Popular smoothie and sandwich shop opens second eastern Idaho location
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IDAHO FALLS – Nearly two years after opening Tropical Smoothie Cafe in Rexburg, Kelly Plummer is pleased to have a second location in Idaho Falls.
The smoothie, wrap and sandwich restaurant opened Monday at 3492 South 25th East inside Kingwood Plaza. Plummer and her team celebrated the first day of business by providing free menu items for first responders. It opened to the public at 4 p.m.
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Kelly’s son, Alex, who manages the restaurant, is thrilled to be up and running in Idaho Falls.
“It’s exciting for us and hopefully exciting for the community. I think we provide something unique, something healthier, lighter,” Alex says. “We’re surrounded by great establishments and we’re just excited to be part of it.”
The fact that there is so much growth and heavy traffic in that part of town is one thing that appealed to Kelly about this location. She also wanted a drive-thru and the restaurant’s location at the end of the strip made that possible.
The location came highly recommended by Kelly’s sister-in-law, Zina Chilmark, who co-owns Honey Baked Ham with her husband, John, in the strip next door.
“It’s been really nice to have them right there,” says Kelly. “Now we can (support each other) and eat each other’s food.”
Prior to opening Honey Baked Ham, Zina says she and her husband would meet with the Plummers for lunch once a month. When they told them they were looking into becoming franchisors, they were surprised to learn that the Plummers were doing the same thing.
The Chilmarks opened their restaurant at 3502 South 25th East in 2024 while the Plummers were busy at the Rexburg location, which opened in 2023. After several years of searching for a spot in Idaho Falls with a drive-thru, Zina brought the Kingwood Plaza site to Kelly’s attention.
“It was one of the only drive-thru spaces in town that was available,” Zina says.
Once the Plummers signed the lease, construction was completed in about three months.
Although they never planned it this way, both parties are happy with the way things turned out.
“We started the process at the same time and now to have them right across from us is awesome!” says Zina.
Tropical Smoothie Cafe serves a variety of smoothies, flatbreads, wraps, quesadillas, sandwiches, salads and other items. Fruit bowls were added to the menu at the Rexburg location about a year after it opened. The Idaho Falls menu is identical to the Rexburg store.
The business began in Destin, Florida in 1997 serving “real-fruit smoothies,” according to the company’s website. It opened its first franchise location the following year and became Tropical Smoothie Cafe in 1999 when it added food options to the menu. The franchise started expanding across the U.S. several years ago.
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There are now 1,500 locations nationwide. The Idaho Falls store is the seventh location in Idaho and the second one on the eastern side of the state.
Kelly is hoping to eventually open additional locations.
“We feel like Idaho Falls is big enough that maybe we can put a second one on the other side of town, maybe even another one on the north side of Rexburg one day,” Kelly explains. “We’ll see what happens down the road.”
“We’ve got big dreams so we’ll just have to see if we get there,” Alex adds.
The Idaho Falls location is open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday. Sunday hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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