Juice It Up!, HB Protein Smoothies expand as franchise growth holds strong

Juice It Up! has signed a six-unit development deal to enter Utah, with former Utah Sen. Aaron Osmond and Nancy Osmond planning to open the first store at Copper View Plaza in Herriman and additional locations expected statewide. HB Protein Smoothies is moving into Boise, Phoenix and Portland under a multi-unit agreement, while Scramblers has opened its first Illinois restaurant in Bloomington, marking its 30th unit and later reporting 31 locations and counting.

Those deals land in a franchise market that still looks sturdy by the numbers. The International Franchise Association’s 2026 Franchising Economic Outlook projects U.S. franchise output will rise from $907.3 billion to $921.4 billion in 2026, a gain of 1.6 percent, while the number of franchise establishments is expected to climb from 832,521 to 845,000. FRANdata’s materials point in the same direction, projecting output above $920 billion across roughly 845,000 establishments.

Juice It Up! is backing its expansion push with operating results that franchise buyers will notice. The company said it finished its 30th anniversary year with 8.6 percent same-store sales growth in 2025 and nearly $54.5 million in total system sales. It now says it has about 100 locations across seven states, is targeting 10-plus new openings in 2026 and has 12 additional units in development as part of a plan to double the franchise system over four years.

For workers, that kind of growth is not just about new signs on storefronts. Each new territory needs a general manager, shift leads, trainers and a steady hiring pipeline that can produce the same drink or breakfast plate at a new address as reliably as the old one. In beverage concepts such as Juice It Up! and HB Protein Smoothies, speed and consistency matter as much as sales growth because the labor model is built around quick counter service and repeatable production, not a large back-of-house team.

Scramblers shows the same dynamic in a different part of the industry. The Bloomington restaurant opened inside The Chateau Hotel and serves breakfast, brunch and lunch seven days a week from 6:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., a schedule that depends on early prep crews, morning cooks and managers who can keep a short daypart running smoothly. As the Ohio-based brand stretches across Ohio, Indiana, Florida, Maryland and Illinois, the question for operators is whether workplace standards can spread as quickly as the footprint.