---
title: "Nation's Restaurant News: Smoothie King CEO Shares How He Turned The Brand Around"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/09e0ffda-1749-41fe-9ec6-712fd97538f8
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/nations-restaurant-news-smoothie-king-ceo-shares-how-he-turned-the-brand-around-5772
category: "Beverage & juice"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Beverage & juice"
topics: ["People"]
published: 2016-09-08T22:17:00.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T04:13:15.508Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/0ee6f321257214164554297508dcec7c1987160908141952.jpg
---

# Nation's Restaurant News: Smoothie King CEO Shares How He Turned The Brand Around

**TL;DR:** Smoothie King CEO Wan Kim discusses the brand's turnaround under his leadership, with a significant increase in Average Unit Volume (AUV) and global expansion. The AUV has increased from $340,000 to $482,000 since Kim took over the company.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2016-09-08. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/nations-restaurant-news-smoothie-king-ceo-shares-how-he-turned-the-brand-around-5772).*

## Story

Smoothie King has seen an incredible turnaround since former South Korea franchisee Wan Kim took over the company, with a huge increase in AUV and global expansion headlining the brand’s forward momentum.

Kim and COO Tom O’Keefe recently sat down with Nation's Restaurant News to discuss the Smoothie King brand and some of the changes that have propelled the company’s growth.

“When I bought the company, the AUV was around $340,000. Now the AUV is around $482,000. We are looking close to a one-to-two ratio, and I think it’s becoming a very good opportunity for a lot of people,” Kim told NRN.

And in regard to the updates made to Smoothie King’s branding, O’Keefe told NRN, “We reinvigorated the brand. We kind of blew some air into the sails and there was a lot of natural traction that took hold because of that. We are a three-year-old startup, even though we had a 40-year head start.”

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- Nation's Restaurant News (publication)
- global expansion (topic)
- Smoothie King (company)
- Wan Kim (person)
- average unit volume (topic)
- brand turnaround (topic)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/nations-restaurant-news-smoothie-king-ceo-shares-how-he-turned-the-brand-around-5772). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/09e0ffda-1749-41fe-9ec6-712fd97538f8).