(Atlanta, GA) - Smoothie retailers are creating a fruitful business. As consumers on the go become more health conscious, retailers are serving smoothies as a nourishing alternative or complement to a meal.

One such retailer is Atlanta-based Planet Smoothie. With 85 store locations, Planet Smoothie expects to open 300 additional stores in 1999 and 500 in 2000. Approximately 70% of the new stores are expected to be located in shopping centers.

"We see this as one thing that was lacking in the American diet," says Martin Sprock, president and CEO of Planet Smoothie. "There's just very little nutrition in people's diets today. Fast food is loaded with fat."

Smoothies, which are blended fruit drinks often mixed with protein powder and other nutritional supplements, are the perfect solution, Sprock says.

They are made with fruit because it is plentiful around the world and its great taste masks the supplements. Smoothies are not recommended as a substitute for meals all the time, but Sprock hopes Americans will drink them occasionally to cut fat from their diets and add essential nutrients.

"We're the competitor of fast food in the sense that you can go to Burger King and eat, as long as you come to us for the next meal," he says. "We provide something that's healthy, that tastes great, and that you can get on the run. We're not trying to be the saving grace."

Smoothies are becoming more popular around the country, but so far the trend is more prominent on the West Coast. The East Coast is taking longer to catch on, for two reasons, Sprock says.

First, there is less awareness on the East Coast about being healthy. Also, with smoothies being a seasonal business, the moderate climate on the West Coast attracts more customers throughout the year.

Although Planet Smoothie is interested in opening stores across the country, Sprock says, the retailer is concentrating more of its business on the East Coast.

"In the next four or five years, people will become a lot more aware," he says. "It's definitely not a fad."

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