HARTLAND TWP. – The first The king of smoothies in Livingston County opened its doors to the public on Tuesday.
“Livingston County has been on our radar since we started at Smoothie King. Our franchise group is owned by the Pinckney family. We were looking for the perfect location to open to have one closer to home,” Market Director Virginia Kamenitzer. said.
Smoothie King, which bills itself as the largest smoothie brand, has 14 locations in Michigan; the newest is at 10440 Highland Road, attached to Hartland BP. They are open from 7am to 9pm Monday to Friday, 8am to 9pm on Saturday and 10am to 8pm on Sunday.
“This is a great healthy opportunity for Livingston County to replace a meal with a smoothie with healthy, delicious ingredients that are made right in front of you,” she said.
Michigan’s first Smoothie King opened in St. Clair Shores in 2018, according to Comenitzer. The company currently has nine locations in and around Detroit, as well as locations near Ann Arbor, Flint, Kalamazoo and Heartland.
Smoothie King has more than 1,400 locations in various states across the country.
Northern Diamond Management, led by CEO Christopher Klebba, operates all franchises in Michigan and five in Ohio. The company previously said it plans to open 50 locations in Michigan.
What to expect
Smoothie King offers a variety of iced fruit drinks with options to add and change any dietary ingredient. They have different categories of shakes designed for energy, fitness, weight management, wellness or pleasure. They also offer coffee, cold brew and espresso cocktails.
“The idea is that now it can be your on-the-go breakfast where you can get your protein,” Kamenitzer said.
In addition, Smoothie King offers supplements and boosters, such as vitamins and protein powders, according to Kamenitzer.
Visitors can pre-order through the app, which launched in 2011, and customers can pick up their cocktail from a cooler at the front of the store.
“The ease and comfort of giving yourself a healthy meal, as opposed to waiting in line at the drive-thru, waiting to place an order, for the food to be cooked. It’s just a great way to be able to continue your healthy lifestyle,” Kamenitzer said. “It’s quick, it’s healthy, it’s affordable, and it’s just a great way to feed yourself and your family,” Kamenitzer said.
In addition to offering healthy options, Kamenitzer said, the franchise owner hopes to help employees improve their lives.
“It’s all about improving or enhancing the quality of life,” she said. “I think it’s really important now that people think about that when starting a business. It makes the team great to work with.”
Although Heartland is already open, the grand opening will take place in March or early April. According to Kamenitsar, people who are first in line for the holiday can get free smoothies for a year.
“We thought why not wait until it’s a little bit warmer when we know that the thoughts of cocktails are coming back into people’s minds and really making it a successful opening,” Kamenitzer said.
Plans for additional outlets in Livingston County are still under review.
“I think the focus right now is to get that first one off the ground and see where we go from there. The choice of location is also always very important to us. I think this one came at the perfect time and hopefully there will be more .. I’m sure the response from the Hartland store will push that planning as well,” Kamenitzer said.