Two Iowa State graduates not too long ago opened Frutta Bowls in Ankeny and are co-branding it with their Mediterranean-inspired cafe, Garbanzo, which is subsequent door.
“Frutta Bowls is an effective companion for Garbanzo as a result of it’s all primarily based on healthful meals,” mentioned Irangel Gonzalez, who owns the eating places along with his spouse Julie. “We make all the things in-house at Frutta simply the best way we do at Garbanzo. Each locations have the identical recent, health-conscious objectives and mindset.”
Frutta Bowls provides a snack part to enrich Garbanzo’s savory menu, Julie mentioned.
“With the small quantity of house Frutta Bowls requires and the additional house we’ve got at Garbanzo, it was a no brainer to co-brand,” she mentioned. “We went to a number of different Frutta Bowls areas and beloved the meals. The bottom of the acai bowl is the proper texture and never too frozen like ones I’ve had up to now.
“It’s recent and scrumptious however not too candy. Plus, you may add Nutella, and you may by no means go fallacious with Nutella.”
Frutta Bowls opened in Ankeny on Jan. 28 and is situated at Northview Purchasing Middle, 1550 N. Ankeny Boulevard, subsequent to Garbanzo Mediterranean Recent.
The quickest rising superfoods cafe within the nation, Frutta Bowls’ specialties are customizable bowls with bases of acai, kale or vibrant pink dragon fruit, also called pitaya. The bases are topped with granola and recent fruit like pineapple, blueberries, strawberries, kiwi and mango, which is all prepped in-house from entire fruits.
Different menu objects embody smoothies, oatmeal bowls, toasts and protein bites. Further topping decisions, together with Nutella, embody almonds, honey, peanut butter and darkish chocolate.
Irangel Gonzales mentioned Frutta Bowl meals is greater than only a meal or snack. It additionally serves as a gasoline to stimulate the thoughts and energize the physique.
“We make our personal acai in home each day,” he mentioned. “Each day we’re prepping acai, slicing entire pineapple and mango and kiwis. We slice strawberries recent for every order in order that they have an awesome consistency.”
Irangel Gonzalez grew up in Puerto Rico, the place he found at a younger age that he loved cooking for his household. Though Garbanzo has a Mediterranean-inspired menu, the 2 cultures use most of the similar seasonings, he mentioned.
“The cumin, paprika, turmeric and garlic — these are all fairly comparable, nice flavors that emerged around the globe,” he mentioned.
Gonzalez was drawn to Iowa to attend school on a baseball scholarship.
“First I got here to Higher Iowa College after which I transferred to Iowa State,” he mentioned. “I used to be going to stroll on at Iowa State, however the baseball program received canceled that 12 months.”
Irangel Gonzalez, with a liberal arts bachelor’s diploma, deliberate to be an ESL instructor after commencement, however as a substitute received concerned in administration on the McDonald’s eating places within the Ames space.
He was the operations director for a number of areas for about 20 years, “so I used to be a part of that neighborhood for a very long time.”
Restaurant possession led to assembly Marcus Lemonis, star of ‘The Revenue’
“I made a decision to open my very own restaurant in 2019 and purchased a Easy Greek franchise,” Irangel mentioned. “We transformed to Garbanzo in 2021 as a result of the flavors resonated extra with me. They’re extra acquainted.”
His tour into The Easy Greek gave Irangel the possibility to work with Marcus Lemonis, the star of CNBC’s “The Revenue.” On the sequence, Lemonis invests in companies and advises them on modifications to grow to be extra worthwhile.
“We met Marcus in Philadelphia at a Easy Greek convention. It was good. He has a unique persona, for positive; he’s very simple. You’re going to listen to no matter he’s considering, that’s for positive. Good or unhealthy, it’s going to come back out,” Gonzalez mentioned with amusing.
In 2021, Lemonis offered The Easy Greek to WOWorks, the mother or father firm of Saladworks, which additionally owns Garbanzo.
Julie Gonzalez can also be an Iowa State grad, with a grasp’s in genetics. She runs the biotechnology program at Des Moines Space Neighborhood Faculty, the place she’s been an teacher for 15 years. She helps out on the eating places on the aspect, as do their two youngsters.
She mentioned the give attention to utilizing entire meals is vital to each eating places.
“We wish to make sure that we’re serving recent, wholesome, actual meals with our proprietary recipes,” she mentioned. “Our potatoes for our fries are available in as entire potatoes. We lower them in-house they usually exit as fries.”
There’s no sugar added to any menu objects. “We don’t even have sugar in our kitchens,” Julie mentioned.
Every restaurant has an exterior entrance, and they’re additionally related inside, so teams can select from each eateries’ menus. That is particularly useful for diners who’ve dietary restrictions, similar to gluten or dairy allergy symptoms, she mentioned.
“It actually helps folks dine out and luxuriate in that feeling of neighborhood, which will be tough after they’re coping with a restricted weight loss program,” she mentioned.
Frutta Bowls is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. On-line ordering is accessible and supply is thru third-party companies similar to Uber Eats, GrubHub and Door Sprint.
The Gonzalezes have an enormous give attention to catering for any dimension group, from in-home events to bigger particular occasions.
“We not too long ago catered for a pair fraternity homes in Ames,” Irangel mentioned.
