Tropical Smoothie Cafe was founded as a single fruit smoothie shop in 1993 by Eric and Delora Jenrich, along with David Walker. By 1997, the company had grown and was offering franchises. By 1999, the company began to offer other health food items, such as sandwiches and wraps. By 2007, the company was growing at a tremendous rate, with a store opening, on average, every 7 days.
The company was purchased by a private equity firm, BIP, in 2012. The company rolled out new menus, offering items to vegans, and a non-GMO meat substitute called Beyond Meat. Beyond Meat is a blend of protein powders.
Tropical Smoothie Cafe rolls out limited time offers of special drink blends or combo meal prices, three to four times each year. The company states that 50 percent of their sales come from food, the other half from fruit smoothies. There are currently more than 850 Tropical Smoothie Cafe’s in the US.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic of 2020/2021, Tropical Smoothie Cafe continues to open new locations.
On May 30th, 2023, Tropical Smoothie Cafe celebrated National Flip-Flop Day by offering free smoothies.
The company maintains a corporate office in Destin, Florida.
Tropical Smoothie Cafe was founded as a single fruit smoothie shop in 1993 by Eric and Delora Jenrich, along with David Walker. By 1997, the company had grown and was offering franchises. By 1999, the company began to offer other health food items, such as sandwiches and wraps. By 2007, the company was growing at a tremendous rate, with a store opening, on average, every 7 days.
History
The company was purchased by a private equity firm, BIP, in 2012. The company rolled out new menus, offering items to vegans, and a non-GMO meat substitute called Beyond Meat. Beyond Meat is a blend of protein powders.
Tropical Smoothie Cafe rolls out limited time offers of special drink blends or combo meal prices, three to four times each year. The company states that 50 percent of their sales come from food, the other half from fruit smoothies. There are currently more than 850 Tropical Smoothie Cafe’s in the US.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic of 2020/2021, Tropical Smoothie Cafe continues to open new locations.
On May 30th, 2023, Tropical Smoothie Cafe celebrated National Flip-Flop Day by offering free smoothies.
The company maintains a corporate office in Destin, Florida.
Today I went in to tropical smoothie cafe located at 874 E Hillside Dr. Broken Arrow, Ok. 74012
I purchased a Baja wrap, a chicken bacon ranch flatbread with no tomato, and a three cheese quesadilla. The girl that makes the smoothies had it together and it showed when we had our smoothies in less than two minutes. There were four other workers in there, two of which (I later find out) were managers. Both managers were cutting up and doing more talking and giggling which did not show any team work to their other staff. From my point of view, I could see one of the managers take off running thru the store only to slip on a wet floor and hit the wall. The other manager just laughed and tried to play it off as if it wasn’t that big of a deal. While still waiting on our food, we were asked by one of the managers if we were waiting on food…I replied yes and she went to get it. I left the store expecting to be pleased with my food.
I returned about 10 min later to get my order rectified since the Baja chicken had no rice and chicken was cold, the chicken bacon ranch had tomatoes which I asked them to hold off and it was cold, and the three cheese chicken quesadilla was cold and cheese was not melted. I returned to the store to have my food remade. The first manager didn’t even take me seriously and laughed at my intent to have my wrong order looked at and even went so far as to say that I was rude. Not taking the customer seriously is rude, interrupting your patron while they are voicing a complaint is rude. And to add insult to injury, the second manager stepped up as if to render some support because the first was clearly not handling the situation with poise. She should not be a manager. Nor should the other one. She yelled at me to leave which is no acceptable. I was not being combative, but I was prepared to be refunded. I will never visit this store again. IMO, a new manager needs to be trained in the way to deal with incorrect orders. Management at this store is a joke and it’s obvious they don’t know how to treat paying customers.
The owner of the Oak Creek WI location is a complete a-hole. Would not recommend working or patronizing this location after the absolutely disgusting things Jim said about my husband. F you you jealous MF. My husband is in his 40’s so jokes on you!!!
