What we really are is a quick-casual restaurant. We're not a smoothie shack, where all they're doing is selling smoothies. We're selling a complete line of food items, including gourmet wraps, specialty sandwiches, fresh soups and salads. How we're different is that we prepare all items fresh to order. That's what really makes us unique. Food accounts for about 50 percent of our sales.
We're planning to close out the market here at around 40 to 45 stores, because we're not going to saturate the market. We want to make sure that the new franchisee that's opening up a store is going to do well.
At the same time, we don't want to cannibalize any existing locations. We don't want to take a store that's doing very well in sales today and then put a store a few blocks down the road and cut the original store sales in half. We want to make sure that they're all very profitable.
Sue and I, from day one, trained not only our staff for our own stores, but as we got franchisees into the system, helped train the franchisees and their staff in what we call a customer-centric philosophy. That is, we need to take care of these customers in a very unique way. Not just, here's your food, get out the door, see you later. We get to know our customers by name.
We have this firm belief that the customer truly is why we're in business. We teach our employees to do what's called TLC - think like a customer. Whether it's the cleanliness of the store and they look around and say, "If I was a customer right now, would I be happy with what I see? Is the store clean? When I'm taking a customer's order, am I presenting myself in a professional manner? How would I feel if I didn't receive my order promptly and accurately?"
In other words, we train and mentor our team members to constantly ask themselves how they would want to be treated if they were the customer.
If we think like a customer in everything we do, we're going to present the wow factor. From the minute that customer walks in that door until the minute they leave, and everything in between, we want them saying or thinking, "Wow, it was friendly" and "Wow, I got my order quickly" and "Wow, the smoothie and wrap tastes great." We want the customers to leave there very satisfied with that experience. And that very satisfied customer is going to return often and going to recommend us to others.
In 2001, we purchased the rights to develop the Hampton Roads territory from our corporate headquarters, which allowed us to either open and own all the units ourselves or allow franchisees to open and own the units. We felt the fastest way to brand the Tropical Smoothie name was to recruit franchisees to help our market grow.
We've grown so quickly that we literally have a waiting list for qualified franchisee candidates. Our income comes from a portion of the franchise fee and royalties the franchisees pay to our corporate headquarters.
As told to Pilot staff writer Carolyn Shapiro
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