DeKALB – Smoothie King hopes to take the throne as the leading source for smoothies in DeKalb when the popular chain opens its stores as early as October.
The 1,500-square-foot eatery, located at 1015 W. Lincoln Highway, Unit B, will be adjacent to a plaza near the Northern Illinois University campus that already houses Starbucks and Baba’s Steak & Lemonade.
“We’re just excited to come to DeKalb, especially with NIU and all the students there,” said owner Byogesh Patel.
Patel said the decision to open a store in DeKalb made sense for several reasons.
“NIU is here. It’s a great city, a growing city,” Patel said. “We thought it would be a good fit. Our goal is for Smoothie King to offer healthy smoothies and healthy options. A lot of the college and high school students are interested in fitness. That fits with our mission: We want everyone to drink a healthy smoothie that tastes great.”
At Smoothie King, Patel said that for many, peanut butter is the ultimate.
“If you love peanut butter, this is one of our most popular smoothies,” Patel said.
If you’re more health conscious, Patel says Smoothie King has options for you too.
In total, Patel owns and operates seven Smoothie King locations in Illinois, including in Downers Grove, Westmont, two in Naperville, New Lenox and Belvidere.
Patel expressed hope that the DeKalb site would soon be operational.
“We’ve started construction, but we don’t have a set date yet,” Patel said. “We’re planning – if there are no major delays in construction or anything – hopefully the first or second week of October, but it all depends.”
Patel said the company will follow many Smoothie King locations in DeKalb in a similar fashion.
“It’s an open concept, so you can see from the checkout to the end when we give the customer the smoothie,” Patel said. “Everything is open. That’s our main goal: to make them feel the environment, the atmosphere. They know what’s in their smoothie. They can see how we make it – all the ingredients we have, all the protein powders that are out there.”
Patel said Smoothie King places great emphasis on building and maintaining relationships within the community.
“Being involved in the community is a big mission for us, especially for us as franchisees,” he said. “We like to get involved in the community, get to know everybody, know what’s going on and help the community. We don’t know exactly what we’re going to do yet, but as we get closer to opening, we’ll be more involved in the (university). But we’ll definitely do something with NIU that helps everybody.”
Once open, Smoothie King will be open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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