Tropical Smoothie Café, a quick casual themed restaurant offering fresh, made to order food and real fruit smoothies served in a unique tropical environment, announces the promotion of Mike Rotondo to Chief Operating Officer. In his new role, Rotondo will be responsible for coordinating all franchisee and area developer operations for more than 285 locations across the United States.
As a 25-year restaurant veteran, Rotondo has fulfilled top positions in several notable restaurants brands, including overseeing 850 locations as Arby’s Regional Director of Franchise Operations and serving for Wendy’s as District Manager and Instructor at Wendy’s Management Institute. Rotondo also led a multitude of successful sales driving initiatives as the Director of Business Development at Honey Baked Ham of Georgia.
“Mike’s dedication and passion to the industry is apparent with more than 25 years of restaurant expertise and unwavering commitment to everything he does,” said Eric Jenrich, President and Chief Executive Officer. “He and his team are directly responsible for the tremendous same store sales growth we’re currently experiencing which has resulted in increased profitability for our franchisees.” Tropical Smoothie Café’s same store sales increased 8.5% in 2010.
Rotondo has demonstrated innovation and determination, successfully advancing the company’s marketing, operations and overall brand development. In 2009, he led the effort to add Flatbreads to the company’s menu resulting in accelerated sales growth throughout the company and earning national recognition with the Menu Masters Award, given annually by the National Restaurant Association to honor the outstanding efforts in research, development and marketing of product lines developed by food service companies and restaurants. He also has spent relentless hours negotiating with vendors to improve costs for franchisees with his persistence leading to decreased food costs system-wide.
“Tropical Smoothie Café has exciting plans for 2011, starting with our Summertime Somewhere promotion beginning this February,” said Mike Rotondo. “We’ve partnered with Club Med to give away 12, all inclusive vacations to any Club Med in the Caribbean, Mexico and Florida, plus other Tropical Smoothie Café prizes and products.”
“In addition, I will be focused on three key initiatives during the year,” Rotondo added, “driving our franchisee’s average unit volume to $500,000 by continuing our strong same store sales trends, rolling out new and innovative franchisee profitability tools to drive unit level economics, and completing a thorough analysis of our menu to insure we are meeting the needs and wants of our customers.”
Founded in Destin, FL, in 1997, Tropical Smoothie Café provides customers fresh, tasty food and smoothies with a healthy appeal alternative to typical fast food by offering made to order toasted wraps, grilled flatbreads, bistro sandwiches, gourmet salads, and a variety of high-quality, real fruit smoothies. Tropical Smoothie Café is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and also offers a broad catering menu and the ease of online ordering. In 2010, the National Restaurant Association honored Tropical Smoothie Café with the Menu Masters Award for the outstanding research and development of the Grilled Flatbreads addition to the menu. For more information, visit http://www.tropicalsmoothiecafe.com/ or call 888-292-2522.
In 2008, Tropical Smoothie Café joined fundraising efforts with national charity partner, Camp Sunshine, a retreat in Casco, Maine for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. Tropical Smoothie Café created their own holiday, National Flip Flop Day, on the third Friday of June to raise awareness for Camp Sunshine. Loyal customers wearing flip flops are rewarded with a free Jetty Punch on this day with all donations received going towards the national charity partner. To date, the company has donated $770,000 to Camp Sunshine and plans to exceed one million dollars by the end of 2011. Nationwide, franchisees execute community fundraising events prior to National Flip Flop Day and donations are collected year-round at www.NationalFlipFlopDay.com.