Less than a 10-minute walk from the EF Campus, the Açaí Bar offers a healthy choice to replace the unhealthy ice cream that students can pick up from the student store.
Unlike competitors, Açaí Bar claims to make their ice cream-like base only with real fruits. “We don’t modify the composition of the açai to make it totally pure, while some of those shops are adding products to make it cheaper.” said the store’s employee. As the Açaí palm trees grow best in tropical weather, they have their ingredients grown in the Amazon rainforest, made into a paste at local factories, and frozen before shipping to Los Angeles to maintain their freshness at the peak.
Pasadena has lots of people who take their health seriously. They thought that selling healthy food in the local area would benefit both the community and their businesses However, everything did not go smoothly for Açai Bar. They opened their store on N Hill Avenue in January 2020, just weeks after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a time when lots of people were being forced to stay home to stop the spread of the virus. Stores and restaurants lost their customers and were forced to shut down. It was more difficult for new businesses to survive as they didn’t even have their regular customers yet.
Luckily, food deliveries were mostly mature at that time because of the high demands during the quarantine. Açai Bar was able to overcome the hardship by making profits by leveraging food delivery services like Doordash and Uber Eats.
Using social media and online food delivery platforms at the same time let them grow their reputation rapidly in Pasadena. Now that the pandemic is over, they not only left good impressions on the local community but also successfully spread their influence through social media. They have two stores right now, one in Pasadena and the other in Monrovia.
“As businesses are coming back now, we also want to keep spreading this healthy food to others who care about their lifestyle, so we will love to open up more stores throughout Los Angeles.” said the store’s clerk.
Staying healthy is very important for students and having a bowl of Açaí Bar after a long day is a perfect way to enjoy an ice cream with fruits and stay healthy, especially on hot sunny days.