At Everbowl, life is a bowl of superfoods
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- The PB Cacao Wow bowl at Everbowl at Station Park in Farmington.
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- The Blue Lagoon bowl at Everbowl at Station Park in Farmington.
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- Staffer Hailey Allen, left, and manager Ali Walton with some of Everbowl’s ingredient choices, at Station Park in Farmington.
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- Some of the ingredient choices at Everbowl in Farmington include blueberries, kiwi, pineapple, strawberries, grapes, apples, chia pudding and “overnight” steel-cut oats.
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- Exterior of Everbowl, located on the west side of Station Park in Farmington.
Walk into the Everbowl shop in Farmington and you’re suddenly immersed in a whole different language of healthy foods: acai, goji berries, spirulina algae, cacao nibs, agave, chia pudding, pitaya and matcha.
Say what?
Everbowl has taken the custom-build concept and applied it to superfoods. A superfood can be defined as a food that offers superior nutritional value for the amount of calories it contains. Many of the above ingredients are known for antioxidants — substances that help the body protect against cell damage and health issues such as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
Behind the Everbowl counter, there are tubs filled with good-for-you ingredients that a staffer can add to your specifications for a custom-made “Whatever” bowl.
Every choice is vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free and nut-free, with no added sugars, according to manager Ali Walton.
A year after opening on the west side of Station Park, the shop does a steady business, Walton said. It’s one of 35 locations in this Southern California-based chain, founded in 2016. There are two other Utah locations, both in Utah County, with a St. George location in the works, Walton said.
“Our location in Station Park helps us a lot, because it’s so popular,” she said. “We can grow here.”
The slogan at Everbowl is to “unevolve.” According to the company website, it means to “eat stuff that’s been around forever” and live actively.
“The idea is to eat everything in its simplest form,” Walton said.
The bowls start with a base. One type is water-based, similar to sorbet, and the other is made with coconut milk and has an ice cream-ish texture and mouthfeel.
These bases come in flavors such as acai, mango, Blue Majic (containing spirulina algae, giving it a light blue color), vanilla, coconut, Cacao Wow (chocolate), matcha (green tea) and pitaya (dragon fruit).
Then you can add layers such as “overnight oats” (steel-cut oats soaked overnight for a chewy texture), granola or a gray-colored chia pudding, made with coconut milk with a tapioca-like texture.
Fruit choices include strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, kiwi, grapes and apples.
Then there are dry toppings: coconut flakes, sliced almonds, cacao nibs, goji berries, dried pineapple and dried mango.
You can finish it off with a drizzle of honey, agave, peanut butter or almond butter and a sprinkle of seeds or cinnamon.
These custom-made “Whatever” bowls run from $8.95 for a small (12-ounce) bowl to $10.95 for a medium (16-ounce) bowl and $13.95 for a large (24-ounce) bowl.
Although customizing your own ingredients is fun, there are several “local favorites” to choose from, and these are $1 less that the custom “Whatever” bowls.
The top-seller is the PB Cacao Wow. It has two bases — Cacao Wow and vanilla. It’s topped with granola, bananas, strawberries, cacao nibs, and peanut butter.
“I think it’s popular because to most people’s minds, it’s more of a dessert, with a chocolate base, peanut butter and fruit, so even people who don’t like ‘healthy’ will like it,” Walton said.
Her personal favorite is the Blue Lagoon Bowl. “It has spirulina algae, which makes the base blue, and I think that scares people away sometimes,” she said. “It’s is good for anti-aging and good for your skin. But it also mixes the flavors together and tones down the tartness of the fruit.”
Besides the Blue Majic algae base, the Blue Lagoon contains pitaya or dragon fruit, which is hot pink and tastes somewhat like fruit punch. There’s some chewy texture from the chia pudding and overnight oats, and it’s topped with sliced banana, strawberries and pineapple.
The Tropical Bowl has three bases — acai, Coco Love and pitaya — and it’s topped with granola, banana, pineapple, kiwi and coconut shavings.
Who are their main customers?
“It really depends on the time of day,” Walton said. “We open at 8 and we get adults in the morning coming from the gym. We get tons of teens during lunch, and at night we get couples and kids. So it’s a variety, which is super nice.”
She said the summer months have been busy, and the traffic has carried over into the winter so far.
“On Black Friday, the majority of people who came in, it was their first time,” she said. “I think they will be back, because most other acai bowl places are super expensive.”
Walton, a 17-year-old high school student, had worked at a smoothie shop before being hired at Everbowl last year. She exudes an air of maturity and calm, for a teen who is juggling classes, homework and management at the same time.
“I feel like I have a good future with Everbowl, because it’s a huge company,” she said. “So there are a lot of different options, whatever I choose to do.”
If you go
Location: 256 N. University Drive (Station Park), Farmington
Contact: www.everbowl.com or 435-612-6200
Hours: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday
Prices: $7.95 for small (12-ounce) bowl to $13.95 for large (24-ounce) custom-made “Whatever” bowl