The sandwiches come with a bag of chips or a banana. For those who might find food and a standard-size smoothie too filling, combo meals with a half sandwich or a half salad and a smoothie are available. For the smallest appetites, the kids’ menu includes wraps, quesadillas, and smoothies.

Tropical Smoothie Café is putting new emphasis on its catering menu, which features lunch boxes, salads, and trays stacked with wraps or sandwiches. “We are finding that our most successful operators really embrace catering,” Valentino says. “We’re really trying to grow catering sales. This push is part of our new vision rolled out last October.”

Valentino herself was also part of that new vision. She and her husband, chief operations officer Jim Valentino, were hired to plan for and manage rapid growth. “We were with Cold Stone Creamery in the early development stages,” she says. “Now we’re hoping to develop this young, but strong brand into a large national player.”

Although Tropical Smoothie has five stores in India and plans for more international stores in the distant future, the immediate focus is on domestic growth. There are stores in 28 states, but with the largest concentration in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic, the company wants to strengthen its presence in the west. There is particular interest in California and Nevada. Las Vegas already is proving successful, with 15 stores open and 15 more under development.