Expand<\/a><\/p>\nCostanzo said he believes the popularity of acai bowls comes from how nutritious \u2014 and delicious \u2014 they are.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a nice treat,\u201d Costanzo said. \u201cIf you\u2019re looking for something on a hot day, it\u2019s kind of a healthier alternative to ice cream. I also think there\u2019s just an increase in awareness that it\u2019s out there and accessible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goodness Bowls\u2019 menu also includes items such as coffee, smoothies, oatmeal, salads and wraps. Costanzo said Goodness Bowls aims to give customers a consistent supply of healthy food and bring vibrance to the Scranton area.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole premise is providing healthier, lighter food options and positivity,\u201d Costanzo said. \u201cThe people who work with us here are energetic and really great to work with, and I really can\u2019t stress enough how much I enjoy being part of life downtown and seeing people walking around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goodness Bowls got its start in 2019 in New Jersey and opened its Scranton franchise in late March. Costanzo said the cafe is already building community.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the school year we see a rush of young kids after school lets out, and it\u2019s popular with university kids,\u201d Costanzo said. \u201cWe also get people in here with their families, older people who are curious about what we have and then people who are just looking for healthier options.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Zummo\u2019s Cafe in Scranton, the homey decor offers customers a cozy space to relax and have a drink or bite to eat. Zummo\u2019s features all sorts of treats from acai bowls, smoothie bowls, salads and sandwiches to coffee and other pastries.<\/p>\n
Lindsay Joyce, the general manager, said community is what Zummo\u2019s is all about. Zummo\u2019s started selling its signature acai bowl in 2020, which comes topped with fruit, granola and either nut butter or honey.<\/p>\n
Joyce said she believes acai bowls owe their popularity to their health benefits, how pretty they look and how customizable they can be.<\/p>\n
She also said that having other businesses like Goodness Bowls that sell acai pop up in the area has helped acai sales at Zummo\u2019s skyrocket and bring attention to acai bowls to the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all helping each other,\u201d Joyce said. \u201cAll small businesses thrive when one thrives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although their popularity is generally thought to skew toward young people, Joyce said Zummo\u2019s sees customers of all ages buying their acai bowls.<\/p>\n
Over in Moosic, Nearme Yoga and Nearme Cafe provide customers with a one-stop health hub. The cafe will have been open for 10 years in February.<\/p>\n
At Nearme, there are healthy food options such as sandwiches, smoothies and salads as well as yoga classes, Pilates classes and holistic services. The cafe serves coffee too.<\/p>\n
Of course, Nearme also features a variety of acai bowls from their classic Acai Zen Bowl (topped with strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, banana, coconut and granola) to their PB & J Bowl which contains a peanut butter drizzle.<\/p>\n
Chelsea Manganaro, owner and founder, said Nearme was one of the pioneers of acai in the area. She said she started Nearme because she wanted to create a space in which people could come together.<\/p>\n
\u201cI realized there was a lack of community-style events in the area, and I loved yoga,\u201d Manganaro said. \u201cSo I basically combined the two things and we opened up the yoga studio. Then, we had some space that wasn\u2019t being used and thought we would turn it into a grab and go food location, but it turned into something a lot more than that over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Manganaro, Nearme\u2019s acai bowl is its most popular item, and she said there\u2019s just something special about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing right off of 81, we have a lot of people who come traveling through the area,\u201d Manganaro said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re always saying it\u2019s the best acai bowl they\u2019ve had even though they\u2019re from Jersey or I\u2019ve had a million acai bowls but there\u2019s something different about this one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manganaro mentioned that Nearme has fresh produce coming in every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have gluten-free and vegan options, so there\u2019s a lot of different people that can come in and find something on our menu,\u201d Manganaro said. \u201cWhen people think of Nearme, I think they think of an ecosystem of healthy living. So they can get healthy food but also go and take a yoga class, shop in the store or use the sauna.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You don\u2019t need to travel far for a taste of the tropics. Acai bowls, which originated in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[60,201,182,139,28,435,436,178,180,179,289,181],"class_list":["post-250517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-business","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-restaurants-food-and-drink","tag-retail","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-things-to-do","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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