Far better late than, nicely, in the course of a pandemic.
Entrepreneurial brothers Don and Curt Fignar commenced welcoming buyers July 31 to their new company, Tropical Smoothie Café in South Fayette Township.
“It’s been an journey,” Curt explained. “We begun searching at places about two, two-and-a-fifty percent yrs in the past. We finally observed this certain locale, and then have been completely ready to move ahead and break floor in January 2020.”
Lucy Bardo tries her smoothie.
Options termed for the restaurant to open up final April, but of class, COVID-19 intervened.
The brothers, Hampton Township natives, have been in a position to celebrate at minimum with Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony structured by the South West Communities Chamber of Commerce.
State and South Fayette elected officers joined township staff members members and assorted well-wishers, which includes smoothie-sipping kids, for an opportunity to meet up with the hottest area company proprietors.
“They say persistence is the No. 1 top quality of an entrepreneur,” Curt mentioned. “We didn’t believe that we’d be sitting around for a 12 months making an attempt to get in the very same location we must have opened up in, but we’re listed here now.”
Tropical Smoothie Café began in 1993 as a little shop together the beach front in Florida’s panhandle. The to start with franchised store opened five a long time afterwards, and the South Fayette spot marks the 980th over-all and 3rd in Western Pennsylvania.
“It’s actually filling a void in locations like Pittsburgh,” Don mentioned. “That’s one of the main good reasons we picked it, mainly because it is not currently saturated listed here.”
By comparison, Las Vegas, close to the place Curt now lives, has 27 Tropical Smoothie Café locations, and Michigan offers more than 100.
Attending the Tropical Smoothie Café ribbon-cutting celebration are, from remaining, South West Communities Chamber of Commerce member Joe Verduci condition Sen. Devlin Robinson, R-Bridgeville, and his district director, Alicia McGhee and Gwen Rodi, president of the South Fayette Township Board of Commissioners.
“With each of us growing up right here, we now realized what the form of top 10 markets are in the location,” Don reported. “Focus on all those. Slim it down to kinds that we imagined ended up very, incredibly powerful out of that team, and regardless of whether there was good availability in relevant places: the correct dimensions, the correct obtain, anything that goes into that.”
The South Fayette location is just off Interstate 79, and the demographics appear to be amenable to what Tropical Smoothie Café has to supply.
“When you glance at it, you can convey to that there are extremely overall health-conscious individuals here,” Curt said.
Together with smoothie beverages, the cafe offers healthy food possibilities, which includes choices for customers who are vegetarian, like Don, or vegan.
“We have a plant-dependent ‘chicken’ that they introduced to the manufacturer a few of many years back,” Don claimed.
“And we really don’t have any fried foodstuff, which is awesome for overall health.”
The brothers hope to open up other franchise ultimately, and in the meantime, Curt proceeds to go after another of his entrepreneurial pursuits as operator of tfsource.com, “the most significant eCommerce retail website for Transformers toys.”
Optimus Key lovers, get notice.
Don and Curt Fignar cut the ribbon utilizing South West Communities Chamber of Commerce’s scissors.
More Stories
3 Delicious Recipes For A Slow Cooker Ideal For Healthy Eaters
5 Ideas For Healthy Snacks For Kids
Healthy Lifestyle Through Foods We Eat