After 20 years of owning a sneaker store, Rick Sehgal decided to change direction and open Tropical Smoothie Cafe in Port Washington.
“I wanted to make a change. The business was getting a little bit more aggressive and I wanted to make a change, so I just picked up this smoothie place.”
Tropical Smoothie Cafe located at 11 Old Shore Road in Port Washington opened on March 21 and held a ribbon cutting on May 7.
Sehgal, who owns cellphone businesses in Centereach and Brentwood, said a main factor for opening Tropical Smoothie Cafe was the potential of the franchise.
“It’s more health conscience and people are getting more health conscience,” he said. “Every third or fourth person that you are seeing is dieting because they have a heart problem they have a low blood pressure high blood pressure, all these reasons are that people aren’t eating healthy foods.”
“It’s better to get some heathier food and paying the same price,” Sehgal added.
According to the Tropical Smoothie Cafe website, the cafe is intended to inspire a healthier lifestyle by serving smoothies and food with a bit of tropical fun. The company has more than 400 locations in 40 states.
Tropical Smoothie Café’s menu includes smoothies made with fresh ingredients, toasted wraps, sandwiches, flatbreads and gourmet salads are made fresh with meats and cheeses and topped with fresh produce and a variety of sauces.
Sehgal said the first step in owning your own franchise is to survey the market.
“You need to know what do you want to do and what franchise do you want to go with that,” he said, adding that he visited a few other franchises before making his final decision with Tropical Smoothie Cafe.
He said another reason why he settled on Tropical Smoothie Cafe was the franchises five-mile radius restriction for other locations.
“They want each franchisee to make a certain amount of money so they can survive,” Sehgal said. “Because if you saturate the market no one is going to make money.”
After he made the final decision to go with Tropical Smoothie Cafe, he said, he started looking for the location.
With the help of the franchises corporate offices, he choose Port Washington.
“I like it because i don’t have that much competition, demographics are good, you have to look for if the pay scale is good,” Sehgal said. “It’s a nice area. You are across the water and goes with the tropical theme.”
Sehgal said that although they just opened up they have received positive feedback from the community and he believes the company with continue to grow.
“The response is great. I can’t complain,” he said. “We have a very good response here from the people. They like the food. They like the smoothies. I’m very happy with the response.”
