How Much Do Smoothie King Employees Typically Make?

The smoothie, which transforms fruits and vegetables into a meal or snack, is one of the trendier food items. Simple to create and useful to achieve a healthy diet, BBC Good Food notes that smoothies are beneficial sources of fiber and vitamin C, although they can have high sugar.

Although some consider homemade smoothies to be better than pre-made ones, Smoothie King has certainly capitalized on the food's reputation and popularity. In a market worth more than $12 billion, via Market Data Forecast, the company generates high success from selling many flavors and variations. Smoothie King started in 1972, reports Forbes, and its founder actually coined the term "smoothie." The company grew to over 1,300 stores worldwide — with more than 1,000 of them in the U.S., QSR reports. There are many popular Smoothie King menu items among its dozens of smoothie varieties, including chocolate cinnamon, pineapple spinach, and banana passion fruit (via Smoothie King).

Given the company's growth in a lucrative market, working for Smoothie King could be challenging and full of opportunities. The smoothie giant receives above average employee reviews on Indeed, where workers list work-life balance, working culture, and flexibility as advantages, although many believe managerial support and pay could improve. Salary estimates the annual average wage of Smoothie King employees to be $23,400 (the equivalent of $12 an hour), but how does that compare with different roles in the company, including franchise owners, serving staff, and senior executives?

Smoothie King's operating model and continued growth relies on a sustainable and profitable global chain of franchised stores. Its CEO, Wan Kim, started by running one of the company's franchises in South Korea, before increasing to around 100 stores in the country and eventually taking over the entire company, Forbes reports. More than 95% of its locations are franchises. Setting up a Smoothie King franchise led to big things for Wan Kim, but what financial rewards are there for franchise owners who aren't chief executives?

Franchisees need to generate impressive revenues before achieving major earnings. According to Smoothie King, the average net sales of all its franchises is $498,205. That number includes a wide range, as the highest-performing stores generate almost $1.6 million in sales, and the lowest achieve a dramatically smaller amount of $132,781. Sales figures don't take into account other expenses incurred along the way, which include legal, marketing, and an operating fee of 6% of gross sales, reveals Franchise Direct. Those expenses are in addition to initial setup costs that can exceed $850,000, according to Smoothie King. 

Profitability is therefore key to ensuring a high wage as a Smoothie King franchise owner. According to Glassdoor's analysis, Smoothie King's franchise owners report yearly salaries between $44,279 and $47,686 — big bucks for some, but perhaps less than expected for such huge commitments.

No matter how much time, money, and love a franchise operator invests into a Smoothie King store, its team members are also crucial. Smoothie King makes clear the position entails being friendly to customers, preparing food items, and creating smoothies. A lot of responsibilities and pressure are therefore placed on Smoothie King's team members, but the pay doesn't necessarily reflect that. Glassdoor claims the hourly rate for the position is usually only $9, while Indeed puts it at $10.05. To put that in perspective, Talent estimates the national average salary for team members at all businesses is $16.53 an hour.

Shift leader is another popular role at the chain, a job which Smoothie King notes entails many of the same tasks as a team member, but with additional responsibilities of assisting staff and checking inventories. Indeed reckons the company's shift leaders can make around $10.79 an hour for the extra work, but Payscale estimates it to be $9.50. Both figures are substantially lower than the national average of $14.31 an hour for all businesses. Other Smoothie King roles include cashier ($9 per hour, reports Glassdoor), warehouse worker ($8.91 an hour, details Indeed), and the technology-related IP Network Engineer ($10 an hour, according to Glassdoor).

Money isn't the only compensation for working at Smoothie King. Glassdoor suggests there are also a number of perks for working at the company, including healthcare plans, paid holidays, flexible shifts, and food discounts.

Working with customers in the shop everyday requires hard work and enthusiasm, but Smoothie King roles away from the frontline earn the highest salaries. Individual store managers obtain annual average salaries of $31,989, according to Glassdoor — although Indeed records the figure as being closer to $38,901. Slightly further up the career chain are general managers, who Indeed believes can expect to earn $39,446 annually, while Glassdoor anticipates a salary of $40,680. District managers gather an average of $65,244 in payments, according to Glassdoor.

The company's senior leadership and executives are bigger earners. According to Glassdoor, a Smoothie King accountant could expect to earn $66,665 a year, and directors can make between $103,322 and $140,955 annually (via Glassdoor). That compares to a U.S. average of just under $60,000 for all accountants (according to Talent), and $136,435 for directors (via Glassdoor).

According to Comparably, average executive compensation at Smoothie King is an incredible $266,575 each year. The company's lowest performing executive can acquire around $52,000, while the highest takes home an estimated $720,000 — still much less than the average CEO compensation of approximately $13.9 million, according to the Economic Policy Institute. 

Finally, whether they're a store worker, manager, or executive, Indeed's data shows that only 36% of Smoothie King employees are happy with their pay.