Emerging Franchisors to Watch: SoBol

Jason Mazzarone opened the first SoBol, entitled Acai Café, in 2012 with a goal of bringing healthy and invigorating acai bowls to the local community. The concept quickly caught on and the brand now has 18 units and a goal of opening 40 units open by the end of 2018. 1851 Franchise caught up with Mazzarone, who now serves as the company’s president and CEO, and he shared SoBol’s secret to success.

What do you think is currently driving growth/success?

Our consistency. As we open and expand multiple units at a time, we have made an effort to provide continued support and training so each of our locations are offering the same quality product.

Acai is also a healthy alternative and consumers continue to be more interested in healthier food options, so our rapid expansion also feeds that need.

What makes SoBol unique from its competitors?

It’s the high standard that we have. We lean on our vendors to ensure we have the best product at the most affordable rate -- we want to give our customers value. I think it’s hard to go somewhere else for acai once you’ve tried SoBol.

Why did you decide to franchise?

Originally it was because of our corporate store’s success. Customers kept asking if we were a franchise. It makes you feel good that is reminiscent of a system that reminds people of a franchise system -- that goes back to our consistency. We keep very high standards when forming relationships with franchisees and that continues with our customers.

When you look at the market and how fast it’s moving, we realized we probably couldn’t open stores fast enough the right way. I remember thinking when we had two corporate stores with 60 employees that I didn’t want 600 employees, I wanted 600 franchisees.

I also knew that through franchising, we would be able to break into new communities and be a part of the local culture. I wanted to be able to offer healthy food alternatives to schools and local workers that they maybe wouldn’t have had access to before.

How do you supply your franchisees with the right tools to ensure success?

We have a training team that goes out to open stores and follows up with franchisees. We speak to our franchisees on a weekly or daily basis. Evolving our system is something we take very seriously, and we know that we have to be in stores to be sure they’re working at the local level. We are always making sure they’re getting the publicity they deserve and need to grow their brand in the local territories.

Another big part of our focus includes us being better franchisors. It’s important for us to be up to date on the franchise market and franchise trends so we can provide our franchisees with the right support.

What can we expect from SoBol in the near future?

We are excited to grow from a local brand, to a regional brand, into a national brand. We are focused on being real and authentic.