Female Founders
BY EDDY GOLDBERG
“WHAT’S AN AÇAÍ BOWL?”
L
Spreading the word, one bowl at a time
et’s start with what’s an açaí berry.
Looking like a cross between a
grape and a blueberry, the açaí (ahsigh-EE) berry is a small, reddish-purple
fruit harvested from palm trees that grow
around the Amazon River Basin. Its taste
has been described as evocative of wild berries and chocolate. Its health benefits as an
anti-oxidant “superfood” are well-known.
So, can you build a business around a
Brazilian berry? Tara Gilad and her husband
Roy think they can, and in 2011 founded
Vitality Bowls, a Superfood Café.
“We think there’s a really big gap in the
market,” she says. “People want healthy
food and healthy options.” However, she
realizes that a business is not built on açaí
bowls alone. The brand has a diverse product line that also includes other “super” or
exotic foods (guarana seed, goji berries,
bee pollen, spirulina, dragon fruit, maca,
and the more pedestrian kale, to name a
few)—as well as smoothies, paninis, salads,
soups, specials, fresh juice, and a kid’s menu.
NAME: Tara Gilad
TITLE: Co-founder, COO
BRAND: Vitality Bowls
SYSTEM-WIDE REVENUE: $1.5 million in
2015 (approx.)
NO. OF UNITS: 20 (3 corporate)
INTERNATIONAL UNITS: 0
GROWTH PLANS: $2 million in 2016
PUBLIC OR PRIVATE? Private
YEAR COMPANY FOUNDED: 2011
YEAR STARTED FRANCHISING: 2014
YOUR YEARS IN FRANCHISING: 3
Marketing a selection of fruits and
berries that many customers have never
heard of (or can even pronounce) means
educational, missionary selling—at least
in today’s U.S., but Vitality Bowls and a
growing number of other brands have been
working hard to change all that. After all, it
wasn’t so long ago that anyone in the U.S.
knew what a “chipotle” was, and now we
can’t seem to get away from it.
First, says Gilad, “We have to educate
our employees, and then the public when
they come in, to explain the benefits of the
products.” One of the most frequent questions, of course, is “What’s an açaí bowl?”
One of her test markets for new bowl
recipes is her husband’s basketball-playing
friends. One message they conveyed, she
says, runs something like, “It’s delicious,
but I still feel like I need bread and meat.”
They responded by adding hot paninis
with turkey, ham, and salami. There’s even
peanut butter for a non-meat protein fix,
and the kid’s menu offers grilled cheese.
As the saying goes, it’s an evolution,
not a revolution. Power to the superfoods!
GETTING STARTED
What inspired you to start your business? After finding out my daughter had
severe food allergies, I was inspired to
create an allergy-safe, healthy restaurant
where