Author Topic: Any smoothie king or smoothie factory owners here  (Read 16754 times)

tonymctones

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Any smoothie king or smoothie factory owners here
« on: December 10, 2008, 03:24:58 PM »
If thrown the idea around from time to time but am really looking at opening a franchise in the upcoming year or so. Ive thought of opening a GNC or something but worked at one and see that its very hard to make money unless you sell mostly 3rd party stuff also with the internet its hard to be competitive on prices. Any info would be appreciated, is it hard to suceed in that type of business, cost, etc..

thanks
tony

danielson

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Re: Any smoothie king or smoothie factory owners here
« Reply #1 on: December 10, 2008, 03:30:19 PM »
Open one in a gym. Smoothies are delicious.
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tonymctones

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Re: Any smoothie king or smoothie factory owners here
« Reply #2 on: December 10, 2008, 04:11:32 PM »
Open one in a gym. Smoothies are delicious.
ive actually never seen a smoothie place in a gym that wasnt owned by the gym down here in houston, meaning ive seen smoothie places but never any third party stores in a gym.

Princess L

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Re: Any smoothie king or smoothie factory owners here
« Reply #3 on: December 11, 2008, 08:21:51 AM »
I know someone who has this franchise inside a gym http://www.extremeblendz.com/  He also owns the gym.  The franchise portion does very well from what I understand.  No street traffic though.
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Vince G, CSN MFT

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Re: Any smoothie king or smoothie factory owners here
« Reply #4 on: December 13, 2008, 12:29:20 AM »
If thrown the idea around from time to time but am really looking at opening a franchise in the upcoming year or so. Ive thought of opening a GNC or something but worked at one and see that its very hard to make money unless you sell mostly 3rd party stuff also with the internet its hard to be competitive on prices. Any info would be appreciated, is it hard to suceed in that type of business, cost, etc..

thanks
tony

Don't bother, most of them fail within 6 months time at huge losses.  The problem comes from gyms having smoothie centers as well as the sale of smoothie machines in retail stores.

There's one right now that opened here in Sylva.  There's usually only one car out there and its the owner.  It will be out of business in a few months


The best thing to open right now would be a nutritional store however don't buy a GNC franchise or anything like that.  A good buddy of mine back in Greenville, SC owns a company called Performance Fuel
http://www.performancefuel.com/ . He simply carpeted the place, put up some steel wire shelves and loaded it up with products.  Then he set up a counter with a cash register and a smoothie machine.  Then he put in 2 tanning booths on top of that

Not only does he carry just as much stuff as a GNC but because he's not under any license, he can also carry Beverly Nutrition as well.  Most of the product line is gotten through Europa Sports so he's getting some great deals. 

Total cost for everything starting up was problably between $10,000-$20,000 by my estimate because the shelves were the type you would see in the back of restaurants and he got some great deals on the equipment as it was used!!!  He then put in a leather couch and a 42 inch flat screen TV with a PS2 on the side with the leftover cash....... ;D  He's problably added more since then b


Here's some pictures of the store.


A

Eyeball Chambers

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Re: Any smoothie king or smoothie factory owners here
« Reply #5 on: December 13, 2008, 12:50:36 PM »
Don't bother, most of them fail within 6 months time at huge losses.  The problem comes from gyms having smoothie centers as well as the sale of smoothie machines in retail stores.

There's one right now that opened here in Sylva.  There's usually only one car out there and its the owner.  It will be out of business in a few months


The best thing to open right now would be a nutritional store however don't buy a GNC franchise or anything like that.  A good buddy of mine back in Greenville, SC owns a company called Performance Fuel
http://www.performancefuel.com/ . He simply carpeted the place, put up some steel wire shelves and loaded it up with products.  Then he set up a counter with a cash register and a smoothie machine.  Then he put in 2 tanning booths on top of that

Not only does he carry just as much stuff as a GNC but because he's not under any license, he can also carry Beverly Nutrition as well.  Most of the product line is gotten through Europa Sports so he's getting some great deals. 

