It all started with allergies...

Smoothie King has been a labor of love for the Kuhnaus, who got involved in the health food business because of a personal mission more than a profit motive.

Trips to dermatologists and allergists brought no relief to the allergies that were making Steve's life miserable. In 1973, when he was a nurse at Charity Hospital, he started reading books on nutrition. That was back when "carbohydrate" was a word that most people had to look up in the dictionary.

After he began eating fresh foods and cutting the fat out of his diet, Steve started feeling better. He then decided to tackle the midday fatigue that plagued him because of hypoglycemia. Remembering his days of playing around with blending drinks in high school as a soda jerk at Hoppers Drive-in, he began experimenting with high-protein drinks. He found that the mixtures elevated his blood sugar without having to eat a lot.

In order to share what he had learned with others, he opened Town & Country Health Foods in Kenner, offering smoothies on the side for 99 cents a glass.

And so his business continued for the next 12 years, until he met and hired Cindy in 1985. She had spent the past dozen years working for Dixie Health Foods, another local store. Her entry into health food came via her son, who has allergies similar to Steve's.

"I was frustrated and concerned because we were pouring medicine down his throat constantly," she recalls. Finally she experimented with giving him vitamins and his condition improved.

"Then I started taking them and I started to feel better too," she says. After she started working for Steve, the two found that they shared a passion for natural foods and healthy living.

"Nutrition is our lifestyle. We are believers, we practice what we preach. I'm sitting here with 40 vitamins in front of me. It takes me about an hour to take them all," she says.

Having gone through a stage of baking their own bread and avoiding any chemical additives, they know that healthy eating can be time-consuming. One of Steve's goals in developing the smoothie was to make nutrition quick and convenient. The drinks can serve as a meal, a snack or a dessert, he says.

When Cindy went to work for Steve, she thought the drink had the potential to be more than a sideline. "I was surprised by the mainstream of customers he had. My theory was that it was the smoothie that was drawing them in," she says. So, when the pair decided to go into business together, they built the concept around the smoothie.

Cindy's hunch proved right. In early 1989, the first Smoothie King opened on Baronne Street in the CBD. Three others quickly followed. Smoothie King was on its way.

Jumping on the Nutrition Bandwagon

Timing was on their side, the Kuhnaus say. They are both amazed by how far the awareness of nutrition has come in the past decade. As baby-boomers age, concern about eating right is likely to accelerate, they believe. However, the culinary tradition that has brought New Orleans worldwide fame can make selling healthy foods a challenge in the Big Easy.

"In New Orleans, with the best food on the planet, it's hard to penetrate," Steve admits. He and Cindy became partners of another sort when they made their wedding vows in 1991. Their personalities led to a natural division of duties, they say. Cindy is quick to acknowledge that Steve supplies the creative juice for the company. "I'm more structured," she says.

Gary Burrows also comments on their personality differences. Now president of Texas-based Bluebonnet Corp., he has worked with the Kuhnaus for years while employed with three different vitamin manufacturers. "Steve is more the visionary, while Cindy adds the finesse and drive," he says. Together, they have what it takes to accomplish their goals, he believes.

"They are ready for 400 stores," he says. Benton, of Irwin Naturals, agrees. "They really understand the bigger picture," he says. "They know where they want to go, and no one is going to stop them."