Hawaiian surf-inspired smoothie shop makes a splash in Brockton

BROCKTON — Take a break from life and enter a tropical paradise that gives you a taste of a Hawaiian vacation without the hefty price tag.

Playa Bowls Stonehill, located at 1285 Belmont St., provides a fresh take on plant-based health and wellness. Their island-inspired menu is filled with fresh acai and pitaya bowls, cold-pressed fruit juice smoothies, and coffee. 

New Jersey founders Robert Guiliani and Abby Taylor, both avid surfers, envisioned The Playa Bowls to provide delicious fruit smoothies and bowls that fuel your body during intense activity. 

This idea came from the pair surfing everywhere from Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua to Hawaii, California and Puerto Rico. And every place they surfed offered their variation of an acai or pitaya bowl.

The creative juices started to flow, and the pair created their version and sold them along the Jersey Shore in 2014. 

"Before you surf, you don't eat a slice of pork on a roll with cheese. Instead, you eat an acai bowl. So when my friends and I would surf in Puerto Rico, we'd have 10-hour surf sessions and eat acai bowls the entire day and (that) kept us going," Guiliani said. 

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Acai berries are a grape-like fruit native to the rainforest of South America. The fruit is loaded with antioxidants, healthy fats, fiber and many potential health benefits. 

When you walk into the Belmont location, you might as well be on vacation. Your eyes are flooded with hand-painted waves crashing along each wall by Ramona Schatzer.

Soft music plays in the background, and pineapples are propped up on the counters waiting to be blended into a smooth paste and topped with fruit and a sweet drizzle. 

The brightly colored menu gives guests seven different bases to choose from. A popular item guests enjoyed during opening day, Feb. 27, was the Nutella-acai bowl topped with granola, strawberry, banana and coconut flakes. 

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This location is the fifth store opened in New England out of 140 stores in the franchise. 

The five franchise owners Dana Nentin, Sarosh Nentin, Hung Lam, John Castiglione and David Swanson were friends at Boston College and invested in The Playa Bowls franchise. 

While in college, the team remembers not having many options besides fast foods. The theme of the business is opening near a university to attract the college demographic and supply healthy bowls and drinks. 

"This was our opportunity to bring fresh options to the area," Nentin said. 

After graduating college in 2005, Nentin never thought she would become an entrepreneur with her friends. But, the opportunity made sense, and the friends turned businesses partners are building an empire. 

"If it's something you believe in and dedicate yourself to, the sky's the limit," Nentin said. 

Hours of operation are every day, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

Enterprise staff reporter Alisha Saint-Ciel can be reached by email at stciela@gannett.com. You can follow her on Twitter at @alishaspeakss and Instagram at Alishaatv . Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Enterprise today.