I was treated very unfairly when I worked at Tropical Smoothie . Rumors and lies were being spread about me and I had worked there a while and never got warnings or anything until one random day I got a write up for absolutely no relevant reason. People gossiped about me and made up lies about me including my boss. I was shocked and had a meltdown and quit. Jus to then have my ex boss continually hurt me over text messages and treat me disrespectfully. I will never ever recommend someone working here
I currently work for a tropical smoothie in Springfield Va, before being hired I brought to the attention of the owner my medical problems, he still hired me. There has been 3 times I’ve either had to call out or leave early to be rushed to the urgent care center or ER. He was made aware of my medical problems multiple times but still threatens to fire me if I need to go to the hospital. I am not the only one he has done this to, multiple of my coworkers have either been fired or has quit due to his constant harassment and misconduct towards health. He is hardly there and pays us barely enough to afford rent in the area we live. He plays favoritism and will flirt with literally any of the girls working. He’s even tried to bribe me to work a day he knew I couldn’t because of appointments and my other job. I am not the only one he has over stepped boundaries with. If need be they are willing to contest to anything said about him. Including the broken utensils we are being forced to use because he will not replace them
I have been a devoted customer since you have been opened. I want to reach out to your CEO Charles Watson pertaining to my ideas that will increase sales. I am 71 years old and work fulltime. Six years ago I came out of retirement and went to college all thanks to my faith and Tropical Smoothie. I order sometimes 3 smoothies a day and of course eat your meals.. I have lost weight as the employees know me and say that I should be the spokesperson for the business. People need to see the positive of what your company is about as I joke that I’m here so much I should have shares. Email me and I will send pictures.
I have made several attempts to be in contact with someone who will listen I own 1800 sq ft in the downtown business district in St John’s, MI. My rent is beyond reasonable and our location is the Best. Middle America loves their historic and quaint downtowns. MANY are thriving and the towns people our so proud and dedicated to seeing them stay current and do well. Topical Smoothie Cafe would be a PERFECT fit/addition to SJ. PLEASE seriously consider my location Dave Buko, one of your franchises owner has seen the space and it is even better now. There is a song out there called ‘take a chance on us’ it is my theme song. An anchor store of your caliber gets me excited for the partnership possibilities. Please call me, contact me and let’s talk Diane Gibbs 989-224-****
I keep purchasing smoothies everyday and every time I try to scan in my receipt it says that I’m not within range of a tropical smoothie cafe. So therefore I don’t get my points on my app. I’ve contacted the cafe and they have no idea of what to do except to call corporate which I will do. This is ridiculous
I worked for Tropical Smoothie in Port St. lucie Fl Tradition. I was fired because i couldn’t not cover someone’s shift. I WAS BEING FORCED TO COVER A SHIFT that was not mine because an employee chose to be irresponsible. That day I rushed my father to the hospital multiple employees chose to lie on my name and tell the manager i was lying about my situation. My father mother and sister all caught covid including me they were in the hospital with pneumonia and they still wanted me to work. I was wrongfully fired and when i picked up my money, there was a lot missing. so either someone stole it or i didn’t get paid fully and no one is answering me or my mom about my money. Who should I contact?
This location also sells rotten food and the managers do not care about it and have served it to customers. Employees talk crap about others on the floor with customers in store. Employees give our burnt food and curse out customers. The manager and owner are both rude and mean people. They do not know how to run a business what so ever. They were not understanding of my family’s situation. The manager has hired drug addicts like crazy.
I am experiencing the same issue in Las Vegas Nevada. Reach out to an attorney these a-holes don’t give a f**k. I can’t find hrs number or corporate. Unless I want to talk to customer support I’m f-ked. I reached out to the labor board and four attorneys, I suggest you do the same
call the number in our listing
I have been trying to call corporate instead of posting this comment . My friend and I had jerk chicken Quesadilla from 2566 Briarcliff rd me suite 106 Atlanta Ga 30329 and we have belly bug sick so bad can’t really work and we where then notified later that the sauce or food was on recall
Hey there I just wanted to leave some feedback. I was interested in joining the tropical smoothie cafe however after I did my orientation in one of the Springfield Missouri location with the district manager she was somewhat very unpleasant to be around. after orientation she said i didn’t look as if I was interested in the Job because I was taking notes on my phone about you guys company policies. I was somewhat confused how She said I didn’t look interested when applied for the Job and showed up for the interview and orientation on time. Also talked to the GM who said she was very unprofessional and did not know what she was doing. I’ve been in management and the work force and I believe that the district leader is not fit for the springfield missouri area. I would suggest getting the GMs and employees to do a anyomous survey about her performance I just wanted to leave some feedback.
