Backyard Bowls
Backyard Bowls is a privately held California fast-casual restaurant chain founded in 2008 that serves hand-prepared acai bowls, hot porridges, and smoothies at five locations across Santa Barbara and Los Angeles to health-conscious consumers and corporate catering clients.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2008
- HeadquartersLos Angeles, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Backyard Bowls does
Backyard Bowls is a privately held fast-casual restaurant company founded in 2008 by Pete and Dan in downtown Santa Barbara, California. The company pioneered the acai bowl restaurant format in its market, building its menu around hand-prepared acai bowls, hot porridges, and smoothies made from mostly organic, plant-based ingredients sourced from small local farms. The business operates five physical retail locations spanning the Santa Barbara/Goleta area (Downtown, Goleta, La Cumbre) and the Los Angeles metro (Beverly Grove and Santa Monica), with operating hours concentrated in the breakfast and lunch daypart.
The company generates revenue through direct retail point-of-sale transactions at its five locations, supplemented by corporate and event catering services handled via email and dedicated FamilyMeal-powered catering portals for the Los Angeles stores. Distribution is multi-channel: in-store dine-in and takeout, direct online ordering through a Square storefront, third-party delivery via DoorDash, and e-gift card sales through Square. Marketing is primarily organic, centered on the #backyardbowls Instagram presence, the company website, and community engagement around sustainability and social causes.
Backyard Bowls has no disclosed institutional funding, no parent company, and no M&A activity, and remains founder-operated. Its technology footprint is limited to commerce and delivery integrations (Square, DoorDash, FamilyMeal) and a self-attested WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility commitment. The company's value proposition rests on category first-mover brand recognition, hand-prepared production methods, organic and locally sourced ingredients, and alignment with health-conscious and sustainability-oriented consumer values.
Backyard Bowls firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Backyard Bowls
- Legal name
- Backyard Bowls
- Website
- https://backyardbowls.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2008
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Backyard Bowls is a privately held California fast-casual restaurant chain founded in 2008 that serves hand-prepared acai bowls, hot porridges, and smoothies at five locations across Santa Barbara and Los Angeles to health-conscious consumers and corporate catering clients.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Backyard Bowls industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Fast Casual Restaurant
- NAICS
- Cafeterias, Grill Buffets, and Buffets (722514)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Salad & Bowl Concepts (Grain/Protein/Healthy Bowls) (THAFABAF)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Plant-Based & Vegan Fast Casual (THAFABAK)
Keywords
Where Backyard Bowls is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Los Angeles
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices5 records
Markets served
Backyard Bowls business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Food and Beverage Sales: Direct retail sales of acai bowls, hot porridges, smoothies, and related food items across 5 physical restaurant locations. Customers pay at point of sale for dine-in or takeout orders.
- Catering Services: Corporate catering services where customers can order bulk food for events and gatherings. Orders placed via email or dedicated catering portals for specific locations (Beverly Blvd and Santa Monica).
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels3 records
Backyard Bowls product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Backyard Bowls is a fast-casual restaurant chain that hand-prepares and serves acai bowls, hot porridges, and smoothies made from mostly organic, plant-based ingredients sourced from small local farms. The company operates five retail locations across Santa Barbara, Goleta, West Hollywood, and Santa Monica, complemented by online ordering, third-party delivery, and corporate catering services.
Product overview
Backyard Bowls operates as a unified restaurant brand offering a plant-based, mostly organic food menu centered on hand-prepared acai bowls, hot porridges, and smoothies. The company has expanded from a single downtown Santa Barbara location (opened 2008) to multiple locations across Santa Barbara, Goleta, and Los Angeles areas. Their product portfolio includes their signature acai bowls as the flagship offering, complemented by hot porridges and smoothies. The company also provides catering services for corporate events and gatherings. All food is made to order by hand using house-made ingredients and fresh cut fruit, with an emphasis on organic, sustainably sourced, and locally produced ingredients. The company positions itself as a health-focused, environmentally conscious fast-casual dining alternative.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Acai Bowls Hand-prepared acai bowls made to order with house-made ingredients and fresh-cut fruit, never scooped or dispensed from a machine. Designed as a quick, high-quality, healthy breakfast or lunch option for health-conscious individual consumers.
- Hot Porridges
Companies that use Backyard Bowls
Customer profileSegments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Backyard Bowls technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
Backyard Bowls partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators2 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Backyard Bowls competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Jamba: Jamba is a national smoothie and bowl QSR chain (formerly Jamba Juice) with broad menu breadth and corporate-owned plus franchised units. It competes with Backyard Bowls for smoothie and bowl occasions but operates at a larger scale with a more processed, franchise-driven model.
