Today we’d like to introduce you to Holly Morrison Adler
Hi Holly, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Over seven years ago, I started to feel a bit restless in my career. I was implementing marketing strategies for real estate developers in the hospitality and commercial real estate space. I had a dream “first career” in that industry with wonderful colleagues, cool projects and beautiful locales. I was being pulled though by an urge to do something that aligned more with my personal interests. I loved making food for my friends and family and since I’m a plant based eater, I was enchanted with the idea of doing something in that space.
I felt completely overwhelmed though by the idea of starting from scratch so I started doing a lot of research in the plant based franchise space and landed on a smoothie bowl concept that I thought was a good fit for me. I signed a five year contract and started working harder than I’ve ever worked to deliver a great product and build trust within the Sandy Springs & North Atlanta communities. My first year of operating was easily the hardest year of my life. But, finally, one shaky step after the next, I grew my location into one of the top locations within the franchise group.
Covid was really tough though for the franchise group I was working with and it devastated a lot of their campus and city locations. I was fortunate to be in a mixed location with some office but a lot of residential and I had developed relationships with so many of my guests. When the renewal date of my franchise agreement came up, I decided I wanted more freedom to localize my concept, ease the challenging demands of traditional retail hours and operate more of a local mom and pop shop. My two stepsons had been helping operate the business since they were 15 years old and while my husband isn’t involved in my day to day operation, he’s easily been my biggest supporter and as an attorney, he’s provided thousands of dollars of free legal council although I think it is fair to say he’s evened the dept out with a lot of free acai bowls!
Anyhow, here I am, almost 7 years later with a business that I’m proud of. I survived a pandemic and corporate restructuring. I’ve met so many new friends along the way, spent invaluable time running a business with my stepsons, met so many amazing young adults through employment at the shop, built my own self confidence and paid my bills. What more could I ask for?
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Oh, gosh, owning a business is never a smooth road. The saying, death by a thousand paper cuts, had to come from the lips of a business owner! The biggest struggle for me was that I ventured into a total new industry so everyday I was presented with a problem that I didn’t have the experience or expertise to solve. I felt completely out of control. I was not running my business, it was running me. Thank you, YouTube, for being my constant companion when a new problem arose! There’s a tutorial for anything and everything on YouTube! Now that I have a few years of experience under my belt, I feel better suited to manage my operation and am really proud of the business I’ve built.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Holly Bowls & Bites?
Holly Bowls & Bites is a locally owned and operated super food cafe that specializes in acai bowls, smoothies, toasts and other wholesome snacks. Our most popular menu items are our smoothies bowls. We offer a range of bases and toppings and even have a build your own bowl where you can create your own work of smoothie bowl art! We do a lot of catering as well and who wouldn’t be delighted to walk into a budget meeting, baby shower, bar mitzvah, teacher appreciation or pre-game meal and see an acai bowl bar! Right!? I am most proud of how committed we are to high quality ingredients. Most smoothie bowl companies are trending towards pre-blended bases with a lot of ingredients including extra sugar and preservatives. I understand why other shops are opting for this method – acai bowls have soared in popularity so pre-blended bases are operationally so much easier and help shops do a lot of volume in a short period of time. However, I don’t want a lot of refined sugar in my acai bowl and I don’t want to offer that type of product to my customer. We are currently working on the cleanest acai bowl in Atlanta. I’m pretty excited about the authenticity of that offering! I sincerely want to provide my consumers with products that fuel their bodies properly with limited extra ingredients.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
This is an unexpected question but I love it! My favorite childhood memory is a simple one; grilling out in our back yard for Saturday dinner, swinging on the swing set, practicing my beam routine on the cross ties around our flower beds and catching lighting bugs. Perfect Saturday night!
Pricing:
- Our bowls and smoothies are competitively priced with freshly blended bases and fruit toppings that we cut everyday!
- 12 oz bowls start at $9.29 / 16 oz bowls starts at $12.29.
- Our toasts are $7.00.
- 16 oz smoothies start at $8.79 / 24 oz smoothies start at $10.79.
- Protein bites are $6.50 for a ten pack
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hollybowls.com
- Instagram: hollybowls_atl
- Facebook: Holly Bowls & Bites
- Other: TikTok @hollybowlsatlanta
Image Credits
Holly Morrison Adler
