Smoothie King (1973)
Smoothie King opened its first shop in Kenner, Louisiana, in 1973, selling vitamin-fortified smoothies from a single location. It later built a national franchise network spanning hundreds of stores.
The first location proved the smoothie concept could draw repeat customers.
Franchising carried the brand to most states and made smoothie shops a standard strip-mall tenant.
Shows the smoothie-cafe model can scale through franchising, the same playbook Bora Bora is running.
