The smoothie and juice industry has been booming with growth during the pandemic and continues to have a strong national expansion forecast. With stress levels at an all-time high due to factors such as the fluctuating economy, political strife and COVID-19 concerns, Americans are gravitating to health-boosting solutions that are good for their immune systems. Look for Tropical Smoothie Café, Smoothie King, Nekter Juice Bar, Clean Juice, Juice It Up! and Planet Smoothie to take charge with immediate expansion throughout country. Robeks slows down its expansion goals for the near future, while Jamba still plans to open the occasional new U.S. mall unit, such as a mall kiosk at the Cherry Hill Mall in New Jersey last October. Watch for Jamba to focus on international expansion, including opening 50 units in Japan by 2025.
With products such as all-natural blended fruit and vegetable concoctions that frequently tout anti-oxidant, energy boosting ingredients, shops that sell these juices and smoothies are a major draw for all age groups and demographics. These shops can be found in all types of retail spaces, including indoor malls, lifestyle centers, neighborhood strip centers, grocery-anchored power centers and mixed-use urban street fronts. These types of tenants are frequently within close proximity to gyms, such as Planet Fitness and Anytime Fitness, which see daily foot traffic.
The fitness and diet crowd is attracted to these establishments as they see smoothie/juice orders as beneficial vitamin-enriched meal supplements for their healthy lifestyles. The younger generation also gravitates to smoothie and juice shops as they prefer ingredient transparency with the foods they ingest, and shy away from dining options with excess fat, preservatives and sugars. Brick-and-mortar juice and smoothie options are a much more effective solution for consumers than their at-home juicers and mixers, which can be time consuming, messy and difficult to replicate the in-store drink blends.
Tropical Smoothie Café expects to open approximately 130 to 150 new units per year over the next five years. Targeted markets include Boston, Kansas City, Mo., Charlotte, N.C., Brooklyn and Long Island, N.Y., Memphis and Nashville, Tenn., Salt Lake City, all of Florida, Chicago, Aspen, Colo., and Philadelphia.
With units in the 1,200- to 2,000-s.f. range, the Tropical Smoothie prototypes are scalable and adaptable to both metropolitan and tertiary markets. Its units can be either inline or end cap, which can include drive thrus. Tropical Smoothie favors neighborhood strip malls with high-traffic co-tenants such as dry cleaners or nail salons, as well as power shopping centers with big-box brands such as Big Lots or Hobby Lobby. Smaller, less than 900-s.f. units are also an option for indoor malls, universities or medical lobbies. To date, Tropical Smoothie has signed 184 franchise agreements this year that are slated for future growth, and its adaptability has allowed it to be in a healthy position for continued expansion.
Smoothie King is aggressively looking to open about 350 to 400 new units over the next three years, targeting the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest markets. Look for Ohio, Michigan, Texas and Florida to see immediate growth. The franchise prefers end cap and drive-thru locations between 1,000 and 1,500 s.f., in mid- to higher income markets and centers that have 30,000 people within a two-mile radius. Sites in power centers, shopping malls, neighborhood community strip centers and downtown business districts will be sought after. The brand seeks sites near large parks in residential areas that attract athletic activities. Co-tenants include boutique gym brands, such as Orangetheory Fitness and F45 Training. Smoothie King prefers areas with a high number of starter families and baby boomers nearby.
Nekter Juice Bar expects to open 200 more units over the next three years, with 2021 seeing between 35 and 40 new units, 2022 adding about 70 new units, and 2023 anticipating 80 to 100 new units. Targeted markets will be California, Texas, the Rockies, Florida and the Midwest regions of Indiana, Michigan, Missouri and Chicago. The brand also targets the Northwest, namely, Seattle and Portland, Ore. The franchise looks for inline space from 1,000 to 1,500 s.f. in suburban grocery-anchored retail centers with Starbucks, fitness centers and pharmacies as preferred co-tenants. Nekter’s main demographic is women between the ages of 25 and 44 years old. The brand is open to the possibility of configuring drive thrus into its units in the future but not in California, where development costs remain too pricey.
Clean Juice expects to open approximately 30 to 40 new units per year for the next two to three years, with a concentrated focus on expanding further into Texas, Louisiana, Southern California, Arizona, Florida and Michigan, in addition to continued growth in the Northeast and Southeast. The franchise looks for sites in walkable lifestyle centers with a favorable mix of higher end fitness-themed brands, such as Lululemon, as well as restaurants and gyms. The brand looks for space between 1,000 and 1,500 s.f., either standalone pads, end cap or inline units, ideally in suburban and urban neighborhoods with young families, preferably near high schools. Clean Juice, which opened its first drive-thru unit in Lake Charles, La., last year, expects more of its future units to have drive thrus, which require 1,500 s.f. of space. Three drive-thru units are already planned for 2021 in Frisco, Texas, Bridgeport, W. Va., and Lake Mary, Fla.
Juice It Up! expects to open approximately 40 to 50 new units over the next three years, targeting the new states of Arizona and Nevada. Also watch for continued growth into California, focusing on the counties of Los Angeles, Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside, Kern, Tulare, Fresno, Stanislaus and Solano. Expansion will also continue into Oregon, New Mexico and Texas. The brand seeks 1,100 s.f. for traditional units and 600 s.f. for its non-traditional units such as malls, airports and store-in-store space. Juice It Up! looks for big-box or grocery-anchored retail centers with heavy traffic, within up-and-coming markets with a high concentration of millennials and Generation Z youth. Preferred co-tenants include quick service and fast casual restaurants, such as Starbucks, Panda Express and Chipotle. The franchise is also planning to open drive-thru units in the future, as its franchise owners are requesting them. Its first and only drive thru to date is a shop-in-shop unit within a Fresh Fill convenience store in Los Banos, Calif., that opened in January of 2018. Juice It Up! is also looking into opening shared tenancy locations in the future with a non-competing brand to reduce buildout costs.
The Planet Smoothie franchise expects to open approximately 10 to 15 new units per year over the next two years. Though Planet Smoothie continues to expand among its Southeast base, the franchise is also branching out into the Northeast and the Midwest. Look for Michigan and Nevada to see growth, in addition to Florida, Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia. The franchise looks for space in the 1,000- to 1,500-s.f. range, which can be freestanding but preferably end cap with a patio dining option. Indoor mall kiosk options will be in the in the 700- to 900-s.f. range. Smaller to mid-sized cities and suburban sites with high foot traffic and great parking will be preferred in power centers, strip malls, lifestyle centers or urban street fronts. Close proximity to universities, hospitals, gyms, malls and business districts in middle to high-income urban and suburban neighborhoods is especially attractive to Planet Smoothie.
