Tropical Smoothie Café, the Atlanta-based smoothie chain, named a trio of new high-level appointments as the company evolves its executive team.
The 1,500-unit chain named Jonathan Biggs chief operating officer. It also promoted Chris Sasser to chief financial officer and named Karen Wickliffe general counsel.
The trio of appointments comes about a year after the chain was sold to Blackstone in a $2 billion deal, an acquisition that appears to have fueled a rush on high-growth franchised brands.
Jersey Mike’s was later sold to Blackstone, the Italian ice chain Rita’s was sold to Maple Park Capital, and now Freddy’s Frozen Custard, Crumbl and Dave’s Hot Chicken are all reportedly on the market.
Biggs comes to Tropical Smoothie from Baskin-Robbins, where he we was the brand head and oversaw operations across the U.S. Biggs has more than a decade of field and global operations experience.
Sasser was promoted to CFO following the retirement of Paul Marsden, who retired. Wickliffe, meanwhile, was also promoted into her role as general counsel.
"These leadership appointments mark an exciting new chapter for Tropical Smoothie Café," CEO Max Wetzel said in a statement.
Tropical Smoothie has quietly been one of the industry’s most consistent chains, with 13 straight years of positive same-store sales growth, in part driven by a diversification of the menu into more bowls, sandwiches and other items.
The company recently introduced the Dragon Fruit Bowl and the Acai Bowl with Nutella, part of an expanded bowl lineup.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.