Smoothie King — Restaurant in Hickory

I'd like to make an announcement... I am opening up my own Smoothie King franchise! I have the formula...

1. I will post a full menu, however I don't need bananas (or any other ingredients)

2. I can post any list of random operating hours, cuz I never have to actually be open.

3. If I don't know how to make a smoothie, I have about 45 minutes to figure it out before I'm required to serve the customer anyway.

4. As the owner I must always remember to post a sign at the front of the building near the road that says "We are open!"... Especially when we're CLOSED.

5. I apparently don't need to keep a lot of cash on hand, because the largest bill I will accept is a 20! ( Not to break character, but this one was particularly annoying and simultaneously baffling. They wouldn't accept a $50 bill when the total charge was almost $30.)

All I need now are some unfortunate, well meaning, poorly trained young people to shove in the store...

Update - March 2nd 2021: You may want to bring bananas when you come to place your order. They are still routinely out of bananas. -- Just a side note, I am kicking myself because I drove through the Lowes Foods parking lot on my way to Smoothie King and admittedly had every opportunity to get my own bananas for my smoothie. So I must accept partial...

I LOVE the smoothies at Smoothie King, however I will not go back to the Hickory location. I was on my lunch break and instead of going through the long drive thru line I went inside. I know that the one in Hickory is slow so I estimated 10 minutes to get my smoothie. While I was in there, only two employees were working and before I could get mine, one of the employees just left without telling another employee. I waited 20 MINUTES before even confronting the poor girl working the drive thru line. I asked for a refund and she didn't know how to refund my money. Thirty minutes after I ordered she goes to look for the other employee and realizes she is all alone with 10 people to wait on. Finally, another person waiting asked if she could halt the drive thru long enough to make our smoothies since we had already paid. Three other times I have been to this location during business hours to be told that they were closed. I want the owner's contact info, not the manager. Something needs to be done with this location. The employee that was there needs some praise because she was busting her tail trying to do it...

Both gals behind counter don't know how to make smoothies. Madison made mine. She put the ingredients in, the other gal put in the ice, the correct amount of ice was used. The drink would not stir in the blender. I commented saying this is taking longer than normal. She said" I didn't put the ingredients in" Madison didn't pump the proper amount of water. Tasted it, I said "I don't taste the banana". The other gal said she will remake it. She did. It came out watery not frozen. This gal knew enough water was not put in the 1st one. She had to have put in extra water, for it to come out watery and not frozen. I couldn't wait for a 3rd try. It did taste better. I called corporate to complain. I was told the store owner will call me about my experience. He/she doesn't value me as a customers, never got a phone call from owner. As a result I leave this review so customers can decide if they want to go there or some other place. Nick is the one who knows what he is doing....