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Owner Hopes Business Is Smooth

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 2, 2008

WESLEY CHAPEL - An underwater encounter with a bull shark nearly a decade ago set D.J. Halligan's life on a new path.
Halligan was spear-fishing off Madeira Beach in 2000 when he met the shark nearly 100 feet below the surface. With several speared fish on his belt, Halligan opted not to risk attracting the shark and sped to the surface. That gave him a severe case of the bends.

Health problems stemming from his diving mishap forced Halligan to retire from his job as a St. Petersburg firefighter. After a preboom career as a real estate investor, Halligan, 36, found his calling with fitness nutrition and Smoothie King.

"I turned to something I love doing," said Halligan, who opened his second Pasco County Smoothie King last month.
Halligan opened his first store this year at Little and Ridge roads in New Port Richey. The Wesley Chapel store he opened May 23 is at the northwest corner of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard and County Line Road in the Northwoods Shopping Center.
Halligan and his wife, Susan, hope to use their business to promote better nutrition among young people and reduced obesity among teens. The couple's daughter, Donna, is a freshman on the cheerleading and weightlifting teams at Wiregrass Ranch High School.

"We can give the kids a healthier choice than sodas," Halligan said.

He is in training as an amateur bodybuilder with plans to compete in a master's tournament when he turns 40 in 2012 - the minimum age for competition.

True to his avocation, Halligan has stocked his Wesley Chapel store with protein powders and other bodybuilding supplements. Some are Smoothie King brands, but others were handpicked by Halligan based on his own experience.
Halligan hopes to attract people from the Anytime Fitness gym next door. He also plans to reach out to customers of Face Logic, a spa now under construction in the same plaza.

For now, though, Halligan's strongest customer base lies among students at Wiregrass Ranch High - the same students he hopes to encourage to live healthier lives. He'd also like to make inroads at Hillsborough County's Wharton High School a half-mile or so down the road.

While his business grows, Halligan is focusing on promotions, which recently included an afternoon of making smoothies at American Laser Centers, a hair-removal clinic at Seven Oaks.

Clinic manager Ardena Bosley saw the cross-promotion as a good match.

"People don't think of this as a nutritional place," she said of Smoothie King.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

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