Red Mango has signed a multiunit development agreement with Terri Keogh to open five stores in Florida. The first store is expected to open in Gainesville at the University of Florida this spring, marking the first Red Mango for the state and one of the chain's first self-serve locations in the nation.
Keogh, head of Flairmango LLC, was awarded a franchise agreement for Alachua, Marion, Lake and Sumter counties.
Keogh's grandfather founded Castro Convertibles -- a furniture retailer that began franchising in the 1960s and expanded to locations across the East Coast, including manufacturing plants and retail sites throughout the state of Florida. It was that growth that prompted the family to enter commercial real estate. Today, Keogh serves as president of Castro Realty, which has extensive retail and customer service experience and oversees properties in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Virginia and Florida.
Keogh was was the first female ever to receive the Distinguished Alumni Award from the university. Her Red Mango location will feature free Wi-Fi, a quiet study area, a lounge area with a flat screen TV and acoustic guitar on the weekends. She also will be championing one of the first self-serve locations in the nation and also will offer Red Mango's new line of smoothies.
"I'm in a college town," Keogh said in a news release. "This market sector wants to control its own destiny. They don't want to tell you how to do it. They want to taste it the way they want it."
