Couple brings a Tropical Smoothie Café, franchise to LI

Date AddedSeptember 03, 2009 12:53:28 AM

Author

CategoryJuice & Smoothie Franchise

by Bernadette Starzee

Tags: franchises, startups, Tropical Smoothie Cafe

Laura Jankowski, a school social worker, and her husband, Walter, who worked in a car dealership and bartended part-time, were looking to start their own business and decided a franchise was the prudent way to go.

"We wanted it to be our own, but we wanted the support of a franchise that had proven to be successful," Laura Jankowski said. Because of her husband's background in the restaurant industry, they looked closely at food service. "We were looking to bring something unique to Long Island, that there was a need for," she said.

In their extensive research, the couple discovered Tropical Smoothie Café, a 12-year-old franchise that now has about 280 locations. After dining in a restaurant while on vacation in Virginia, and then visiting the corporate headquarters in Destin, Fla., the Jankowskis were sold. "It was a healthy alternative to fast food," Laura Jankowski said, noting there were few similar options on Long Island. "And I liked how the corporate office treated its franchisees like family."

Tropical Smoothie Café doesn't only sell smoothies, although a menu of 40-plus smoothies accounts for about 50 percent of the Jankowskis' business. The chain also serves up sandwiches, wraps, salads and soups, in an attractive setting with tropical décor.

The couple bought the rights to become area developers for Suffolk County in 2005 and then opened a Tropical Smoothie Café location in East Northport in June 2006.

Three locations have been opened by franchisees since, in Selden, Huntington Station and Centereach. In December 2008, the Jankowskis bought the development rights for Nassau County, as well.

As area developers, the Jankowskis have the rights and responsibilities to develop the Long Island market and provide store opening, operations and marketing support to all franchisees in that market. In exchange, they evenly split the royalties from those locations with Tropical Smoothie Café corporate.

"Ultimately, we would like to see at least 20 more cafés in their territory," said Mike Rotondo, vice president of operations for the Tropical Smoothie Franchise Development Corp.

The total investment associated with opening a Tropical Smoothie Café franchise ranges from $254,000 to $385,000, which includes build-out, equipment, initial food and supplies and the franchise fee of $25,000.
According to Laura Jankowski, the East Northport location and the area-development business have already become profitable. Tropical Smoothie posts a listing of weekly sales at its locations. The East Northport location and two of the three other local franchises consistently fall within the top 50, Jankowski said. Since nine weeks after it opened in March 2008, the Selden location has nabbed the top one or two spot week after week.

"The Selden location is in a shopping center with about 40 stores, so people come to the center for a lot of reasons," Laura Jankowski said, noting that proximity to certain co-tenants, such as Weight Watchers and a gym, has been particularly helpful.

According to Rotondo, every site that a franchisee submits for approval is evaluated against 150 different metrics. "It is a very detailed program that takes several days to complete and takes the emotion out of making the best decision possible when it comes to selecting the right location," he said.

To reach out to potential franchisees, the Jankowskis attend two annual trade shows as well as special events sponsored by WBLI, the radio station. However, franchisee candidates most commonly are customers that come into the store.

Two percent of sales for the Tropical Smoothie Cafe Long Island locations goes into a cooperative fund for local marketing (an additional percent goes toward national marketing). "The Suffolk County store owners meet once a month to discuss advertising and event sponsorship," Jankowski said. The stores participate in National Flip Flop Day, a popular chainwide event, each June. In this event, which is promoted with print and radio advertising, the first 500 people who come in wearing flip flops get a free smoothie, with some of the proceeds going to a charity.

Walter Jankowski works on-site at the East Northport location, which also employs 18 part-time workers and an assistant manager. Laura Jankowski handles the financial side of the business.

While the eatery draws customers of all ages, most fall between 15 and 40. "We have recently started a Kids Eat Free on Sundays to appeal more to families with young children," Laura Jankowski said.

SOURCE