothieking.

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SOURCE Smoothie King

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