Tropical Smoothie Cafe continues to disappoint owners at an accelerated rate. I am on a large chat group and see the frustrations daily. There are many decisions made by corporate that are costly to owners and make no sense. The brand will continue to deteriorate without change.

The brand represents a healthy alternative to other fast food or fast casual restaurants. Other owners struggle with the same corporate driven issues and freely share work arounds to these challenges.

The corporate group continues to decline in its leadership, organizational effectiveness, marketing strategies, product strategies. The CEO is condescending to owners, he thinks his role is a cheerleader not a business partner, views owners as amateurs, not professional business people. The corporate office is disorganized where departments are not communicating effectively. We receive produce weeks ahead of promotions, marketing commonly makes spelling mistakes and are out of sync with operations. Year over year corporate increases operating costs while not growing revenues, profitability is in decline in an emerging market that I service. Corporate vs. local marketing is not working continue to discount current customers while not reaching new customers. The marketing funds are there, not applied effectively to reach new customers. I have pivoted my investments to other brands.

The private equity ownership needs to fire the CEO and get a real operational minded person in place. Franchisees see him as nothing more than a "sales guy" that does not possess the skills or abilities to take the brand to the next level.