SmartSense acquired Jolt in 2025. The two teams now operate together, combining SmartSense's monitoring solution with Jolt's task-management and operations software. The result is a single service, equipment, and software offering built on both companies' technology. The story below originally described this customer's experience with Jolt, which is now part of SmartSense. Learn more about the SmartSense platform.
Scott Hilliard, a multi-location Smoothie King Owner-Operator, could name his problem exactly. He was burning too much time driving between stores, and the visits themselves had taken on a sour tone.
"I needed consistency between stores. I was spending way too much time going through the stores, and I became the bad guy every time I went to a store. I wanted my visits to be a more positive experience."
Cleanliness was slipping too, in a way paper couldn't catch.
"Smoothie King has maintenance and cleaning lists that weren't getting done. Employees would run a line through the tasks and jot their initials, but each chore wasn't getting the attention and TLC it deserved."
Scott already knew how to succeed as a Smoothie King franchisee; that's how he'd grown and opened new locations. The bottleneck wasn't his playbook. It was the paper it lived on.
"Checklists are huge with Smoothie King, which is great. But practically, I was putting printed paper into binders so they wouldn't get wet, then having these massive books of reference material that weren't really accessible."
New franchisees start with corporate checklists built in, but Scott went further, building his own accountability checklists on top. The payoff was measured in hours.
"Jolt gives me the opportunity to implement my own solutions, store by store. I save 10 hours a week not having to travel to stores and follow-up with everything. I still visit my stores, but I spend much less time there. Jolt already has me caught up."
Team accountability was just the start. Scott expanded into digital food safety and employee-performance tools, and what stuck with him was the breadth.
"My favorite thing is that Jolt is an all-in-one tool. It has so many of the solutions that other companies only offer one of."
He uses scheduling to cut down on call-ins and labeling for product and inventory, and the labels turned out to be an unexpected motivator.
"Labels are the employee's favorite. They're so easy to print out it's made them want to start completing checklists. They're actively keeping our store compliant."
For Scott Hilliard, Owner-Operator, it all pointed back to one of Smoothie King's core values: building a purpose-driven culture.
"Ultimately, I wanted something that works smarter, not harder. Anytime I can get back to concentrating on improving my business as opposed to keeping up with a backlog of tasks is great. Jolt helps me do that."
Scott's Smoothie King stores rely on: