Smoothie King CEO Wan Kim

Wan Kim didnt live a healthy lifestyle as a college undergrad. A smoker and social drinker, one of the only times Wan felt healthy was when he would grab a smoothie and get his nutrients for the day. Soon, he became hooked on health and his love for smoothies launched a career as the current CEO and Chairman of the Board of Smoothie King. Now, Wan and his team lead the franchise with one pivotal goal: to inspire people to live a healthy and active life.

As the CEO of a company built on health and wellness, Wan knew he had to contribute to supporting his communities during the pandemic. He and his team launched a mission to donate $1,000,000 worth of smoothies to local hospitals, testing centers, police and fire stations and other essential workplaces across the country a goal the company reached last month.

I originally spoke with Wan this past fall on an episode of Brand on Purpose about his journey with the smoothie company, and recently reconnected with him to chat about his pledge and why he chose to support COVID-19 relief one smoothie at a time.

Healthy living is a huge part of your ethos. When COVID-19 hit, did you recognize a role for the company right away in terms of responding to those impacted?

Inspiring people to live a healthy and active lifestyle is our mission. We have always been focused on that, so we knew we could respond by breaking through and reminding our guests we are here to support their health.

We started right away in March and April. First, we offered our guests a free immune support enhancer, which could be added to any smoothie they ordered. Building off that, we launched the new Immune Builder Veggie Superfood Smoothie in April to provide additional immune support.We followed that up with our donation of $1,000,000 in smoothies to essential workers and front-line responders, which directly supported their health and wellness as they continued to keep us safe and healthy. We also highlighted our contactless service options online ordering, drive-thru and curbside pick-up and even launched delivery in the middle of the pandemic.

Altogether, we believe theseinitiatives were critical in our response to the pandemic. It showed we were still open and able to serve our guests safely and conveniently, and it reinforced our mission and commitment to their healthy and active lifestyles.

Individual franchisees were responsible for reaching out to their local first responders. With that being the case, how did you go about ensuring a consistent, wide-reaching effort?

During the $1,000,000 donation in smoothies initiative, our operations and marketing teams assisted the stores by coordinating the donations and helping stores engage with hospital systems in our largest markets.From there, we shared these strategies with the entire system and encouraged them to utilize the donation plans in their markets as well.

We could not have been this successful and consistent without our franchisees, who really drove the success of this initiative.They carved out the time and budget necessary to make this happen, and for that, I am grateful.It would not have been possible without them.

You also gave guests an opportunity to participate in the pledge. Why was that important?

We heard from some franchisees that they had guests who also wanted to help, and we thought it was a great idea. So, we designed the guest program for this initiative and saw great success.Over the course of the initiative, our guests donated over $5,000 in smoothies to first responders.I believe this is important because it shows our guests are inspired by our mission and vision, and they wanted to pass it on to those that needed it most during this time.

Have there been any special blends or flavors as part of this effort - perhaps particularly aimed at boosting immune systems and that sort of thing?

Yes! We launched a new flavor to our line of Immune Builder Smoothies: Veggie Superfood. It is made with organic veggies and an immune support enhancer, which combined create a delicious, immune-supporting smoothie. This new flavor joined our Immune Builder Mixed Berry, which also contains powerful antioxidants. We also gave each guest a free immune support enhancer in any smoothie, which allowed them to support their immune system while still enjoying their favorite blend.

We know all of the hard work we put in from 2016 - 2019 to create our Clean Blends initiative gave us the perfect menu to talk to our guests about how Smoothie King supports their healthy living lifestyle.

How can our audiences support your efforts?

The biggest way at this point is to be a Smoothie King ambassador and inspire others to live a healthy and active lifestyle.I believe that with thousands of Smoothie Kings, the world will be healthier and more active than it is today.

Is there anything else youd like our readers to know about this initiative - the thinking behind it, its execution, and/or whats next?

I want people to know we were able to accomplish this because of our guests and our franchisees. Without their efforts, this would not have been possible. We wanted essential and front-line workers to know that we are grateful for all their efforts during this pandemic.We did this because we my team, franchisees and guests all wanted to do something to help.We also wanted to raise awareness around our stores still being open and ready to support guests on their health and fitness journeys both now and in the future.

Read this article:
Donating $1,000,000 In Smoothies To Support COVID-19 Relief Efforts: A Conversation With Smoothie King CEO Wan Kim - Forbes