Total cost for everything starting up was problably between $10,000-$20,000 by my estimate because the shelves were the type you would see in the back of restaurants and he got some great deals on the equipment as it was used!!!  He then put in a leather couch and a 42 inch flat screen TV with a PS2 on the side with the leftover cash....... ;D  He's problably added more since then b


Here's some pictures of the store.




Why is that?  ???  I would think supplements would be the first thing people would stop buying in a recession?  I guess it depends on where you're located?
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Migs

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Re: Any smoothie king or smoothie factory owners here
« Reply #6 on: December 13, 2008, 01:33:15 PM »
what's the deal with Beverly Nutrition?

body88

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Re: Any smoothie king or smoothie factory owners here
« Reply #7 on: December 20, 2008, 12:22:38 AM »
Why is that?  ???  I would think supplements would be the first thing people would stop buying in a recession?  I guess it depends on where you're located?

You're right.  Sales are down with many of the major brands right now.  DO NOT open anything until the market gets better.

Vince G, CSN MFT

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Re: Any smoothie king or smoothie factory owners here
« Reply #8 on: December 22, 2008, 02:11:26 AM »
Why is that?  ???  I would think supplements would be the first thing people would stop buying in a recession?  I guess it depends on where you're located?


Actually, quite the opposite happens.  For the most part, when the economy is down, people actually start exercising and buying supplements to stay healthy as medical bills are far more expensive. 

I'm actually doing very well not only in supplements but exercise equipment as well.  I also carry homeopathic and herbal medicine too and theres a big increase in that as well including peppermint oil for clearing up sinuses from a cold.


You don't need to wait if you're serious about getting into the fitness business and actually its a great time to do so.
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tab1

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Re: Any smoothie king or smoothie factory owners here
« Reply #9 on: January 01, 2009, 06:43:06 PM »
This thread has me laughing in a good way. Not only am I going to open a profitable supp. store, I have a friend who wants to own a smoothie king with me. Whether you open a dog shit store or a microsoft, if you don't market it right, if you don't network with the right people if your not doing it because you love it, than you already have failed. Your not going to open a business just to make money cause that will be 3-5 years down the road after some losses, the learning curve and so on.

240 is Back

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Re: Any smoothie king or smoothie factory owners here
« Reply #10 on: January 04, 2009, 11:10:55 PM »
that's a LOT of merchandise to be on the shelves in a supp store.

pilferage, spoilage... just shit getting dusty.  I can't understand protein being 8-deep on the shelf.  No back room, i suppose.  weird.

onlyme

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Re: Any smoothie king or smoothie factory owners here
« Reply #11 on: January 05, 2009, 12:28:40 AM »
When I owned the Gold's in Kona our juice bar did great.  I was less than 200 sq. ft. in size and I sold a lot of protein shakes and smoothies.  My total cost per drink with all ingredients, cup, lid and straw came out to around $1.17.  I sold them for $5.50 for a 18 oz. drink.  It like taking candy from a baby.  I would never get  franchise smoothie bar like extremeblendz I would rather rent out the space to them and let them take care of all the shit that goes along with running it.  Charge them rent place a percentage.  Keep there utility bills separate to.  Running your own is great too but it is a lot of work.  A small place like I had that doesn't offer a huge menu was easy.  Giving away samples works great. Push protein drinks. When I had my supp shop on Oahu we did pretty good at that too.  Our location was awesome right next to 24 Hour Fitness.  If you are going to open a supp shop you have to be as close to a gym as possible.  Beating GNC pricing is easier than you think.  They are not even close to being the cheapest.  I smoked them on every product and I carried alot of stuff they didn't offer.  I sold more Beverly than anyone else in Hawaii.  I also moved a ton of Muscle Milk.  You can get better pricing from your distributor or you can work on getting other stuff.  Like with MetRx I made sure I got a free shaker bottle with every box I bought so I could offer that for free to the customer.  They had these battery powered portable mixers they gave me one time.  I had a 100 of them and used them to market the product.  You can always get good deals where you can compete with the big boys.  If you are opening a smoothie place you should go to some of the gyms and try to get something going with them.  Rent out a little space.  Be creative with them.  They are going to be providing you with valuable foot traffic.  You have an audience who already is thinking healthy.  All you gotta do is to make sure they know you are there.

