- 3 June, 2003 -

Thirty years ago Steve Kuhnau started serving homemade smoothies in his health products store in Louisiana to customers who had never heard the word before. The blend of fruit juices was as foreign an idea to Americans in 1973 as it is for Koreans in 2003. But Kuhnau's Smoothie King Franchises, Inc. opened its first overseas operation in Seoul this June. (Korea's Smoothie King Website) The popular franchise with 324 stores in 33 states and Washington, D.C. has partnered with Pacific Smoothies and its operating joint venture in Korea, Smoothies Korea, to cross the Pacific, but the booming South Korean market wasn't the only reason for the expansion. "Hyun Shin and Wan Kim have the same enthusiasm and belief in the concept that I did when I first started, and still do," Kuhnau says. Korea, are the entrepreneurs behind the Korean venture. They have the exclusive rights to South Korea and plan to open a minimum of 50 stores over the next five years. "Steve and wife and co-founder Cindy weren't interested in international franchising because we still have so much work to do in the U.S. But this partnership is such a good fit on so many levels, it was hard to say no," says Smoothie King's Executive Vice President Mike Powers. The three and half month long time period from training to opening the doors in Seoul might have seemed exceptionally fast for such a large endeavor, but Shin said he and Smoothie King had invested two years in planning. "If we hadn't been working together all that time, things would never have gone so smoothly," Shin and Powers explain. "The collaboration between the home office in Louisiana and the team in South Korea was really remarkable." Kim points out that the cooperative spirit between Smoothie King and their Korean counterparts was essential. "They entrusted us for local market knowledge, and we worked closely on localizations." Kuhnau even admitted he initially didn't understand why the two-story Seoul location needed so many seats. Unlike the American storefronts that essentially serve their Smoothies to customers on the go, the Korean clientele is sitting down and using the smoothie as a break from a hectic day much like American coffee shops. The Seoul location also relies heavily on foot traffic. Shin says the busy Myong Dong district where the store resides sees 700,000 people daily who are exposed to the new Smoothie King. The only thing holding the store back is that Koreans have never been offered the cold beverage before. "We've been doing sample tasting from the start and you can just see on the customers' faces that they like it. It's much easier to just give them a sample than try to describe it," Shin says. Sample tasting is another throwback to Kuhnau's early days in Louisiana as he stood outside his health store and offered passers-by free samples to get them to come inside. In the years since, Smoothie King has expanded to 60 flavors in the U.S. but translating the sweeter American selections to the simpler Korean diet was an enticing obstacle to overcome. "We localized smoothies to suit the Korean's taste," Kim says. "The company's 30 years of experience really paid off in helping us get things running in Korea," Kim says. "Things that seem simple, like ice, are vitally important to making great smoothies and anytime there was a question they had the answer," Shin adds. Rocky Gettys, Smoothie King's director of operations spent a lot of time in Korea as the recipes were tweaked. Seoul's Smoothie King offers less than half of the smoothie flavors offered in America. "Now that they've got things going, we'll start to introduce local flavors on top of the modified American ones," he says. Both Shin and Kim are American educated. Shin is a Carnegie Melon graduate who received his MBA at Stanford. Kim is a Boston University graduate who received his MBA at the University of California at Irvine. "I was trying to find something healthy I could eat on the go and American fast food was not it." Kim says the smoothie was essential in helping him maintain a healthy lifestyle while he studied in the U.S. Hyun Shin, managing director of Pacific Smoothies and a board director of Smoothies Korea, and Wan Kim, CEO of Smoothies The two think smoothies will catch on in the increasingly health conscious South Korea where the diet is already filled with fruits and vegetables, as consumers are better educated on smoothies. "Right now people either do not know what a smoothie is or see it as a snack or a beverage. We are trying to educate the market to understand that Smoothie King smoothies are not only delicious, but also healthy and nutritious. Through this effort, consumer will come to accept a smoothie as a snack, a dessert, a thirst quencher and a meal," Shin says. Kuhnau and his new Korean partners are hoping the success translates across cultures. Shin explains, "We chose Smoothie King because of the quality of the product and the people. Smoothie King wants to share the smoothies with people they care about and so do we." About Smoothie King Franchises, Inc. Smoothie King is a privately held New Orleans-area-based franchise company and the premier Smoothie Bar and Nutritional Lifestyle Center in the industry. Smoothie King centers offer to their guests the industry's first and original nutritional fruit and function-based, fresh blended smoothies. Each "Lifestyle Center" also offers healthy retail product solutions, including sport beverages, energy bars, healthy snacks, vitamin supplements, herbs, minerals and other sports nutrition products. The Company opened its first store in 1973 and started as the first franchised smoothie bar/health food store business in the United States in 1989. During the first quarter of 2004, Entrepreneur Magazine rated Smoothie King the No. 1 franchise in its industry segment for the 15th consecutive year. Smoothie King currently has more than 360 units operating in 34 states, including six international locations in Seoul, Korea.

This article has been read 868 times .