Smoothie King Just Launched A Subscription Service

It's easy to go out and find a smoothie these days, but back in the 1980s, Smoothie King was the first to launch a franchise around the fruity refreshment. This turned out to be a lucrative move for founder Steven Kuhnau, who previously ran his smoothie business out of his health food store. The Dallas-based company still operates over 1,000 locations across three continents, making it a top competitor of other popular chains like Jamba and Tropical Smoothie Cafe. 

Ever since Smoothie King's current CEO Wan Kim rebranded the company with the slogan "Smoothies With a Purpose" (in an effort to move it away from its reputation for supremely sugary drinks), Smoothie King's modus operandi has revolved around health and fitness. For example, it now specializes in smoothies that are "expertly blended with more than 'just fruit in a blender' for specific needs, goals, and ambitions," per its website. According to an April 13 press release, Smoothie King has taken another step toward staying relevant in the crowded smoothie market by offering a new subscription-based service for customers to make health-focused beverages at home.

Per the press release, Smoothie King's new subscription service, Nourish Daily, is keen on customization. Similarly to meal delivery services like Daily Harvest, it offers subscribers a box of frozen ingredients to blend up their own smoothies at home. Customers can choose between a dozen "purpose powders" — some of which target things like muscle-building and immune support, while others cater to vegan and keto diets — to combine with their choice of ten different smoothie blends, such as wild berry and veggie mango. Once customers get their Nourish Daily box in the mail, they can keep the blends in the freezer and add their own liquid — be it water, milk, or juice — to the blender with the other ingredients when they're ready to drink. The blends come in flat packages to save space.

The press announcement adds that subscribers can choose the date and time of delivery or, if they live near a Smoothie King shop, pick them up in person. Nourish Daily boxes comes in servings of seven (for $6.99 per smoothie), 14 ($6.29 per smoothie), or 21 ($5.29 per smoothie). The service launched on April 12 and is now available only in the Dallas-Forth Worth area.