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A dietary staple for Belmar residents Abby Taylor and Robert Giuliani has grown into million dollar venture.

The couple, who are avid surfers, opened their flagship Playa Bowls at Ocean and Eighth avenues in Belmar four years ago and by this summer’s end, they will have 17 locations, many via partnerships with existing businesses.

One example is their recent partnering with Juice Beach owners Genevieve Palos and Cathy Gallo. The mother-daughter duo reopened their popular downtown shop on Cookman Avenue known for its nutrient-packed smoothies with the extended Playa Bowls menu.

So, what are Playa Bowls.

Giuliani describes them as a big smoothie filled with fruit from all over the world.  

Think of it as a denser smoothie turned into a meal that is topped with the couple’s creative recipes.

They offer everything from Coco Bowls that features the raw coconut meat blended with the milk and banana that is then topped with mix of fruit, granola, honey, and/or Nutella or almond butter to their Pitaya Bowls, which features the dragon fruit blended with banana, pineapple, and coconut milk or vanilla protein. Those bowls are again topped with varying fruit, granola and honey toppings.

Their signature Acai Bowls feature the South American berry blended with banana and apple juice, and/or chocolate protein, again topped with their creative recipe amalgamations. Giuliani said there are no added filler ingredients, like banana juices found in competitor products.

“Just 100 percent acai,” he said.  

The venture is Taylor’s brainchild but was brought into fruition through Giuliani’s coaxing.

“After college, I was working as a bartender and traveling and surfing in the winter,” she said. “I had my first acai bowl in Puerto Rico. I felt it gave me energy and I loved the way tasted. When I got home, I found some acai packets at a health food store and began blending them up every day.”

The couple took the leap and began the venture. Their first guinea pig was Jimmy of the popular Jimmy’s Place pizzeria.

“We live above the Jimmy’s Pizza,” Giuliani said. “I ran it downstairs for him to try it. And although he liked it, he said it wasn’t his thing but to give it a try.”

Their first month in business was spent handing out more free samples than garnering sales but by month two the concept took off. Today, they employ over 500 people, predominately women ages 17 to 30, Taylor said.

“It’s more than we could have ever envisioned,” the 27-year-old artist said. “We are providing so many jobs and I feel like I am now a role model for many of them.”

As similarly branded bowls begin trending across the area, the couple says they aim to continue to offer the best quality product.

“We just want to continue to be the best ones doing it,” Taylor said. “We were the first ones doing it and worked very hard to bring it to fruition. We’ve tested our product and feel really confident with what we are offering.”

Through an exclusive partnership with Ryan Black, CEO of the California-based Sambazon, the couple is able to offer a product that is at least two-thirds fewer grams of sugar than their competitors.

“That’s huge,” Giuliani said.

On Thursday morning we caught up with Giuliani prior to Grand Opening of the first drive-thru venture of its kind in the nation on Mantoloking Road in Brick. This was coming off of last week’s Island Heights opening.

Their other locations include at Pier Village in Long Branch, Rutgers University, in Bay Head, Manasquan, Red Bank, Montclair, and Seaside Park. They will launch their second food truck as part of Madison Marquette’s North Eats Food Truck Court this weekend, the first being at the Jackson Outlets.

And while they are rapidly growing, Giuliani said their business model is less corporate and more of a business family partnership. Among them is last year’s alliance with Michelle Gannon when the Dunes Boardwalk Cafe opened in Ocean Grove.

Their partnership in the It’s All Good eatery resulted in an increased profit margins and decrease in workload for the woman who heads the Mary’s Place By The Sea nonprofit in support of women diagnosed with cancer.

“We kept their logo on the wall and continued serving some of her own smoothie recipes,” Giuliani said. “We are partnering up with great people. We’ve created a big awesome family of business partners.”

They have done the same at many other locations, including with their new partnership with Juice Beach.

“They are total professionals when it comes to freshly made juices and their well known three-day juice cleanse,” Giuliani said. “Playa bowls also does juices but it was never our focus.”

Now Juice Beach will supply all Playa Bowls locations with the popular three-day juice cleanse, and in return, Playa Bowls helped with the newly complete renovations.

“It was a great marriage,” Giulian said. “We helped train their existing staff on how to make a great Acai bowl and business has been great.”

Next on the roster will be North Jersey locations through a partnership with a famed New York Giants football player. 

For more about Juice Beach, click here.

For more about Playa Bowls, click here.  

[Photos courtesy of Playa Bowls and Juice Beach]

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