TROPICAL SMOOTHIE CAFE Franchise Complaints

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• First I think the 24 % figure is incorrect- actual rate is probabley closer to 10-12%- I started as a franchisee with Tropical Smoothie back in 2000. Running any business is tough and when 2008 hit we saw restaurants of all types go under. Tropical Smoothie has a great product and gives great support and tools for the franchisees. But you have to do the work! many people enter a franchise thinking they can sit back and the money comes rolling in! You have to be prepared to work long hours-spend time marketing your business-hire the best people etc. It's not for everyone! I just opened another location two weeks ago! This can be a great time due to the low rents and ample supply of former restaurant spots !

• Jim:

  Thanks for your comment.

  First off, there is a Tropical Smoothie Cafe not far from the UnhappyFranchisee.com World Headquarters, and we have to say that Tropical Smoothie does have quality products, both sandwiches and smoothies.

  That being said, we have reviewed the 2011 & 2012 Franchise Disclosure Documents (FDDs) for Tropical Smoothie Cafe and a number of red flags stand out. Feel free to address these points:

  At the start of 2008, there were 244 US Tropical Smoothie franchises. From 2008 through 2011, an additional 124 franchises opened for a total of 368 franchises. During the same time 67 franchises were either terminated or reacquired by the franchisor. At the beginning of 2012, there were 301 Tropical Smoothie franchises open in the U.S.

  That would come out to a termination/reaquisition percentage of 18%, which could reasonably be called a failure rate. The 24% figure is a default on SBA loans since 2001, so it may be that the actual failure rate earlier in the decade was much higher than in recent years. Perhaps the company can clarify.

  The FDDs raise a few additional red flags. The first is the financial stability of the franchisor. The 2011 Tropical Smoothie Cafe FDD states:

  "December 2010 AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS SHOW THAT WE
  HAD A RETAINED EARNINGS DEFICIT OF $3,280,977 AND A DEFICIT IN
  SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY OF $3,097,524"

  The 2012 Tropical Smoothie Cafe FDD states:

  ""OUR DECEMBER 31, 2011 AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS SHOW THAT WE HAD A RETAINED EARNINGS DEFICIT OF $4,702,096 AND A DEFICIT IN
  SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY OF $4,518,661"

  Not only does that indicate that the franchisor is in poor financial shape, but that it worsened by nearly $1.5M from 2010 to 2011. Minnesota requires the escrow of franchise fees due to the FRs financial condition.

  Another red flag is that the FDDs state that Tropical Smoothie Cafe franchisor does not grant an exclusive territory at all, and that another TSC can open up across the street and you'd have nothing to say about it.

  A final point is that since many franchisees are area developers, they perhaps have a vested interest in not disclosing some of the problems facing Tropical Smoothie Cafe franchise owners. If I am wrong about this last point, please let me know.

  I plan to add this additional information to the original post.

  Thanks again for your comment. We hope to hear more from Tropical Smoothie franchise owners and the franchisor as well.

• Man, a franchisor that does not make money and has the same language in its F.D.D. as other franchises!

  At least with Matco Tools they make millions when they screw their franchisees.

• I agree with the report. As a former franchise owner in Ohio, Tropical Smoothie and their representatives did very little to help me as a franchisee. If you're fortunate and have a great location...and the word is location, and make a lot of sales initially, they like you. If you don't, then you are pretty well screwed. I lost a lot that I had due to deception from the area director who inflated the numbers of potential with the Franchise. When I requested help I was ignored. Check the Dayton and surrounding area market. Very unhappy franchisees.
  The food cost less if you buy locally then from the vendor they ask us to use regarding many items. I worked countless hours a week. I didn't sit idly and expect money to come pouring in. But you give 100% and the company figures since you are not among the top producers they will ignore you.
  Everything regarding the above article is right on the money. To bad I didn't realize I was being misled. To late for me. But buyer beware.

• i was a former franchisee owner in the new york city area.my area sales developer guys were great.anything happened and they both were there.time went by and things were good.but then started noticing that headquarters was taking more money from time to time than they were suppose to. that girl jessica very hard person to deal with.adding to the wrench throwing my a.s.d. guys had some kind of fallout with headquarters.till this day dont know what happened but i know there is somekind of lawsuit.well after this happened i had no support at all! i used to call for help but fell on empty promises from headquarters.eventually with time it went downhill.i struggled and held my hands out for help....but to no avail.
  i ve been following tsc and heard from other unhappy franchisee s .think i was the last store in nyc.till this day ,years later no tsc in nyc...hmmmm.makes me wonder what happened.all in all was not happy in the end.

• I went to thetropical smoothies on blue diamond sat july 12 at 12.30 they people is not friendly and i wait for about over 20 min and when I ask for my smothies the respond is somebody took your smoothies. So i need to wait for my smoothies again the girl make my smoothies is very unfriendly and i don't see her wearing the name tag so i don't know her name she is asian girl.and she never say sorry either i went there quite often so most of the time is the store is not pleasant. and they r too long for oe order. I wish can be better. Thank You.

  sincerly
  ,
  yenny Alexander

• My daughter has worked at one of the stores for 3 weeks now, only a total of 12 hours. And this manager never makes a real schedule for her just calls her in 15 minutes ahead of time, then says she's too slow for this job can't use her!
  No one learns on 2 hour shifts one to two days a week!!!
  This lady is unorganized and impatient, I just wanted you to know how your store is being ran! I used to be a manager and know no one is fast or know everything at the beginning

• I worked at a Troooical smoothie in va as a kid for almost a year! I was apart of the first crew hired when they first opened. I loved it! The initial training was by far the best training I have ever received for a job. The food and smoothies were great! They had a very high level of cleanliness. We had tons of regulars. The management was green and that was what did me in eventually but to this day, I actuallly miss making smoothies and working there. I was actually interested in starting one up but now that I seen this, maybe not. It's really unfortunate because they have such a good product! The potential is there!

• I have had poor customer service for the past few weeks every time I went into tropical smoothie, I feel that they do not value customers nor do they care whether or not they have any business. They roll their eyes at customers, and look begrudgingly every time one walks in the door. It is not okay. They talk about customers when they walk out too.

• The 2 I frequent are exceptional friendly and the smoothies are the best