Acai bowls were invented in the 1980s and popularized in the US by Sambazon in the early 2000s. Nowadays, you can buy frozen acai packets at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Sprouts, and most grocery stores. For even greater convenience, some manufacturers like Dole, Kind, and Sambazon offer premade acai bowls. Costco’s food court added $5 acai bowls and acai soft serve in 2018. The Costco acai bowls were dropped in 2020 though.
Acai Bowls Go Mainstream
While acai bowls are hardly new but there’s been a resurgence of acai cafes in the San Gabriel Valley (east Los Angeles) recently. Roots & Rye took over Bengee’s Ice Cream off Lake Avenue in Pasadena and opened in August 2020.
In Pasadena, CA, you can get made-to-order acai bowls over a dozen places, including:
- Acai Bar (opened in 2019)
- Amazebowls (inside Kitchen United, opened in 2019)
- Beaming Organic Superfood Cafe
- Brazilian Acai Bowls (opened in 2021)
- Fit Bar Superfood Cafe (opened in 2019)
- Jamba/Jamba Juice (3 locations)
- Kreation Organic Juicery
- Movita Juice Bar
- My Place Cafe
- Nekter Juice Bar
- Roots & Rye (2 locations, one opened in 2020)
- Sunlife Organics
- Ubatuba Acai (opened in 2021)
In contrast, only three places in Pasadena offer soft serve froyo. In the Northeast Los Angeles neighborhood of Highland Park, you can get made-to-order acai bowls at:
- Berry Bowl
- La Tropicana Market
- Tierra Alta Tacos (opened in 2020)
There is no froyo option in Highland Park, unless you count a froyo pop-up on York that we haven’t seen in months.
In Glendale, CA, freshly made acai bowls are offered at:
- Acai Grill
- Acai Village (opened in 2020)
- Da Juice Bar
- Earthbar
- Jamba Juice
- Ko Juice
- Muffin Can Stop Us (opened in 2020)
- Pressed Juicery
There are four places to get soft serve froyo in Glendale.
You’ll notice that many of the acai bowl places are new (under 2 years old). Many are juice places, a few are located inside or right next to gyms, and a few are stand alone acai cafes. Also, some Pressed Juicery stores offer acai bowls. Acai cafes typically offer other bases (often pitaya, coconut, green juice, chia) and smoothies.
Since acai bowls are hardly new, what might account for their newfound popularity? Multiple articles point to social media, particularly Instagram. They’ve been particularly popular with surfers and in Hawaii, a state known for warm weather and fresh fruit. On Instagram, the #acaibowl tag has been used almost 1.7 million times, compared to 1.3 million uses of #froyo.
Main Players in Acai Bowls
Playa Bowls was founded by two NJ natives and surfers. Based in NJ, Playa Bowls currently has 92 locations, including 54 in NJ. They opened “over 80 stores in the past five years.” Playa Bowls offers bowls, smoothies, juices and poke bowls.
Vitality Bowls, launched in San Ramon, California in 2011, made Technomic’s top 500 restaurants in the US list in 2018. They sell over a million acai bowls a year and currently have 77 locations, with 35 in California, mostly in the Bay Area. Acai and other superfood bowls and smoothies are made to order. They also offer paninis, soups, and salads. Vitality Bowls began franchising in 2014.
Rush Bowls, the fast casual crafted bowl franchise launched in Boulder, Colorado in 2004, is also growing rapidly with 33 locations at the moment. At the end of 2019, Rush Bowls had 25 locations. The first franchised location opened in 2017 in Nashville, TN. Rush Bowls offers fruit and vegetable based bowls and smoothies.
Who Eats Acai Bowls and When
According to Foodservice Equipment and Supplies’ interview with Vitality Bowl’s VP of operations, Uriah Bloom, “We have stores in malls and shopping centers and even thriving downtown locations that have done well. We are really popular with high school students and athletes — anywhere there are gyms, schools or other health-focused concepts.”
The health positioning of acai bowls puts it in a similar space as frozen yogurt, so it’s no surprise that many frozen yogurt shops offer acai bowls as well. Yogurtland offered acai bowls several times in the past. Acai bowls are also offered by Red Mango, Orange Leaf, Menchie’s, etc.
Acai bowls are more substantial and filling than cold-pressed juice, so they’re considered a meal replacement (usually ordered for breakfast). The average price of an acai bowl at Vitality Bowls is $12.50. This is considerably different from froyo, which is usually a late afternoon/evening snack or dessert. But similar to froyo, interest in acai bowls is seasonal, peaking in the summer. Interest is lower during the colder months (based on Google Trends search data).
