The Tennessean: Smoothie King expands Nashville presence

Smoothie King, the New Orleans-area-based franchise company with more than 700 units worldwide, has big plans for the Nashville community. Paul and Paula McCulloch, Smoothie King's largest area franchisees, are spearheading expansion, as they recently opened a location in the downtown Nashville YMCA this week."Our reception in the downtown YMCA has been phenomenal," Paul McCulloch told the Tennessean.

"We just opened that store Monday, and we've had incredible, bigger than I expected volume of people coming through the Smoothie King location."The company's slogan is "Smoothies With a Purpose." Franchise Development Manager of Smoothie King, Christine Elam, said that can include a customer looking to lose weight, maintain weight, gain muscle, consume more fruit and more.

With an aggressive growth plan, including opening 160 new stores this year and hitting the 1,000-store mark in 2017, the company is expanding into untapped markets, such as Madison, Wis. and Mesa, Ariz."When we are looking for new locations, in order to have a successful location, we're looking for four major qualities: we're looking for where do people live, where do they work, where do they shop and where do they play?"

Elam said in an interview with the Tennessean. Paul and Paula are planning to bring Smoothie King locations to Donelson, Hermitage, Mt. Juliet, Charlotte Pike, Franklin and Spring Hill.