I have an incident at the franchise I worked at that I’d like to report because I need help but I cannot get ahold of anyone on the phone
Hello my name is Shanna Cooper I work for Tropical Smoothie in Las Vegas Nevada a couple years ago I never received my W-2 form to file my taxes and I keep trying to get ahold of somebody nobody wants to answer the phones I’m just trying to figure out how I can get it
I owned a Tropical Smoothie in Las Vegas I purchased it from Butler Capital. The purchase was in 2007 I retired and sold the store in 2012. Just recently was trying to sell one of my homes in Oklahoma and found out that butler capital has a lien on it, I have been trying to contact Tropical smoothie corporate and butler capital with no luck. I need help
I received a smoothie yesterday & there rewards scanner was NOT working properly so I never received my pts. can you credit my account with the pts from yesterday? Thank You
I love the product BUT I always have an issue with using the app in the store. It’s always an issue. Your people never ask before ringing you up and then claim after us too late or the system is broken. Don’t bother having it if theres always going to be an issue. Makes me feel scammed
The tropical smoothie in Oklahoma City Oklahoma off 240& western I was just humiliated and harassed by a manager saying that I supposedly owed them $3.25 for a wrap and she said it was from 6 months prior. I went ahead and paid it because I was so embarrassed but wondering how I could have stole food from a drive thru if it was already given to me , I would like this to be resolved please or as I will never be a customer again and give a bad name. Thank you
I was sick and had diarrhea and vomiting which are two symptoms that must be reported because you are not allowed to work with food under these conditions. After reporting it and letting it be know that this is the reason that I am calling out I was still expected to show up to work or I would be fired. I had the manager get upset at the fact that I would be in the bathroom for awhile because of my condition. On the day I was fired I called the store and let the shift leader know I was running late because i was vomiting and feeling unwell. On my way to the store my employer told me that they already found a replacement for me. I immediately called my employer to explain the situation but they did not bother to pick up my calls. When I went to pick up my last paycheck I realized that they replaced me with another employee that got fired for multiple no call, no show. This was an employee who did the bare minimum at work, lie about other employees, bad mouth other employees, and cursed out customers. He was also suspected of stealing from the company and other employees. On top of that he also got paid more than the other employees there who did more work than he did. This company does not care about food safety, their employees, or their customers.
This is 229 Waterman store in Providence, RI
My friend and I too in Atlanta we are so sick
I worked for the tropical smoothie café in Houston tx 1531 Eldridge
Pkwy Akil siead is the owner and he has done so much wrong. the biggest thing is he tells the employees that he doesn’t adjust the hours that if you worked you will be paid for them. I have witnessed several times were he will call the company and tell them to take off hours that the employee worked. saying the computer clock out was wrong. and only pay them for what he scheduled them even if they worked more hours. it smells like a sewer pipe broke because he doesn’t have the employees clean the drains under the sink or with clean sanitizer water. he tells them to change the stickers on the sanitize buckets (they don’t). the same thing for the stickers on the food. if expired and looks and smells good he tells them to switch the stickers out. a employee left two chicken packs out overnight in the sink to thaw and he had a employee to prep it in the morning. put a tip jar out and kept all the tips. has not did a weekly clean since the store opened August 1 2019. he got robbed and blamed it on me when he told me to leave the alarm off. fired me through a text message. told the police I set it up. didn’t pay employees for a month when he first opened. talked bad about employees to other employees and told private matters back and forth between employees…
My daughter, and sisters when they visit, were big fans of the smoothies. As time as passed the restuarant smelled worse and worse. We kind of grinned a bared it. Last week there was nothing so tantalizing on the menu that could make us stay even long enough to order. It smelled like a sewer pipe had busted on top of the normal putrid smells (we think it’s from something like Simple Green or something). I.don’t know how any of the 4-5 customers could stand it.
This restaurant has never seemed clean from the day they opened. On one visit a woman came out of the restroom and shouted – YOU HAVE NO TOILET PAPER OR PAPER TOWELS!!
I try to look at businesses as if I were the owner and how I would handle it. If there is a lead I would fire them on the spot and I definitely spot check at the very least. You’ve lost quite a bit of business from us alone over the course of 4 or 5 years. We tried to overlook what we knew we’d be facing smell-wise but we shouldn’t have to feel that way.
This store is on West McDowell near West Valley hospital in Goodyear, AZ
Save this business! Smoothies are a real treat but just not at this store.
I am a prior manager for Arbys and McDonalds.
I have a sanitation practice question.
In most restaurants, when utensils are washed, there is a wash/rinse/sanitize procedure.
In all of the TS cafes that I have visited in Jacksonville, FL and Kingsland, GA this does not seem to be followed with regard to the Blender Pitchers.
When a Smoothie is made, the residue is dumped out into a sink, the pitcher and lid is rinsed out with faucet water, and then re-used immediately.
Is this a TSC standard?
I have voiced a concern by phone with your customer service representative on Friday 7/19 and Tuesday 7/23. Nobody has called me back to discuss. I’m extremely disappointed with the lack of concern your company has. I will not visit your facilities until this matter is resolved and will be sure to share with friends and family…
Regards
Not sure where to start nor who to contact with this situation. Today I entered the location in Cartersville Ga to order a baja chicken wrap. Got this to go and proceeded with my day. I get to my office and begin eating my lunch where I bite into my wrap spit it out on my desk to find a whole cricket. A whole cricket. I contact the store manager as well as the store owner who tells me I can get my money back but nothing else can be done about this.
