The PGP team is thrilled to welcome one of the top 10 Fastest Growing Franchise Concepts in America to our portfolio of brands. Vitality Bowls is shaking up the fast-casual health food scene, offering bowls and smoothies chock-full of nutritious superfood ingredients with notable benefits for the body and mind. With over 60 units opened since they began franchising just four years ago, Vitality Bowl’s fast success and growing popularity makes their brand a perfect fit for the PGP family.
An Inspiring Story – Founded out of a Necessity for Life
After discovering their daughter’s severe food allergies, Vitality Bowl founders Roy and Tara Gilad sought healthier, safer food options for her. They noticed a significant gap in the health-food segment where brands weren’t paying enough attention to allergen cross-contact in their kitchens, making it nearly impossible to find a safe solution for their daughter.
So, the family made it their mission to fill that market gap themselves. With their California roots and Tara’s family’s experience in organic farming, the parents went on a worldwide hunt to find the most well-researched foods jam-packed with essential vitamins and minerals to help bolster their daughter’s immunities. The pair founded Vitality Bowls in San Ramon, California in 2011, with a focus on eliminating cross-contact of allergen ingredients and offering America a taste of the fresh, healthy foods that would eventually help turn their daughter’s health around.
Health-Focused Concept
Themselves a part of the health-conscious generation of consumers, the Gilads created a concept perfectly at home in the millennial market, and a system that would bring the world’s most underrepresented superfoods into the mainstream American market. Vitality Bowls’ health-minded philosophy guides everything they do and reinforces their commitment to bringing health and wellness to every community across the country.
The de facto leader of the Superfoods category, Vitality Bowls specializes in making delicious açaí bowls, a thick blend of the açaí berry, organic granola and honey. The bowls are topped with the widest selection of superfood ingredients in the industry, including graviola, pitaya, acerola, mangosteen, camu camu, spirulina, aronia, moringa, maca and bee pollen.
Additional antioxidant-rich menu items include smoothies, fresh juices, soups, salads and panini. Every product is made fresh to order in a kitchen expressly designed to avoid cross-contact of common food allergens. They never use filler ingredients like ice, frozen yogurt, added sugar or artificial preservatives, ensuring the purest taste and most natural experience in every flavor-packed bite.
Outpacing Competitors
Vitality Bowls’ concept and distinct approach to franchising have made it an industry disrupter. Because they were among the first food concepts to focus on superfoods, they had to innovate to create a steady supply of the unique ingredients they offer – since their start, they’ve become the single largest restaurant exporter of açaí berries from Brazil.
Their holistic wellness approach truly sets them apart from competing fast-casual concepts. Right in line with a 202% increase in foods termed “superfruit,” “supergrain” or “superfood” between 2011 and 2015, studies have shown that over 29 million Americans have food-related allergies. To meet the demand, a crop of new franchises focused on healthy eating and smarter consumption have entered the market, but none so intensely geared toward the nutrient-rich superfoods and allergen awareness offered by Vitality Bowls.
And because Vitality Bowls is a family-run business founded on a couples’ love and need to nurture their daughter, the Gilads are dedicated to ensuring that every franchisee in their system is a part of the family – in addition to their 5 corporate stores, an additional 3 stores are run by the Gilad’s family members. And each month, the founders engage with all the franchisees in a systemwide conference call and collaborate with them on future offerings, upcoming events and initiatives and ensure each franchisee knows they’re integral to the health and growth of the Vitality Bowls system.
We’re excited to be playing a part in the growth of such an innovative brand, helping them continue to lead the superfoods category and managing the development and recruitment of the brand’s franchise system. With 64 stores open and 122 sold, Vitality Bowls is already set to be open in 18 states and is actively seeking franchisees to continue their nationwide growth. Not only a perfect fit for health-conscious consumers, Vitality Bowls is an ideal investment opportunity for entrepreneurs looking for a franchise concept with momentum and longevity.