Smoothie King franchisees and their team members inspire guests to live a healthy and active lifestyle through the brand’s products. By adding cleaner, more nutritious ingredients to their menu, franchisees have the opportunity to meet the evolving demand for better-for-you foods with fewer additives. In the past year, Smoothie King has been developing this goal into the Cleaner Blending initiative.

“It’s a living breathing initiative,” said Katherine LeBlanc, director of marketing. “We’ve always been looking for the best ingredients for our smoothies. We’ve just finally put a name on it.”

Cleaner Blending is all about making smarter, more transparent choices about every ingredient added or eliminated at Smoothie King.

What’s New and What’s Gone?

To date, Smoothie King has eliminated the following ingredients from our smoothies:

• High fructose corn syrup
• Trans fats
• Hydrogenated oil
• Gluten
• Any ingredients prohibited by any regulatory lists monitored by NSF International

Meanwhile, we’ve added more whole fruits and vegetables to blend cleaner, delicious smoothies.

But we’re not stopping there. Throughout this year, the brand will target artificial flavors, colors and preservatives, added hormones and GMO fruits and veggies in their initiative to deliver better-for-you options to guests. Smoothie King has also made the bold statement of removing added sugar from all of their Purpose Blend – today, that’s over 50 smoothies.

Smoothie King will also take steps to make the planet cleaner. We will be introducing new recyclable cups to replace the current Styrofoam supply, with the goal of incorporating them in all locations throughout the next year.

Guest Needs Drive Change

While industry trends are motivators, the guests are the force behind the planned changes and Cleaner Blending initiative.

Smoothie King is dedicated to listening to guests as the franchise system’s footprint continues to grow. Cleaner Blending specifically addresses requests from guests like less sugar, recyclable cups and more whole fruit. The continued demand for meal replacement smoothies drives Smoothie King’s commitment to ensuring only the highest quality ingredients are used.

How Cleaner Blending Helps Smoothie King Franchisees

Nutritional updates make it easier for Smoothie King’s core products to fit into guests’ health and wellness routines. Smoothie King’s convenient product provides new and loyal, long-time guests an opportunity to try the innovative blends.

“We continue to work towards our vision of becoming part of our guests’ health and fitness journeys, specifically with the introduction of these new ingredients,” LeBlanc said. “Cleaner Blending really showcases our commitment to being the best for our guests.”

New and relevant products bring in new guests and create loyal return guests. The Cleaner Blending initiative also creates opportunities to revisit and optimize operations behind the bar. The need for change keeps Smoothie King on the cutting edge of the industry.

Innovation is a necessary part of the Smoothie King recipe, and the brand is devoted to continually moving forward to meet guests’ needs.

To learn more about the opportunity to become a franchisee with a brand dedicated to continuous improvement, check out our Franchise Kit here.