Smoothie King CMO on returning to the brand’s health and wellness roots
Smoothie King strayed from its health-conscious origins and gained a reputation for sugary drinks packed with artificial colors and flavors. But that era is dead, according to chief marketing officer Rebecca Miller. The brand is investing big in cleaner ingredients, product offerings that speak to consumers’ unique fitness and wellness goals, and new models of business including a just-launched smoothie subscription service.
Smoothie King is on a mission to get fit / Smoothie King
American fast-casual smoothie and juice chain Smoothie King is on a mission to re-establish a focus on health and wellness.
The company was founded in 1973 by Steve and Cindy Kuhnau with a mission to help consumers improve their health with smoothies made with real fruit. Steve Kuhnau had a number of dietary restrictions and made it his goal to seek out healthy nutrients and vitamins – ultimately he and his wife decided to transform the pursuit into a smoothie business, opening the first location in Kenner, Louisiana.
Unfortunately, the brand hasn’t always lived up to its original mission. As the company grew and expanded, it integrated added sugars, artificial flavors, food coloring and preservatives. The fruit wasn’t always fresh – sometimes it was canned fruit stored in syrup. In essence: Smoothie King’s products haven’t always been healthy; in fact, sometimes they’ve been dangerously high in sugar, sodium and carbohydrates. For instance, the largest size of the company’s Peanut Power Plus Chocolate has over 1,100 milligrams of sodium – close to the total daily limit of 1,500 milligrams recommended by the American Heart Association. In 2013, the Center for Science in the Public Interest slapped Smoothie King’s Peanut Power Plus Grape smoothie with an Xtreme Eating ‘dis-honor’ for its unhealthiness – the 40-oz version came with 1,460 calories and 214 grams of sugar.
But in 2012 Wan Kim, a highly successful Smoothie King franchisee who brought the restaurant to South Korea, purchased the company from the Kuhnaus. He became the chief executive and chairman of the board – and decided it was time to refocus the company’s efforts on health and wellness. “When [Kim] purchased the brand ... he said, ‘If we’re going to be this brand that is here for you on your health and fitness journey, then we have to have a product that is good for you and that is clean,’” says chief marketing officer Rebecca Miller.
The company began the hard work of cleaning up its products. Miller says that Smoothie King removed all high-fructose corn syrup and switched back to whole fruits and organic vegetables. They eliminated artificial flavors and colors and ditched the preservatives. They created and publicized what it’s christened the “No-No” list of over 100 different ingredients that it will never include in a smoothie. “I would argue [we’re now] the cleanest in the business,” says Miller.
You want keto? You got it
Now, says Miller, who has served as chief marketer since early 2019, the brand is “really looking at how [to] create this delicious, healthy smoothie to help people to achieve their goals ... whether it’s, ‘I want to lose weight,’ ‘I need to eat my greens,’ ‘I want to live a vegan lifestyle,’” or any other wellness goal. This month it unveiled a menu revamp that includes updated, healthier options and an entirely new section called Feel Energized – which includes smoothies designed to help keep consumers’ metabolism and energy levels high.
“We’re not really a one-size-fits-all solution,” says Miller. “We have this entire category of smoothies that will help you to manage your weight – and everybody’s on a different journey. Some people just want to maintain their weight. Some people want to lose weight. There are people that even come to us because they need to gain weight. If you want to manage your weight through boosting your metabolism, we have a smoothie for that. If your’e looking to cut calories, we have our Slim and Trim smoothies. If you’re on a keto diet, we have the Keto Champ smoothie. We try to have a smoothie for every guest.”
To promote the new menu and encourage fans to practice more healthy habits, it also rolled out the new 60Day60K weight loss challenge. Consumers who belong to the chain’s loyalty program, Smoothie King Healthy Rewards, will automatically be entered into a sweepstakes to win a $60,000 grand prize any time they order a smoothie off of Smoothie King’s reimagined Manage Weight menu category. Fans are also encouraged to participate in a 60-day exercise challenge for the chance to win additional “health-focused swag,” per the company. Participants simply follow Smoothie King on Instagram and follow instructions to complete weekly tasks.
To further motivate fans to stay healthy, Smoothie King has teamed up with Shape magazine and its Shape Squad of fitness experts and health and wellness influencers. By following the #60Day60K and #RuleTheDay hashtags on Instagram, consumers can check out fitness and health content and tips from members of the Shape Squad including popular influencers Dani Dyer, Kehinde Anjorin and Phyllicia Bonanno.
Smoothie subscriptions on tap
The brand didn’t stop with the new menu offerings and the 60Day60K campaign.
Smoothie King yesterday launched its new home smoothie subscription service, Nourish Daily, beginning in the Dallas Fort Worth market with plans to expand soon. The subscription includes 12 different powders that promise everything from keto-friendly protein to immune support, as well as 10 unique ingredient blends including Wild Berry and Veggie Mango. Subscribers are invited to simply mix one powder with one ingredient blend, plus the liquid of their choice – whether it be milk, water or juice — and blend. No ice is needed.
The new service aims to provide consumers with another means by which to make healthy nutrition choices – while creating a new revenue stream for the company.
“Nourish daily is a great example of how we are continuing to innovate and evolve,” Miller says. “As we were going through the height of the pandemic, we [realized] that sometimes it’s not convenient to have to go to a Smoothie King store or to get a smoothie delivered to you – you want to just be able to make a smoothie at home. And there’s quite a few people ... buying all of the ingredients from the grocery store, and trying to figure out on their own what’s gonna taste good. With Nourish Daily, we really make it easy for our guests to get that healthy smoothie in the most convenient way possible.”
Healthy offerings drive a healthy bottom line
The brand’s renewed focus could help propel stronger financial performance too. 2021 data from the International Food Information Council suggests that 20% of Americans actively seek out foods or follow a diet for specific health benefits, and 60% aim to eat healthily in general. The top goals of healthy eating cited among US consumers included weight management, energy level management, digestive health and heart health. By designing a menu that speaks specifically to many of these goals – with sections called Feel Energized, Manage Weight and more – Smoothie King is positioning itself for success among a large portion of consumers.
Smoothie King has seen strong performance of late. On March 30 the company shared details about its Q1 performance, which included agreements to open 51 new locations in markets including Florida, New York, Texas, the Carolinas and Ohio. The company said it also has “aggressive domestic growth plans for the coming year throughout the Southwest, Mountain, Upper Midwest and New England regions,” per a release. Kim, the company’s chief executive and chairman of the board, anticipated a “record-breaking 2022.”
Miller believes the company’s growth is closely linked to its differentiation as a health-conscious brand. “The health and wellness perspective and the financial [success] go hand in hand. The reason that we’ve had such strong results is because we’ve had such a strong point of difference in the smoothie category. When I look at our competitors, they’re more positioned around a flavorful snack or treat, and we’re very firmly positioning ourselves in ... the health and fitness space, but specifically as a purposeful meal [replacement] smoothie. That is one of the things that makes us uniquely different in the smoothie category.”
And Miller, who also heads the company’s research and development efforts, is always looking out for what’s next. “[This effort] really started back in 2014 and 2015 ... and quite frankly, it’ll be something that we never stopped doing. We’re not just looking at the next big flavor – we’re really looking at, ‘[For] people that are trying to be healthy and active, what are the things that they’re looking out for in a meal smoothie?’ Things are always changing in terms of how we can get even cleaner [and how] consumer trends change. It’ll be a journey that we are always on.”