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The restaurant industry is ripe for smoothie-driven operations and Tropical Smoothie is cashing in.

The smoothie franchise opened 86 restaurants in 2016, hitting the 500th location mark and they&rsquo;re looking to open two per week in the upcoming year, according to a recent article in QSR Magazine.

Tropical Smoothie CEO Mike Rotondo&nbsp;said he&nbsp;saw the benefits to the quick-service food industry and knew his business could sell smoothies better than any burger or sandwich chain could.

&ldquo;We did not see a decrease in traffic when some of these big brands started throwing around smoothies. That didn&rsquo;t hurt us. I think what it did was it helped people realize, &lsquo;Well this isn&rsquo;t a very good smoothie but boy, there&rsquo;s a lot of benefits to smoothies.&rsquo; And that&rsquo;s when they turned to us,&rdquo; he told QSR Magazine.

Rotondo said the franchise is more excited than ever as they continue to grow.

&ldquo;And the reason for that is that Tropical Smoothie is really kind of emerging into this field that is on fire and we&rsquo;re not just growing for growth&rsquo;s sake. This is sustainable and hard-hitting. This is growth that is going to continue.&rdquo;

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QSR Magazine: Smoothie Franchises Are Soaring In Quick Service

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Tropical Smoothie opened 86 restaurants in 2016, with plans to open two stores a week in 2017.

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