Vince G, CSN MFT

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Re: Any smoothie king or smoothie factory owners here
« Reply #12 on: January 05, 2009, 10:01:15 AM »
that's a LOT of merchandise to be on the shelves in a supp store.

pilferage, spoilage... just shit getting dusty.  I can't understand protein being 8-deep on the shelf.  No back room, i suppose.  weird.

The back room is where they keep the tanning beds.  And none of the stuff is spoiling or getting dusty because they do a ton of business in Greenville as well as on their website. 

Greenville's a pretty big city so they have to keep stocked.
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tonymctones

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Re: Any smoothie king or smoothie factory owners here
« Reply #13 on: January 05, 2009, 07:11:36 PM »
The back room is where they keep the tanning beds.  And none of the stuff is spoiling or getting dusty because they do a ton of business in Greenville as well as on their website. 

Greenville's a pretty big city so they have to keep stocked.
thats also something ive thought of doing in conjunction with a store is a website, there is a nutrition depot not to far from me that has a ebay store and they probably do as much business on there as they do walk in at their store.

body88

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Re: Any smoothie king or smoothie factory owners here
« Reply #14 on: January 13, 2009, 02:37:52 PM »
When I owned the Gold's in Kona our juice bar did great.  I was less than 200 sq. ft. in size and I sold a lot of protein shakes and smoothies.  My total cost per drink with all ingredients, cup, lid and straw came out to around $1.17.  I sold them for $5.50 for a 18 oz. drink.  It like taking candy from a baby.  I would never get  franchise smoothie bar like extremeblendz I would rather rent out the space to them and let them take care of all the shit that goes along with running it.  Charge them rent place a percentage.  Keep there utility bills separate to.  Running your own is great too but it is a lot of work.  A small place like I had that doesn't offer a huge menu was easy.  Giving away samples works great. Push protein drinks. When I had my supp shop on Oahu we did pretty good at that too.  Our location was awesome right next to 24 Hour Fitness.  If you are going to open a supp shop you have to be as close to a gym as possible.  Beating GNC pricing is easier than you think.  They are not even close to being the cheapest.  I smoked them on every product and I carried alot of stuff they didn't offer.  I sold more Beverly than anyone else in Hawaii.  I also moved a ton of Muscle Milk.  You can get better pricing from your distributor or you can work on getting other stuff.  Like with MetRx I made sure I got a free shaker bottle with every box I bought so I could offer that for free to the customer.  They had these battery powered portable mixers they gave me one time.  I had a 100 of them and used them to market the product.  You can always get good deals where you can compete with the big boys.  If you are opening a smoothie place you should go to some of the gyms and try to get something going with them.  Rent out a little space.  Be creative with them.  They are going to be providing you with valuable foot traffic.  You have an audience who already is thinking healthy.  All you gotta do is to make sure they know you are there.

This is a good post.  With the economy the way it is, I would hold off on any supp stores or smoothie chains for awhile.  I work in marketing, and I have worked with many of the supp companies that you guys use (as they try to make the jump to the mainstream), and their sales are brutal right now.  Supps and such are viewed as a luxury and they are affected by the economy more than other products.  Right now most people are not going to drop 50 bucks on a bottle of magic potion.  If you can create a little niche then fine, but if you want to market to the main consumer in a gym, you have to go with softer products with the "organic" approach, imo.  Organic is a tag that can make you money.  The money is in the mainstream, not the hardcore lifters.  The mainstream is the majority of most large gyms anyway.

