The parent company of the Saladworks fast-casual restaurant chain has purchased two other restaurant chains, including New Jersey-based Frutta Bowls, it announced this week.
The new holding company for the three chains, based in Pennsylvania and called WOWorks, will include Saladworks as well as newly acquired Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh and Freehold-based Frutta Bowls, which serves superfood bowls, fresh fruit smoothies and more.
Brooke Gagliano, a Drew University graduate, founded Frutta Bowls in 2016 and grew it into a multimillion-dollar franchise company based around foods like acai and pitaya by 2018 … at age 25.
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Brooke Gagliano of Frutta Bowls. (File photo)
Now, WOWorks said the Saladworks team will provide Frutta Bowls with infrastructure and operations support to help it achieve its full growth potential. The Saladworks team will handle infrastructure and operations for Garbanzo going forward, as well.
“Today, we welcome both Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh and Frutta Bowls to the WOWorks family,” Kelly Roddy, CEO of Saladworks and the new portfolio of brands, said in a prepared statement. “Like Saladworks, we believe Garbanzo and Frutta Bowls are complementary brands — all sharing a core DNA based upon fresh, flavorful and healthy food along with a heart for hospitality served through convenient business channels, which appeals to our millennial family and Gen Z guests.”
Financial terms of the acquisitions were not disclosed.
The WOWorks company is wholly owned by Centre Lane Partners LLC.
