Tropical Smoothie Cafe has unveiled a new branding scheme as the US restaurant chain prepares for further expansion under private equity owner Blackstone.
The redesign will appear across packaging, cafes, the mobile app and website, with brighter colours, a standardised typeface and a new frond-shaped “Palm T” icon intended to provide a recognisable shorthand for the brand.
Chief executive Max Wetzel said the company had been working on the project for more than a year as it considers the shape of its next phase of growth.
“We are a company and a brand that has evolved significantly over the last few years and really over the last 10 years,” he said. “We’re thinking about what our next 3,000 cafes look like, and so it’s a perfect time for us to roll this out.”
Tropical Smoothie Cafe, which sells smoothies alongside bowls and wraps, recorded more than $1.6 billion (£1.2 billion) in system sales in the 12 months to the end of June. It expects to exceed 1,800 US locations by the end of this year, a 50% increase since the end of 2022.
The chain is also planning to expand internationally, although its growth ambitions come as restaurants compete for customers who are eating out less often and managing higher household costs.
Wetzel said the new colour palette was drawn from ingredients used in the cafes, helping the chain distinguish itself from quick-service restaurants commonly associated with brown and beige tones.
“The color palette is entirely created by the ingredients that you can find in our cafe,” he said. “All these ingredients are very different than a category that’s really dominated by browns and beiges and fried food.”
Investment under Blackstone
Blackstone bought Tropical Smoothie Cafe in 2024 for a reported $2 billion, including debt. Wetzel joined the business later that year, having previously led CKE Restaurants and served as chief operating officer at Papa John’s.
The company has also been investing in marketing and operations. In late 2024, it combined its national and local media budgets into a single advertising fund, financed by franchisees paying 5% of gross sales in marketing fees.
Wetzel said the $80 million marketing budget was now being used more effectively, with national brand awareness rising from 34% of consumers a year earlier to 42%.
Earlier this year, Tropical Smoothie began reorganising food and bowl assembly lines to improve speed and accuracy. It is also testing self-ordering kiosks and plans to launch an updated app and website with the new visual identity by the end of the year.
The chain’s loyalty scheme has grown to 13 million members, up 25% from the previous year. Wetzel said roughly one in three orders came from a loyalty customer.
In fiscal 2025, Tropical Smoothie reported net income of $115.4 million on revenue of $131.4 million, according to franchise disclosure documents. The company operates only one cafe itself and generates most of its revenue through franchising.
The business sees further opportunities in the Midwest and South-west, as well as in markets such as Michigan. Wetzel said sales volumes had begun to rise as the brand reached higher levels of awareness in those areas.
He said Tropical Smoothie was not currently preparing for an initial public offering, although the company would assess its options “over time”.
The chain is larger than Smoothie King by both system sales and restaurant numbers. Wetzel said growing interest in health and wellness had helped the category, while smoothies now feature in about 85% of Tropical Smoothie transactions and account for roughly half of sales.