I would love for someone to get in touch with me regarding this issue.
I am contacting your company to see if they are expanding into the Middletown, Ohio area, as I do have a commercial lot for sale, (formerly Rally’s) and next door to Wendy’s and on the other side is Subway. If interested, please call me back, or email. Hope to hear from you. Thank you, Donald W. Smith, 513-417-XXXX
I am very disappointed in the Tropical Smoothie Café Fort Myers location. I’ve been a customer there for a few years and always enjoyed their smoothies until the bad experience I had last week. On Sunday July 22,2018 my wife and I had ordered a couple of smoothie and a breakfast wrap via the online app, which I’ve always done. We placed the ordered and paid for it, the total was $8.46. When we went to get in the car to pick it up, my car would not start. We had to call and wait for assistants to replace battery. I immediately called the Tropical Smoothie Café location and they assured me that the manager would refund my money to my card. Three days had passed and no refund. We called again and again they assured us the manager would call us back and he never did. Several days went by we tried again and was told that the managers name was Alfredo and that they would leave a note for him and asked us to call between 9-3 when hi is there. With work getting in the way it is difficult for me to call between those hours. Luckily my wife was able to call on Thursday July 26. 2018 and there was no answer. We are very unhappy about how this whole situation was handled. We were expected a call back or a refund. This all went ignored. I hope this letter to you, does not fall on deaf ears. I don’t want to have to fight this with my bank so please take care of this as soon as possible.
Very disappointed
I only worked for Tropical Smoothie for a few months under Benjamin Nudel, he owns a Tennessee Street location and Ocala Road location both in Tallahassee, Florida. He conducts his franchises in a very unprofessional manner, he openly favorites the Ocala store and treats the Tennessee Street like complete garbage. He buys higher quality equipment for the Ocala store, cheaper options for Tennessee then when they break easily, he threatens to then fire the employee who unintentionally broke the item. The only communication he conducts with the store is through the GroupMe app, where is calls out employees for small mistakes for no purpose other than embarrassment. Many employees feel like he places too much responsibility on them for a job that a manger should do, when they are only making minimum wage. I had a family emergency and could not make it for a shift and instead of trying to help find someone to cover, he interrogated me regarding the issue that was immensely personal and none of his business. As a manager, he is never in the store to help or offer training, he simply comes in and prepares smoothies and food items for himself then leaves. When it comes to paychecks, he is unreliable as to what time they will be in the store, once even did not make it with them until after 8 pm. When asking if he could offer direct deposit, he simply said it was too much trouble despite the fact that many employees are college students who go home for summer. One employee asked him to mail her last check to her home address and he said he would, then when she checked up he said no and she did not receive her check until she came back up for the fall. When making the schedule for finals week, Benjamin asked for everyones availability, yet completely ignored some and scheduled them during exams or even much needed study time. There was an armed robbery in the store next door and a female employee was closing by herself and did not feel comfortable staying open until 2:30 am that night. The only thing he was worried about, was that she still did all of the closing work and made sure his items were taken care of before she could leave. The Tennessee Street location is simply disgusting, it would not pass any health inspection. We get scheduled for eight hour shifts and do not receive a break of any kind. All Benjamin cares about is the check averages for the store, if they are not up to $8.50, he threatens to cut the hours of the people who are working register. He never orders enough for the shipments and we run out of nearly everything by every Thursday and is incredibly unhelpful when we try to figure out what we can do. I am hoping by saying these things that a change can be made to make Tropical Smoothie a better work environment for the remaining employees.
I have been working at Tropical Smoothie for 3 months now under the management of Falon Grimstead. She is the most caring, hard-working manager I have ever come across in my life. She works from sun up to sun down maintaining her cafes, and she makes sure to cater to every employees requests and needs. She is accepting of all and hires employees from all ethnicities, orientations, and walks of life making for an extremely diverse and empowering work environment. She ensures that every employee feels that they are important while making sure everything gets done timely and correctly. Her customer service when she is in the cafe is impeccable and she really makes the customers feel welcomed and brightens their day, which is exactly why I applied for a job here after visiting almost daily for a few weeks! She would be exceptional no matter where she goes with this company and I cannot wait to watch how far she goes!
I am a shift leader at tsc I make 8.50 and I am overworked. The owners at the oaks location don’t show up til they feel like it. They don’t know the menu and can not help with any customer question. These people do not make the night crew do any work and are giving raises to new hires while all the rest of us get nothing. They do not help us with any issues when we need help and tell us to figure it out on our own. I can not work under these conditions anymore and something needs to be done .They also bring their personal issues to work and let family disputes determine if their children work that day or not. PLEASE DO SOMETHING!!
