Tropical Smoothie Café opens in DeWitt

DeWITT — W2B Management LLC has opened its seventh Tropical Smoothie Café, LLC location in Central New York at 5761 Celi Drive in DeWitt. The opening comes about a month after W2B — a partnership between Roger Wagner, Jr. and brothers Rick and Mark Bartlett — opened a café in Camillus (shown in accompanying photos). At just under 1,400 square feet, the newest café features a slightly different style than the usual, Wagner says. The dining room will have about four or five tables as well as a counter. “It’s a smaller café,” he says. “It’s set up for grab and go.” Diners can order ahead using the mobile app and have their order ready and waiting for them when they arrive, he adds. The hope is to capitalize on those lunching on the go, Wagner says. Nearby, there are a number of medical businesses, and he hopes employees will swing by for lunch. “We feel like there’s a huge need that’s underserved,” he says. Featuring smoothies made with fresh fruit and other ingredients, as well as wraps, flatbreads, and bowls, Tropical Smoothie offers something different for a quick meal, Wagner contends. “The whole eat healthy thing is catching on.” W2B opened its first Tropical Smoothie Café in Victor in 2021, but has since sold that location to the general manager, who was looking for the opportunity to grow, Wagner says. The company also has cafés in Webster, Irondequoit, Cicero, New Hartford, and Camillus. While originally a little worried how the smoothie business would hold up through New York’s chilly winters, Wagner says sales are great. Business is split about 50/50 between smoothies and food. “We’re filling a niche with the millennial group,” he says of the Tropical Smoothie Café customer base. W2B, which also operates a number of Burger King and Moe’s Southwest Grill locations, is working toward a base of nine cafes in its franchise area. That area spans from the Rochester area, east to Utica, north to Watertown, and south to Cortland. “There’s a lot of opportunity as the brand recognition grows,” Wagner says. There are already plans in the works for three more cafés over the next 18 months, starting in Clay and Penfield. Wagner says he and his partners are also eyeing some college towns, where he feels the Tropical Smoothie Cafés would be a good fit. He can easily see the franchise growing to critical mass, with about 15 locations in the Syracuse area and seven or eight in the Rochester region. “We’re going to build one or two a year until we completely penetrate the market,” he says. The newest Tropical Smoothie Café location in DeWitt is open daily from 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Tropical Smoothie Café, founded in 1997, has more than 1,500 locations across 44 states.