Tropical Smoothie Cafe

Tropical Smoothie Cafe is a national fast-casual cafe brand built around made-to-order smoothies, wraps, sandwiches, flatbreads, and bowls. The concept is designed for guests who want a quick experience with a full food and beverage lineup, so it can function as an everyday stop for breakfast, lunch, and late-afternoon traffic rather than a single-purpose smoothie shop.

The brand started in 1993 in Destin, Florida, where the founders began selling smoothies in a beachside setting before formalizing the concept and franchising later in the 1990s. From those early Florida roots, Tropical Smoothie Cafe grew across the Southeast and then into the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Western states as franchisees looked for a compact, cafe-style format that could work in neighborhood and community centers. Over time it shifted from a regional smoothie chain into a broad national platform with hundreds of franchised cafes across many U.S. markets.

As of December 2025, Tropical Smoothie Cafe operates a large, predominantly franchised system spanning much of the United States, with locations in dozens of states and ongoing new-unit development. Stores are most often found in inline and endcap spaces in grocery-anchored and daily-needs centers, on select outparcels, and in street-retail corridors where strong daytime traffic and visibility support repeat visits. The chain continues to focus on infill within existing markets while also entering select new metropolitan areas that fit its typical customer and trade-area profile.

Over roughly the last five years, the brand has evolved from a smoothie-first concept into a full cafe, with a menu that can support both beverage visits and full meals. This shift has helped Tropical Smoothie Cafe deepen its daypart coverage and made it a more versatile option for centers that want a tenant capable of driving traffic throughout the day. At the same time, the system has leaned into multi-unit franchising, which has led to more clustered development, stronger local brand awareness, and a growing base of experienced operators.

For landlords, brokers, and developers, Tropical Smoothie Cafe brings a recognizable national name, a compact footprint, and a format that fits neatly into typical inline and endcap restaurant boxes as well as select pad sites. The concept’s flexible cafe design, ability to adapt to both suburban and urban trade areas, and steady franchise-led pipeline make it a practical consideration for backfilling second-generation spaces or rounding out the merchandising mix in centers that emphasize convenience, health-oriented offerings, and frequent-use food and beverage.