The 1040 Grant Road shop is the first Northern California location for this family-owned Southern California chain. Bowl of Heaven serves acai bowls as well as smoothies, fresh fruit and vegetable juices and healthy grab-and-go snacks.
For those who don't know or haven't had an acai bowl, the antioxidant-rich Brazilian superfruit is typically frozen and then blended with other fruits or healthy add-ins to create a smoothie-like base that is served in a bowl and topped with ingredients like fruit, granola, coconut, seeds or nuts.
Bowl of Heaven bowls also include the company's own proprietary "Maq7" superfruit juice, a blend of seven superfruits, from goji berries and acai to prickly pear and maqui, a Chilean berry.
Owner Dan McCormick opened the first Bowl of Heaven in Rancho Santa Margarita four years ago, inspired by trips to visit three of his daughters attending college in Oahu, Hawaii, during which he and his wife would often eat acai bowls. McCormick teamed up with his son-in-law, Brandon Beazer, to start the company. They have since franchised and have six total locations, with more on the way this year.
Acai shop Bare Bowls opened on Emerson Street in downtown Palo Alto in November, and another franchised chain, Vitality Bowls, is slated to open this spring at at the former Cho's Mandarin Dim Sum location on California Avenue.