The smoothie chain, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, opened on South Second Street in Rexburg on Monday.
The smoothie franchise came to Rexburg thanks to Alex Plummer, the manager of Tropical Smoothie Cafe. He learned about it while serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Bentonville, Arkansas.
“Somebody told me this Tropical Smoothie Cafe thing was there and was really good so I tried it out and the smoothies were amazing,” Plummer said. “I got home to Rexburg after the mission and told my family about it. We all tried it when we went and toured the mission and then we looked into franchising — and here we are.”
Plummer’s parents, Nepal and Kelly Plummer, have looked into franchising businesses many times before, but this one felt different.
“It’s the first one that worked out, but it also felt like, from the beginning, that it was supposed to work out,” Kelly Plummer said. “The others were not really what we were supposed to do.”
Kelly and Nepal Plummer are now the owners of the Rexburg franchise. The couple hopes people will enjoy the space when they visit.
“One of the things we’ve done to help encourage people to just hang out is we’ve put all these outlets right at the tables, so people can plug in their laptops or their phones,” Kelly Plummer said. “We just want to make a space where people are comfortable to hang out as long as they want to.”
The grand opening will start Friday, June 2, and last through June 4. The event will sponsor the annual Carousel Summer Kickoff at Porter Park on June 2. On Saturday, June 3, Tropical Smoothie Cafe will also sponsor the Teton Dam Marathon.
Throughout the grand opening, Tropical Smoothie Cafe will give away year-long coupon cards for one free smoothie per week, t-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, candy and more.
Tropical Smoothie Cafe is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.