Aligning with the two-year anniversary of the first Denver-area Playa Bowls in Littleton, franchisees Cody Benisch and Robert Wissing plan to open their fifth location at 6900 E Layton Ave. in a few months. Sitting in south Denver at the Belleview Station mixed-use development (per Denver planning documents), the owners are excited about the new spot to set up.
“We live really close to there, and frequent (Belleview Station) for dinner,” Benisch said in a conversation with What Now Denver. “There’s really not anything like it in the area. There’s not only restaurants, but condos, a dog park, and a bunch of events every year.”
This fit the demands of the rapidly expanding Playa Bowl franchise group in Denver — an area that young professionals frequent with significant foot and car traffic interspersed far enough away from other Playa Bowls that owners aren’t competing against themselves.
“New Jersey’s Original Acai Shop” (per the Playa Bowl webpage) was founded by long-time surfers Robert Giuliani and Abby Taylor. Inspired by the many acai and pitaya bowl locales the pair encountered on surfing trips to California, Hawaii, Costa Rica, and more, Giuliani and Taylor brought the idea back home to the Jersey Shore. With energy-laden coconut bowls and smoothies arriving in eco-friendly serving ware under sustainable lighting and conscientious waste management, Playa Bowl has expanded to “over 150 stores, thousands of employees, and a mission to lead communities in healthy, sustainable living” across the United States.
Benisch and Wissing aim to open the approximately 2,000 square foot Playa Bowls at Belleview Station in late spring. Though Denver might be short on surfers, there’s still plenty of mountain recreators who will appreciate the healthy, tropical, Earth-conscious servings of energy and nutrition.
