When it comes to restaurants, local places typically outperform national chains. Smoothie King is fairly new to the Des Moines area, but the chain is competition for local smoothie shops.

I decided to compare Smoothie King to The Juice Company, a local smoothie shop. At both stores, I ordered a strawberry-banana smoothie with peanut butter mixed in. I compared menus, taste and price, amongst other things.

The first thing I noticed when I walked into each store was the difference in the menus. There are so many options and choices at Smoothie King. You can add a variety of supplements to your smoothie such as protein or electrolytes.

The Juice Company menu has considerably fewer options. However, an average smoothie drinker like myself would find it easier to decide what smoothie to have.

A 20-ounce smoothie at Smoothie King with a mix-in cost me $7.08. The smallest size at The Juice Company was 16 ounces, but it cost me only $5, no tax included. Even with the added mix-in, the price remained $5. To go one step further, a 24-ounce smoothie is only $6 at The Juice Company.

The smoothies did not taste different from each other, and they were both delicious. All the ingredients tasted fresh and natural.

However, I think both overdid it on the peanut butter. I would have liked just a spoonful for the added flavor. There was enough added in both to make the smoothies thicker and less refreshing. There were too many similarities to conclude that one smoothie is better than the other.

Since there is no difference in the taste, I would conclude that The Juice Company is the place to go for a simple smoothie. It is so much easier to pick out what you want, and you do not have to sort through numerous enhancers and ingredients that you may have never heard of. Two dollars is a steep price to add things to your smoothie.

Is Smoothie King the real king of smoothies? Their menu might be larger, but nothing stands out to make it the go-to smoothie shop. You can save time looking at the menu, and you can save money by going to The Juice Company.