- Smoothie King: Smoothie King is a national smoothie-focused QSR franchise with over 1,000 locations and a fitness-and-nutrition-led brand. While it does not emphasize acai bowls, it competes for the same health-conscious breakfast/snack occasion and on healthy-bowl adjacencies.
- Tropical Smoothie Cafe: Tropical Smoothie Cafe is a 1,000+ location franchised fast-casual chain offering smoothies, wraps, and bowls with a healthier-leaning menu. It is a broader incumbent in the same functional category (healthy fast-casual bowls/smoothies) but with a wider menu and less specialization in the acai-bowl niche Backyard Bowls pioneered.
Emerging players
- Robeks: Robeks is a smaller smoothie and juice franchise with around 80 locations that targets the same health-conscious consumer. Its acai bowls and smoothies directly overlap Backyard Bowls' menu, though Robeks skews more toward juices and has a lighter bowl focus.
- Clean Juice: Clean Juice is a USDA-certified organic juice and acai bowl franchise operating 100+ locations. It overlaps with Backyard Bowls on plant-based, organic, health-forward fast-casual positioning but extends into cold-pressed juices and has stronger national branding through franchising.
Direct peers
- Frutta Bowls: Frutta Bowls is a franchised fast-casual concept focused on acai bowls, smoothies, and wraps with a similar plant-forward menu and California-rooted origin. Like Backyard Bowls, it emphasizes fresh, hand-prepared ingredients and targets health-conscious consumers for breakfast and lunch.
- Nekter Juice Bar: Nekter Juice Bar is a Southern California-based fast-casual chain offering acai bowls, smoothies, and juices with a comparable clean-ingredient, plant-based value proposition. It has scaled to 170+ locations and competes directly with Backyard Bowls for the same health-conscious breakfast/lunch customer.
- Vitality Bowls: Vitality Bowls is a superfood-bowl franchise founded in California that competes head-to-head with Backyard Bowls in the same product category (acai and superfood bowls) and overlapping West Coast geography. Its menu, daypart, and target customer are essentially identical to Backyard Bowls' positioning.
- Playa Bowls: Playa Bowls is the most directly comparable peer: a fast-casual chain specializing in acai, smoothie, and pitaya bowls with a similar health-conscious, plant-based positioning. Founded in 2014 in New Jersey, it has scaled to 150+ locations, illustrating both the category opportunity and the well-capitalized national competitor Backyard Bowls faces.
Others
- Cava: Cava is a fast-growing Mediterranean bowl-focused fast-casual chain (now public) that overlaps with Backyard Bowls on the "bowl as a meal" format and health-conscious positioning. While not a direct acai/smoothie competitor, it competes for the same lunch occasion and healthy-eating customer in overlapping California geographies.
Market position
Weaknesses1 record
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Backyard Bowls social profiles
Digital presenceBackyard Bowls compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
Backyard Bowls financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Backyard Bowls leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Backyard Bowls funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Backyard Bowls M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Backyard Bowls
What does Backyard Bowls do?
Backyard Bowls is a fast-casual restaurant chain that hand-prepares and serves acai bowls, hot porridges, and smoothies made from mostly organic, plant-based ingredients sourced from small local farms. The company operates five retail locations across Santa Barbara, Goleta, West Hollywood, and Santa Monica, complemented by online ordering, third-party delivery, and corporate catering services.
Is Backyard Bowls a public or private company?
Backyard Bowls is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Backyard Bowls founded?
Backyard Bowls was founded in 2008. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Backyard Bowls based?
Backyard Bowls is headquartered in Los Angeles, United States, in the North America region.
How does Backyard Bowls make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Food and Beverage Sales are the primary driver. The others are catering Services.
Who are Backyard Bowls's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Jamba, Smoothie King and Tropical Smoothie Cafe. Emerging players are Robeks and Clean Juice. Direct peers are Frutta Bowls, Nekter Juice Bar, Vitality Bowls and Playa Bowls. Cava is listed as an others.
Does Backyard Bowls have an API?
No public API is recorded for Backyard Bowls.
What industry is Backyard Bowls in?
Backyard Bowls's product category is Fast Casual Restaurant. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAFABAF, Salad & Bowl Concepts (Grain/Protein/Healthy Bowls), with a secondary code of THAFABAK, Plant-Based & Vegan Fast Casual. Its NAICS code is 722514.