New Jersey Smoothie King Franchisee Turns Passion for Health into Entrepreneurship

David Diamant earned his degree in exercise science with plans to open a gym. However, after working for a gym for a few years, he realized it wasn’t the business he wanted to be in. He began to search for a concept he could grow and ended up working at a GNC to get a feel for it. Boredom set in quickly.

“My parents were living in Houston at the time and knew I was on the hunt, and my father told me about visiting a Smoothie King,” he said. “He called me and told me how much he enjoyed the product, so I went online and looked them up.”

Before he knew it, he was on a train headed toward the closest Smoothie King to where he lived at the time. He visited with a Smoothie King franchisee in Maryland to see what a traditional store looked like. Speaking with the franchisee and seeing the store in action was enough to convince Diamant to call up the company’s sales department.

While New Jersey is already home to 10 Smoothie King locations, the state’s high population density and higher income level compared to the rest of the nation has created lots of room for growth, something Diamant is keen to capitalize on.

While his business hit a speedbump at the beginning of the Great Recession, Diamant said other than that it’s been “year-over-year growth in the double digits.”

Even better, Smoothie King has afforded him the opportunity to share his passion for health and fitness with others.

“You’re speaking to people on a daily basis about that topic, helping them reach their nutrition goals,” he said. “You get to hear their success stories, whether it’s reaching a weight loss goal or running their first 5K. They attribute that success to Smoothie King; it’s satisfying.”

Diamant is currently operating two Smoothie King locations and has another one that will soon be under construction. He said he hopes to open another four or five locations over the next several years to accompany his franchise in Middletown, N.J. and neighboring communities.

He said his success has been thanks to not only the support of Smoothie King’s corporate team, but also his fellow franchisees.

“New Jersey was kind of like its own little island at first,” he said. “Those first couple of years it was very much corporate support. After joining the franchise advisory council, I was able to network with franchisees and that helped with a lot of growth.”