Veteran executive Gavin Felder has been appointed chief financial officer of Dallas-based Smoothie King, the world’s largest smoothie brand and the first health and fitness fast casual brand of its kind, effective May 28.
Felder will oversee all financial activities, proactively collaborating with senior leaders in various functions on strategies to boost value and ensure the brand’s continued profitability and next phase of growth, the company said.
“I take great pride in the teams we’ve built and the culture we’ve created at Smoothie King and we’re happy to welcome Gavin Felder to our distinguished leadership team,” CEO Wan Kim said in a statement. “Gavin is a visionary leader with a keen eye for innovation and I believe he’s the perfect partner to lead us into the next phase of Smoothie King’s growth story as we look to provide even greater value to our guests and franchise partners.”
Smoothie King said Felder is a proven leader with over two decades of global experience building powerful teams to drive growth and deliver transformational results.
Felder spent the last 16 years at global restaurant giant Yum! Brands, most recently serving as chief strategy officer where he led corporate strategy, investor relations, M&A, and Yum’s store innovation efforts.
Before that, Felder served in a range of senior leadership roles while at Yum!, including as commercial director for KFC UK, CFO of KFC Africa, and CFO of the Global KFC division, where he was responsible for over $1 billion of operating profit and nearly 25,000 restaurants across 140 countries.
‘Poised for extraordinary growth’
“I’m honored to join this world-class team poised for extraordinary growth,” Felder said in a statement. “Smoothie King is truly a category-defining brand fueled by an inspiring mission and I couldn’t be more excited to partner with our franchisees, suppliers, and store teams to take the business to new heights together.”
The company said Gavin’s addition to the executive leadership team comes on the heels of a strong 2023 for Smoothie King, highlighted by significant comp growth and new store development.
The third quarter of 2023 marked the highest sales period in the brand’s 50-year history and Q4 2023 marked Smoothie King’s largest new development quarter in seven years, the company said.
Smoothie King said that growth contributed to an 11.5% jump in same store sales and positive traffic growth. Smoothie King’s most recently reported Q1 marked the fifth consecutive quarter of positive same-store sales as well as a combined total of 41 new store openings and commitments so far this year.
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