Multi-Brand Franchisee Aurify Kingstar Adds Tropical Smoothie as Franchisor Pushes Growth Under Blackstone

Tropical Smoothie Cafe announced this year its next phase of growth would be headlined by experienced, multi-brand franchisees. The smoothie giant found just that in New York-based operator Aurify Kingstar, which owns 57 Five Guys stores, 32 Wingstops and 69 Le Pain Quotidien locations and a smattering of others. It's also part of a group that owns 155-unit California Pizza Kitchen.

Aurify Kingstar signed a deal to open 40 Tropical Smoothie restaurants across New York and Connecticut over the next five years.

“This represents a bit of our strategic evolution for development for the long term,” said Joe Sieve, who spent nearly four years at Papa Johns before joining Tropical Smoothie in July as chief development and growth officer. “That is looking to accelerate development and bring in more top-tier, multi-unit operators and developers. We’ve begun targeting those types of candidates and fielding a lot of those inquiries.”

Brand growth history

Tropical Smoothie was founded in 1997. It’s at about 1,750 locations now and expects to hit 1,800 by year-end. That would be roughly 430 more than when private equity firm Blackstone bought the brand in 2024. It’s had net outlet increases of 174, 143 and 136 the last three years and would like to start growing faster.

“We see the runway throughout the U.S. to more than double that footprint,” Sieve said, over the next three to five years.

The company, which also sells wraps and sandwiches, moved up one spot, to No. 59, on the Franchise Times Top 400 this year. It ended 2025 with $1.5 billion in systemwide sales, an increase of 6.5 percent.

Aurify kingstar background

The roots of what is now Aurify Kingstar started in 2003 when Andy Stern and John Rigos bought a Subway sandwich shop in Walton, New York. They expanded their Subway holdings, added Dunkin’ stores and then Five Guys.

Early on their brands included Melt Shop, The Little Beet, The Little Beet Table and Fields Good Chicken. In 2020, the company acquired bakery-café chain Le Pain Quotidien’s U.S. operations out of bankruptcy. Its portfolio today includes Five Guys, Wingstop and Le Pain Quotidien, along with eight-unit Melt Shop and single-location concept Happy Monkey.

Aurify has been looking to add additional brands, said Jeremy Tannenbaum, who moves from Aurify Kingstar's Wingstop division to become CEO of its Tropical Smoothie portfolio.

“We’re excited to be the first partner within this new strategy for” Tropical Smoothie, he said.

The company looks for simple brands with straightforward labor models that are easy to operate, and Tropical Smoothie “checks all those boxes,” he continued. “We like to consider brands that are best in class, best in their category.”

Tropical Smoothie stores cost between $275,500 and $770,500 to open. The average unit volume last year was $978,298 among the 1,431 stores open for at least a year, according to the franchise disclosure document. The overall range was $270,301 to $3.39 million.

Financial performance and plans

That AUV is down slightly from 2024’s $1 million, but nearly identical to the average in 2023, before Blackstone bought the brand, according to the FDD.

Tannenbaum said Aurify wants to further expand its stable of brands over the next couple years. He’s eager to get started with Tropical Smoothie and said the first four or five locations are likely to open in 2027 in the Albany, New York area, with the remainder spread over the next five years. Aurify, he added, would welcome the opportunity to do more.

“These were territories that were open and had almost no stores, so it’s completely white space for us to develop,” he said. “We’re based in New York City but we’re interested throughout the whole Northeast into the Atlantic. We’re just in Connecticut and New York now, but we could potentially be looking into New England, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, you know, some adjacent states.”

Tropical Smoothie has more than 500 franchisees and smaller operators will still have the opportunity to grow, as well.

“It’s not going to be once size fits all,” Sieve said. “We’ve got a lot of great franchisees, so we’re working to identify those strategic growth partners within the system. While we’re doing that, we are actively looking to recruit more of that top-tier, sophisticated multi-unit franchisees that have the financial resources, the infrastructure and the ability to develop at an accelerated rate.”

But he, too, would like to see Aurify expand its Tropical Smoothie holdings beyond this deal.

“They’ve got some lofty ambitions,” he said. “I think the 40 is a starting point for them. Let’s get them open, get them to start building their critical mass and get their infrastructure in place. I think Aurify, as well as us, are excited about their growth potential.”