Planet Smoothie is the third largest American chain of

smoothie A smoothie is a beverage made by puréeing ingredients in a blender. A smoothie commonly has a liquid base, such as fruit juice or milk, yogurt or ice cream. Other ingredients may be added, including fruits, vegetables, non-dairy milk, cru ...

stores serving smoothies. The company was founded in 1995 by Martin Sprock in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, and currently operates more than 100 locations.

History

In November, 2011, Planet Smoothie was acquired by Tasti D-Lite LLC who also operates Tasti D-Lite stores. In June 2015, Quick-Service Restaurant Franchisor Kahala Brands purchased both Planet Smoothie and Tasti D-Lite in a deal that brings their 128 locations into the portfolio of about a dozen fast food, treat and sandwich chains such as Blimpie and Cold Stone Creamery owned by the Serruya family of Canada. Together, the Tasti D-Lite and Planet Smoothie locations will now be run from the Kahala Brands corporate headquarters in

Scottsdale, Arizona Scottsdale is a city in eastern Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and is part of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Named Scottsdale in 1894 after its founder Winfield Scott (chaplain), Winfield Scott, a retired Chaplain Corps (United States ...

. In August 2022, Planet Smoothie expanded operations to Australia with 4 locations opening across Victoria within the first 12 months.

Advertising

In 2007, Planet Smoothie decided to send one person on a trip from

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

to assume the role of Cup Man, the chain's longstanding brand character. The 22-market "Good for You, Good for the Planet" tour took Cupman coast-to-coast in a

biodiesel Biodiesel is a renewable biofuel, a form of diesel fuel, derived from biological sources like vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled greases, and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made from fats. The roots of bi ...

converted

ice cream truck An ice cream van (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or ice cream truck (North American English) is a commercial vehicle that ice cream products are sold from, usually during the spring and summer. Ice cream vans ...

designed to raise awareness of green issues in markets across the country. Candidates were required to submit a video of why they felt they would make the best Cup Man for the 30-day green trek. Joel Moss Levinson, of

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

was named the winner. For Joel's winning entry, he wrote a song with lines such as “I wanna be your Cupman” and “I’m environmentally responsible, I

recycle ReCycle is a music loop editor designed and developed by Sweden, Swedish software developers Propellerhead Software. It runs on Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh based Personal Computer, PCs. The software debuted in 1994. The principal idea ...

, reduce and reuse, that’s why I want to drive your car that runs on

fuel.” Joel garnered enough online votes to be chosen as the company's walking, talking, touring CupMan. Joel has since won 11 contests — earning more than $200,000 in money and prizes. He has been featured in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'',

The Jay Leno Show ''The Jay Leno Show'' is an American prime time talk show hosted by Jay Leno that was broadcast by NBC from September 14, 2009, to February 9, 2010. The series was a spiritual successor to his previous late-night talk show ''The Tonight Show wit ...

and an

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Rising Star.

Environmental stewardship

In 2008, Planet Smoothie, who served its smoothies in cups made of

recycled Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the propert ...

polystyrene Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It i ...

and offered the reusable "MacDaddy" insulated travel mug, sponsored a contest to encourage

inventors An invention is a unique or novelty (patent), novel machine, device, Method_(patent), method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It m ...

to develop an

eco-friendly Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that c ...

solution to

, currently the only cup material in the marketplace that maintains a

's frozen integrity.

Merger

Following the acquisition of the Planet Smoothie brand by Tasti D-Lite, several stores began to convert to a dual brand product mix, offering both smoothies and

soft serve Soft serve, also known as soft ice, is a frozen dessert and variety of ice cream, similar to conventional ice cream, but softer and less dense due to more air being introduced during freezing. Soft serve has been sold commercially since the lat ...

References

External links

*
Tasti D-Lite official company website
{{Fast-food chains of the United States 1995 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) 2015 mergers and acquisitions Companies based in Atlanta Companies based in Scottsdale, Arizona Fast-food chains of the United States Fast-food franchises Juice bars Kahala Brands Restaurants established in 1995 Smoothie chains in the United States