While Jason Mazzarone was attending culinary school in San Diego, California, he had his first taste of an acai bowl. The fresh\u2014and healthy\u2014delicious treat was like nothing else he had ever tasted, and for the rest of that semester, he spent his time studying, surfing and eating acai bowls.<\/p>\n
But when he returned to his hometown of Sayville, New York, this super food was pretty hard to come by. That\u2019s when he put his culinary education to work\u2014Mazzarone decided to recreate the acai bowls he had in California himself. \u00a0Soon, he was selling these homemade acai bowls alongside Italian ices at the family\u2019s mainstay business, Papa Mia\u2019s Ice House. Needless to say, these bowls were a hit<\/p>\n
It was 2014 and the beginning of\u00a0SoBol. A year later, Mazzarone partnered with a family friend, Jim Kalomiris, who brought with him more than 20 years of experience in restaurant management, real estate and construction. Together, the two opened the first brick and mortar location for their flagship location in their hometown of Sayville. Today, it\u2019s clear these co-founders have found a recipe for success\u2014one where healthy eating, flavor and convenience could finally live in harmony.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople expect a lot more out of their food options these days. They want fresh, premium ingredients. They want things to be homemade. They appreciate attention to detail. They want food they can feel good about. And they want it fast,\u201d Mazzarone said. \u201cBy creating a place dedicated to acai bowls, I knew I could offer all of those things in one restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n
An acai bowl begins a layer of SoBol\u2019s famous homemade granola. Next comes a thick smoothie blend containing an assortment of fruits creating a dark purple hue. The frozen acai berry is the key ingredient; it\u2019s typically pureed with almond, soy or coconut milk. But the true allure of the acai bowl, however, is the toppings, which typically include a variety of fresh sliced fruit, shaved coconut, nut butter and the brand\u2019s famous granola. This treat was virtually unheard of in Sayville before 2014, but thanks to\u00a0SoBol, it was a concept that quickly caught on. Nearly a year later, they were opening up their second location.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt all started with a fairly simple idea\u2014I wanted to introduce my hometown to something I had fallen in love with while living in California. Our mission was to consistently create and deliver the best acai bowls and smoothies\u2014and that\u2019s proven to be more than enough. At the time, between the two shops, we were selling about 1,000 acai bowls a day. It became clear to us pretty quickly that, although a new concept, this was something that people genuinely wanted and needed in their lives,\u201d Mazzarone said.<\/p>\n
Within two short years, their success skyrocketed, and Mazzarone and Kalomiris decided to expand through franchising.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe realized that one of the advantages of franchising is there are already established roots. We had a lot of success in our hometown, and realized that this was the best move,\u201d Mazzarone said. \u201cSteve Beagelman, the president and CEO of SMB Franchise Advisors, was recommended to us, and the rest was a no-brainer. They were the perfect fit for what we\u2019re trying to do, and they\u2019ve already been an enormous help in guiding us. SMB has been a great teacher\u2014not to mention the fact that they always answer their phone no matter what hour you call them anytime there\u2019s some crazy question.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, SoBol\u00a0has come a long way since setting up shop at its flagship store in Sayville. According to Mazzarone, they\u2019ve already sold 15 units throughout Long Island. That\u2019s because, in addition to offering an in-demand product, SoBol\u00a0model boasts a simple menu, proven recipes and a fiscally-sound system.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy keeping our ingredient list small and our inventory simple, we\u2019re able to focus on and perfect our core product,\u201d Mazzarone said. \u201cAspiring SoBol owners also have the opportunity to enjoy a year-round business. Seasons, diets and trends may change, but it\u2019s clear that this heart-healthy, Vitamin C boosting antioxidant-rich food is here to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n
With room for growth throughout the East Coast and beyond, SoBol\u00a0is now looking for passionate and health-conscious franchisees to help take the brand\u2019s franchising efforts to the next level. And with an initial franchise fee of $15,000, SoBol\u2019s strength isn\u2019t just in the product itself\u2014its proven business model comes at an affordable cost, too.<\/p>\n
\u201c<\/a>SoBol\u00a0<\/a>has a growing fan base\u00a0throughout Long Island and beyond. And as the demand for healthy, on-the-go food only continues to increase, we\u2019re eager to continue leading the pack in this booming segment throughout the country,\u201d Mazzarone said. \u201cThis is just the beginning for SoBol.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The New York-based SoBol is bringing its homemade acai bowls to the East Coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysobol.com\/franchise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysobol.com\/franchise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysobol.com\/franchise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysobol.com\/franchise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysobol.com\/franchise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mysobol.com\/franchise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysobol.com\/franchise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysobol.com\/franchise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysobol.com\/franchise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysobol.com\/franchise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}