Recently, a new location of the chain Playa Bowls popped up in the busiest shopping center in Frederick, located in Clemson Corner. The long-awaited smoothie & acai bowl place opened December 21st. We talked with Gene Sherman, the owner, about his new business, and also purchased some of the most popular bowls.
When you first walk in, the atmosphere and tropical smell pulls you in and transports you to a coastal surf shop. A frequent customer, Kylie Shawver, says, “I liked the tables and how they were shaped like surfboards, they were really cool. The bright colors stood out to me.” They have an extensive menu with many different sorts of smoothies, juices, and a wide variety of bowls & toppings.
The first question we asked Sherman was what motivated him to become a business owner. The one thing he jumps to is his love for fitness. “…what motivated me from that was just finding something I was passionate about. I’ve always loved sports. I’ve always loved exercise, fitness. So that’s kind of what started my path as far as ownership was concerned.” Sherman is proud of everything that he does, and goes on to explain why he chose Playa in the first place. Sherman explains, “It was a great edition of what I do… But just health oriented, and to motivate people to be healthier, and give people healthier food options.” Clearly, Sherman is very spirited about fitness and health, as he also owned two Anytime Fitnesses for 15 years.
We also went on to ask Sherman how he handles competition from other restaurants. He credits his enthusiastic team, strong marketing, and finding his target audience. Sherman claims all of these things are the secret to his business success, and exclaims that “…if you’re doing more of that you’re more apt to have a little bit of an edge on your competition, and your theme is more out in your community.” As well as the few other health-oriented chains in Frederick, you have to keep your guard up.
With the knowledge that Frederick is a rapidly growing community—we sought an answer for how the location affects the customer flow, and it makes a world of a difference. Sherman responds with, “This shopping center averages about 220,000 people per month. It’s got the number one traffic pattern in Frederick, and most of that is because of Wegmans. Wegmans apparently draws like 11000 unique visitors a month.” You can see it right off the highway, and people can look at the back sign from the road clearly. “It’s a premier location.”
Next, we asked Sherman how Playa headquarters help out their chain owners. He says that when he decided he was gonna open the business, he went to training for two weeks at the corporate headquarters in New Jersey. He says they taught him everything about Playa, including how much supplies you need in relation to the sales. He says he often has to ask himself how much of something he goes through. Sherman estimates that they go through, “roughly 25 to 30 tubs of acai a week.” Discussing the strawberries, he points out they, “…go through 30 of those flats of strawberries a week […] and we are constantly ordering strawberries and all the bases from suppliers. He also includes that they cut the strawberries themselves in the store, which complicates the process even more. He also cites how everything is fresh, so he has to keep careful watch over how much he’s ordering and how long that produce keeps.
We also asked him what his favorite bowl was personally.
“My bowl, myself, is the power acai. That’s number one. So that’s the banana, acai, protein powder, granola, and peanut butter.” he then begins to explain the most popular bowl, which is the Nutella Bowl, and how it’s not even close in scale to how popular it is to other bowls on the menu. When talking about the variety of items on the menu, he also talks about how he is shocked that the smoothies are so popular. “Smoothies are our second most popular category, which is a little surprising to me”.
Playa Bowl, we believe, is here to stay in Frederick. The food is great and healthy, which is nice to see around Frederick with all the fast food places, and the owner really cares about his product. Sherman really cares about his customers which you can see through the great customer service, and how they have fresh produce for their bowls. Playa has a wide variety of bowls to choose from giving everyone an option. Playa has a bright atmosphere, delicious food, and great customer service, so if you ever need a healthy meal stop by Playa Bowls in Frederick, MD Clemson Corner:
7820 Wormans Mill Road Frederick, MD 21701.