tonymctones

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Re: Any smoothie king or smoothie factory owners here
« Reply #15 on: January 13, 2009, 04:06:50 PM »
When I owned the Gold's in Kona our juice bar did great.  I was less than 200 sq. ft. in size and I sold a lot of protein shakes and smoothies.  My total cost per drink with all ingredients, cup, lid and straw came out to around $1.17.  I sold them for $5.50 for a 18 oz. drink.  It like taking candy from a baby.  I would never get  franchise smoothie bar like extremeblendz I would rather rent out the space to them and let them take care of all the shit that goes along with running it.  Charge them rent place a percentage.  Keep there utility bills separate to.  Running your own is great too but it is a lot of work.  A small place like I had that doesn't offer a huge menu was easy.  Giving away samples works great. Push protein drinks. When I had my supp shop on Oahu we did pretty good at that too.  Our location was awesome right next to 24 Hour Fitness.  If you are going to open a supp shop you have to be as close to a gym as possible.  Beating GNC pricing is easier than you think.  They are not even close to being the cheapest.  I smoked them on every product and I carried alot of stuff they didn't offer.  I sold more Beverly than anyone else in Hawaii.  I also moved a ton of Muscle Milk.  You can get better pricing from your distributor or you can work on getting other stuff.  Like with MetRx I made sure I got a free shaker bottle with every box I bought so I could offer that for free to the customer.  They had these battery powered portable mixers they gave me one time.  I had a 100 of them and used them to market the product.  You can always get good deals where you can compete with the big boys.  If you are opening a smoothie place you should go to some of the gyms and try to get something going with them.  Rent out a little space.  Be creative with them.  They are going to be providing you with valuable foot traffic.  You have an audience who already is thinking healthy.  All you gotta do is to make sure they know you are there.
thanks for the advice bro

I would definitly open it up by a gym a 24 hour, ballys or something

tonymctones

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Re: Any smoothie king or smoothie factory owners here
« Reply #16 on: January 13, 2009, 04:11:28 PM »
This is a good post.  With the economy the way it is, I would hold off on any supp stores or smoothie chains for awhile.  I work in marketing, and I have worked with many of the supp companies that you guys use (as they try to make the jump to the mainstream), and their sales are brutal right now.  Supps and such are viewed as a luxury and they are affected by the economy more than other products.  Right now most people are not going to drop 50 bucks on a bottle of magic potion.  If you can create a little niche then fine, but if you want to market to the main consumer in a gym, you have to go with softer products with the "organic" approach, imo.  Organic is a tag that can make you money.  The money is in the mainstream, not the hardcore lifters.  The mainstream is the majority of most large gyms anyway.
thats good advice too body i appreciate it, I agree with the supplements only ppl that work out on a regular basis are probably buying supps right now.

body88

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Re: Any smoothie king or smoothie factory owners here
« Reply #17 on: January 21, 2009, 07:53:55 PM »
thats good advice too body i appreciate it, I agree with the supplements only ppl that work out on a regular basis are probably buying supps right now.

If you open anything....pm me.   You should get together a plan now...and implement that plan when the market recovers.

elite_lifter

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Re: Any smoothie king or smoothie factory owners here
« Reply #18 on: February 01, 2009, 11:06:02 PM »
I have owned a supplement shop that delt exclusively with sports nutrition. Not a franchise but my own concept similar to Vince G.'s acquaintance. Competition from on-line retailers is brutal. Contact Europa and see what kind of orders you will have to buy from them to get a competitive pricing. Guaranteed you will need to be spending upwards of 10 to 20,000 an order to get products you can sell at  competitive prices. See what some of the on-line retailers are selling their products for, then see if you can possibly compete. Check out www.massnutrition.com and www.dpsnutrition.com. Sports nutriton items should be considered luxury items that only appeal to a relatively small market when you consider the population of a city. I would not consider getting back into that business. The only people I know who are making a good living in that industry are the ones selling gear on the side and using the business to run the cash through. I have local discounters around me but they are still higher priced then on-line retailers. I will only buy on-line these days as I think the majority of people do. 
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calfzilla

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Re: Any smoothie king or smoothie factory owners here
« Reply #19 on: February 02, 2009, 03:29:40 AM »
I'm not a smoothie shop owner but I heard a call on the Dave Ramsey radio show where this kid was talking about how his parents business was doing terrible and they were considering bankruptcy.  When Dave found out it was a Smoothie business he about flipped and said that smoothies are recession proof and that the problem lies in the business owners and how they are running things.