Executive Q&A: President and CEO Jason Mazzarone

1851: What inspired you to start SoBol?

JM: The first time I stumbled upon açaí bowls was during my time as a surf bum going to culinary school out in California. I immediately wanted to know all about these fruit-topped, purple bowls and once I tried one, I was hooked. When I moved home to New York, there was nowhere to find açaí bowls, so I started making them for myself and my family. Soon enough, my mom asked me to start selling them at her ice shack in Long Island. On August 1, 2013, we started selling the açaí bowls and from there opened our first SoBol location in Sayville, New York, a small town on the south shore of Long Island. Once that took off, we opened our second location a couple of towns over in Patchogue, New York. Although the immediate success was overwhelming at first, we knew we really had something special. Eventually, someone mentioned that I should look into a franchise model and introduced me to Steve Beagelmen, the founder of SMB Franchise Consultants. All of the stars aligned and we began franchising in 2015, opening the first franchise store in 2016. Since then we’ve opened 36 stores and have another 24 in development. My partner and co-founder Jim Kalomirlis was a big reason why we were able to expand to unit No. 2, thanks to his expertise and knowledge on construction and real estate.

1851: What sets SoBol apart against the competition? What are some brand differentiators?

JM: From a product perspective, my culinary background is a major differentiator. We make sure to blend our açaí fresh each day, producing our own homemade granola and topping our product with only the freshest of fruits. Now that we’ve started franchising, another major differentiator is the incredible team that we have put together and the emphasis we place on support and training. 

In New York, people don’t have very much time; they know what they want and they want it now. At SoBol, we had to find a productive and streamlined way to handcraft this specialty item, making sure the consumer knew we were dependable enough to deliver this product with the same level of quality every time at an affordable cost. Our fantastic operations team is devoted to developing the brand and helping each and every franchisee reach success. Recently, we have been developing the processes and technology needed to give us a leg up, whether that be with online ordering or lead portals. The evolution from being a mom-and-pop store to a franchise can be difficult, but our ambition to become a national brand required the best possible team behind us and we have been incredibly fortunate.

1851: What were some learning opportunities that the brand leverage to get where it is now? 

JM: First and foremost: you can’t do it yourself. In addition to a great team, I needed to find exceptional franchise partners. The more we heard people asking for a SoBol location in their town, the more we knew that franchising was our best move. At SoBol, we are always listening to the consumer and evaluating their needs in order to put together the right group of passionate people, whether that be vendors who are leveraging volume as great champions of the brand or the franchisees who are on the front line every day. 

Also, it is important to remember that we are not selling burgers or pizzas, so we often have to introduce the concept of açaí bowls to these communities before being able to sell our product. Although many brands might be overwhelmed by this idea, we love challenges and we're eager to take on the challenge of educating. If you don’t enjoy solving problems then you might not be made for this business.

1851: What are three or more of the brand’s most important milestones over the past five years?

JM: SoBol’s first franchised location in Syosset, New York, was a huge milestone. Since then, the owner of that location has been extremely successful and we owe a lot of our success to him.

Another milestone was our process of building out our footprint across Long Island and claiming our turf as the leading açaí bowl brand in New York. As we opened more locations, expanding the brand and earning that brand recognition were certainly nice feathers in the cap. The logistics of opening up in new states with new vendors and partners takes a lot of work. We were super excited to purchase and design our SoBol headquarters two years ago, creating a great workspace and training environment for our team.

Every new franchise opened is a milestone. Franchising is not easy work—when you work with a variety of personalities, you are never going to make everybody happy. We are incredibly proud of the number of units we have open.

1851: What does your ideal franchisee look like?

JM: The makings of a successful franchisee is something we’ve had to learn along the way. Firstly, they have to be a good human being, taking good care of their staff and community. Second, it is important that each franchisee makes educated business decisions, as it is easy to go overboard when opening that first location. An ideal franchisee needs to be a great leader, as they will be leading the operation’s troops during the day-to-day. Being able to manage, train and lead a younger workforce to bring in customers is a tough thing to do. Most importantly, we are looking for franchise partners with positive energy and attitude. A wise man once told me, “attitude is more important than talent.” Of course, being well-funded is also a plus, as we don’t want someone to get halfway through the process and not have enough money to open their doors. For me, it is all about believing in the brand and loving the product. I love açaí bowls and the way I feel after eating them and I want the prospective franchisee to have that same feeling. 

1851: What does an ideal franchisee look like? Are they semi-absentee? A passive investor or an active owner operator? 

JM: About 35% of the franchisees in the system have more than one unit, with another 15% getting ready to open their second. While we primarily sell one unit at a time, if a franchisee is successful, they usually are interested in opening another location. There is a large number of SoBol franchisees who were able to buy their second location based on the success of the first. 

SoBol’s relatively low entry point and affordable real estate costs result in a lot of first-time business owners who have always dreamed of opening a restaurant. For each franchise partner, we provide expertise, a proven business model and an expert support infrastructure. SoBol’s franchising opportunity attracts young entrepreneurs, some in their late 20s or early 30s, who are fired up about the product and have the savvy and passion to drive the company home. 

As a surfer, when I go into a surf shop, I want to talk to someone who also loves surfing. At SoBol, we find our most successful franchisees are those who love the product and it is incredibly exciting to help these young entrepreneurs enter into business ownership.

1851: How does SoBol support franchisees?

JM: SoBol’s franchisee support starts the day a new owner signs the franchise agreement. Our discovery process gives franchisees the road map on everything from site selection to signing a lease to laying out a store to training the staff. For each new location, we fly our whole executive team to the store opening, lead by our brand president, Paul Gucciardo. Once a franchisee opens its doors, we don’t just disappear. We are constantly checking in and listening to our owners’ questions and desires, whether those be about online ordering, business decisions or the need for an updated website. The SoBol brand and system have developed because of our franchisees. We also offer online learning modules and courses so that franchisees already know the lingo before we come in. 

A lot of franchisors charge for retraining but we encourage it. For example, our team recently visited the SoBol location in Philadelphia's University City for a relaunch because we know that all of the students were just getting back to the area. It is not only about reintroducing the brand to the student body, but also about getting the staff back into the rhythm of being busy. The SoBol team there knows that the back to school season is our window to be successful, so they make sure to provide the highest-quality product and service in order to bring customers back three or four times a week. 

1851: What growth plans does the brand have in the coming years? How many units is the brand targeting over the next year, three or five? 

JM: We are interested in a slow and steady approach, with the goal of selling 20 new franchises a year. Based on our team size, we don’t want to grow too fast. It is not a race to the 100-unit mark; it is a strategic push. Instead of growing too fast and forgetting about the 99 stores that got us to 100, we want to focus on becoming the premier açaí bowl franchise. The açaí bowl segment is exciting because there is currently no industry leader and we believe we have the best product and franchise opportunity.

At SoBol, we don’t want to grow for the sake of growing; we want to create a business model that will prove to be successful in the long run. Our leadership team is ultra-focused on doing things the right way and holding up our end of the bargain, providing sustainable growth instead of simply fast growth. While the plan is to grow slow and steady, we are still eager to capitalize on new, untapped markets where there is a demand for açaí bowls. Right now, we are super focused on the East Coast and its surrounding states where we are able to give the most hands-on support. Still, we are not exclusive to the East Coast; we’re also driving development in North Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Virginia as well. We even have one existing franchisee who is begging to open a location in California and we are excited to get that underway. We are confident that once we accrue the knowledge and experience, our development will only continue to grow.