Better Blend opened its first Florida storefront at 955 East Brandon Boulevard on June 6, 2026, with franchisees Mike and Hillary Faustini running the shop and a pair of Blendmobile food trucks that have been working Tampa Bay events ahead of the opening. The Kentucky-born smoothie and bowl chain is using the Brandon location as the operational base for the trucks and as the first of three Tampa Bay storefronts the Faustinis have planned.
The shop is a quick-service room with fewer than 15 indoor seats, configured to move smoothies, smoothie bowls, and protein oat bowls through a takeout-heavy operation. Hours run 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Signature items on the launch menu include the Dubai Chocolate Blend, the Dubai Chocolate Power Bowl, and the Strawberries & Cream Protein Oat Bowl, alongside the brand's standard menu of high-protein, low-sugar smoothies and açaí bowls. Bowls start under $10.
"We're super excited to offer our full menu of high protein, low sugar, low carb smoothies," said Mike Faustini, the Brandon franchisee.
The two Blendmobile trucks, Better Blend's mobile arm, were already taking event bookings in Tampa Bay before the Brandon storefront opened. The trucks are bookable through the company's website and run a condensed version of the storefront menu. The Brandon shop now handles their commissary and dispatch. The Blendmobiles have been booked for corporate wellness events, school athletic functions, and private parties in the Tampa metro through the brand's catering arm.
Better Blend was founded in Kentucky in 2018 by Isaac Hamlin, a first-team SEC All-American who played rugby at the University of Kentucky. The brand's origin is the pregame-meal problem Hamlin couldn't solve in college: he wanted a protein smoothie that ate light, hit the nutrient profile, and didn't taste like a supplement. "We're trying to make it taste like it's bad for you but it's good for you," Hamlin said in an interview with Business Debut. His sister, Kim Hamlin, serves as the company's chief marketing officer.
The chain has grown to 18 locations across three states, with Hamlin himself operating six. Better Blend opened its franchise program in 2024 and is now targeting growth within a 300-mile radius of two anchor markets: Cincinnati and Tampa. The Brandon storefront is the first Tampa-radius location to open; Sarasota and Orlando have been named as next targets.
The 955 East Brandon Boulevard site sits on Brandon's east-west retail spine, the SR-60 corridor that carries the bulk of the suburb's quick-service and casual-dining traffic. Better Blend enters a market that already includes Tropical Smoothie Cafe at 2330 West Brandon Boulevard and Planet Smoothie at the Brandon Town Center. The brand's pitch against that field is the protein-bowl side of the menu and the BlendBox at-home line, which most quick-service smoothie operators do not carry.
The Brandon shop is open daily at 955 East Brandon Boulevard; Blendmobile bookings continue through betterblend-smoothies-bowls.com.