Where to start? I was an employee for tropical smoothie for about 8 months. I was fired on Sunday the 10th of December and was told to clock out leave my door key and leave my tips. I asked the manager if I was fired and I had to ask her two days later just to get a response. Today is the 15th and I’ve received emails everyday about open shifts so she hasn’t taken me off seven shifts. I still 5 days later have not received my tips I had to leave and I got my check through direct deposits when she told me she was getting my check. Throughout my entire time working for tropical smoothie I’ve witnessed 15 employees come and go in the store and I’ve also heard her call every one of them very bad names. She also decided to tell me what I think is very confidential stuff about two employees and what their doctors note said and why they didn’t come to work. Not only did I feel like a bad person cause I knew but I felt so uncomfterble that I couldn’t say anything to her cause I knew she would tell everyone else. Please contact me via email.
I ordered one smoothie yesterday In leesburg store with yougurt they gave me one quart of glass smoothie and they charge $ 6.50 . I ask them like little beat smoothie in cup. They reply because we make your smoothie with yougurt. It’s very bad
please contact me via email regarding a credit card issue
Thank you
Over the time that I have worked at TSC here is what I have observed:
The manager works Over time and does not get her state mandated time and a half.
The owners refuse to take action against harassment from one coworker to the next.
The owner that operates the store did not have state mandated OSHA posted until I pointed it out, even though it was in his possesion.
Operating owner also violates OSHA by refusing to fix A/C unit because he can’t afford it, but will drop 2G’s on cameras to watch the staff the temperature is in excess of 80° most days and the standard is for 76° maximum.
I also have no way of finding out how to co tact the HR delartment.
Please bring back the SPICY TERIYAKI WRAP AND THE SIRACHA CHICKEN WRAP. Would like to see these items on the everyday menu, not seasonal. Thanks!!
Today, I called in my order ahead for kids meal chicken cheese quesadilla, kale salad, and a smoothie.
I picked up my order pulled off and realized the quesadilla was pizza quesadilla. I called back told them and went in to get the order. I left and realized it was a pizza quesadilla again. I didn’t return but wanted to let someone know. I took a picture of the first order and it looked like a slop bowl of quesadilla. Very messy looking bowl of food.
HI, I’ve been working at Tropical Smoothie Cafe for almost 2 months now and everyday that I work, my managers make me stay overtime. The crazy thing is, I do not get paid overtime. I am mentally and physically exhausted. I am still in school and staying later than I am supposed to, causing me to not be as focused and very tired everyday. Honestly, I love my job! The only concern I have is that I am not getting paid and I am working my butt off.
you’re legally obligated to overtime pay if you work over 40 hours per week, not usually for working half an hour past your shift.
Hi, I’ve been working at Tropical Smoothie for three weeks now, two payperiods. I’ve been to work everytime I am scheduled and i have yet to recieve my paycheck. I’m a bit concerned because everyone else has recieved theirs and also when i questioned my boss asking when are we supposed to recieve our paychecks. She simply ignored me. I don’t knkw what to do like i inderstand shes my boss, but I am not going to be working for free here.
Hi, my daughter went into the store located at 7700 Telegraph, Taylor Mi, 48180 to apply for a job. When she cheerfully walked in eager to be interviewed, (she really wanted to work there) she was met with a huge sigh and a okay, as Gabrielle started to talk not even 2 minutes answering her question, she was rudely stopped by saying, ” stop right there I’m looking for some one with out your personality. Gabrielle said okay thank you and left. Gabrielle is beautiful, confident, qualified. This person who is employed was obviously intimidated by Gabrielle’s well groom appearance. Set up for yourself some one to shop this individual. She is not good for your business and we will NEVER buy a product from there again. We will also tell people of that employee. Who needs to clean up her manners and her appearance. Thank you for listening. Janet Davis
Cafe #NV040
Check # 2932
Date: Jan 14, 2017
Time: 06:24pm
I just ordered thru the drive thru, I ordered a Jamaican Jerk with no onions and when I got it had onions. I called the manager and told me I have to come back to the location so they can make me a new one. He said (the manager) that it’s new rule, they can’t refund for the incorrect item and I must go back to the location for a new one. I don’t want to drive back to get a new one, I just wanted a refund since my order was incorrect.
Is that even a new rule with tropical smoothie?
Hope to hear from someone soon about this issue.
-Andrei
(702)917-XXXXX
Reason is I am allergic to onions