---
title: "Nation's Restaurant News: Smoothie King CEO Wan Kim Explains Progress Made on Smoothie King's Expansion Efforts"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/6580c387-e1ec-4a05-8d94-4cc74301c999
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/nations-restaurant-news-smoothie-king-ceo-wan-kim-explains-progress-made-on-smoothie-kings-expansion-efforts-5758
category: "Beverage & juice"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Beverage & juice"
topics: ["Development & multi-unit","People"]
published: 2016-09-07T22:17:38.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T12:20:40.003Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/7a17e0cf8b5a78f04c89a262e9061fbb7856160907171038.jpeg
---

# Nation's Restaurant News: Smoothie King CEO Wan Kim Explains Progress Made on Smoothie King's Expansion Efforts

**TL;DR:** Smoothie King has seen a significant increase in average unit volume and global growth under the leadership of CEO Wan Kim. Kim and COO Tom O'Keefe discussed the brand's expansion efforts with Nation's Restaurant News.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2016-09-07. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/nations-restaurant-news-smoothie-king-ceo-wan-kim-explains-progress-made-on-smoothie-kings-expansion-efforts-5758).*

## 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)
- unit expansion (topic)
- Nation's Restaurant News (publication)
- Smoothie King (company)
- Wan Kim (person)
- global growth (topic)
- brand revitalization (topic)

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Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/nations-restaurant-news-smoothie-king-ceo-wan-kim-explains-progress-made-on-smoothie-kings-expansion-efforts-5758). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/6580c387-e1ec-4a05-8d94-4cc74301c999).