Tropical Smoothie for years has been one of the more underappreciated growth stories in the restaurant industry.
Fron 2017 through 2024, the chain averaged 21% annual sales growth. Average-unit volumes increased almost annually, growing from $640,000 in 2016 to more than $1 million in 2024, despite double-digit annual growth in unit count.
And yet that might not be the most impressive part about the chain. According to consumer data from Restaurant Business sister company Technomic, more than 93% of the chain’s customers rate their overall satisfaction with Tropical Smoothie either excellent or good. That is a remarkably high satisfaction rate, particularly given that more than 55% rate the brand “excellent.”
“We’re solving this problem,” Max Wetzel, the chain’s CEO, said in an interview. “Sometimes indulgence can be guilty. Sometimes indulgence can be extreme. Sometimes cravings can be a little clinical and too health-oriented. And we’re sitting right at the middle.”
The sales performance and those satisfaction scores all played a role in the chain’s sale two years ago to the private-equity firm Blackstone, the same one that has an investment in the high-growth brand 7 Brew and which just bought Jersey Mike’s. Wetzel, the former chief executive of CKE Restaurants, was given the keys to the chain the next year.
Yet Tropical Smoothie stumbled a bit last year. Average-unit volumes declined 4% in 2025, according to Technomic. Unit growth also slowed to less than 10%. System sales still grew 6.5%, more than the 3% average for the Top 500, but that is still below expectations for a brand that had done so well for so long.
But Wetzel believes the chain has a lot more in the tank, thanks largely to the company’s brand awareness. Or lack thereof.
Tropical Smoothie was founded as a beachfront fruit smoothie shop in Destin, Florida, in 1997, started its first franchise the next year and added food by 1999. More than a quarter-century later the chain remains an under-the-radar concept, even though it has 1,700 locations.
Tropical Smoothie’s brand awareness remains below 25%, according to data from Technomic Ignite. That is remarkably low for a brand with that many units. Similarly sized chains average brand awareness of 44.6%, according to Technomic.
A bit of marketing, in other words, could go a long way. And then the chain can let its customer satisfaction scores do the work.
“It’s probably one of the biggest opportunities we have,” Wetzel said. “We’ve developed so quickly, because the economics are good within the system. We expanded so quickly. In some ways, it’s like our brand is catching up to that.”
A year ago, Wetzel said, the company and franchisees agreed to consolidate their marketing budget. About 5% of the chain’s system sales now goes into marketing, which could provide some real firepower behind the drive to build awareness.
The company brought in a new creative agency and since then the company’s awareness has improved.
Wetzel likened the effort to Jersey Mike’s five years ago. “If you look at where they would have been five or six years ago as they started to turn on the marketing dollar, that’s kind-of where we’re at right now,” he said. “We have a long runway to go here on brand awareness. It’s the No. 1 thing we have to get more people to try us.”
Tropical Smoothie's Tropiboba Bowls. | Photo courtesy of Tropical Smoothie Cafe.
That’s not the only thing that Tropical Smoothie is doing these days, of course. The chain in 2022 launched a loyalty program that is now up to 12 million members. One out of three of the chain’s sales have come through the program, and the company recently launched Tropic mode so its most loyal customers get greater rewards.
Tropical Smoothie is still getting plenty of interest in growth. The company is on pace to have 1,800 locations by the end of this year. It has more than 900 locations in its pipeline, and 44% of its new franchise agreements are with multi-unit, multi-brand operators.
Those franchisees are reinvesting in the system. The company earlier this year rolled out “Smooth Operator,” a new makeline for crafting the chain’s food and smoothies out more quickly and consistently. The company is also investing in digital sales.
It is also regularly introducing new items, such as the Watermelon Mojito Smoothie, which has returned every year for the past 12 years as a limited-time offer. In January and February, the chain launched protein smoothies and in March it added Boba Bowls.
“It’s kind-of at an inflection point,” Wetzel said. “It’s like this next chapter of our growth.
“There’s a lot of things that we’re building that I think give us a long runway from here as a national brand.”