Oola Bowls is a testament to the entrepreneurial spirit of founders Joe Ferderbar and Brock Snider.
“We were young bucks just coming out of college,” Snider said. “I remember going to a lot of Lancaster Chamber [of Commerce] events and just networking mixers and constantly seeing Joe throughout the week there.”
There is some debate over who generated the original idea for the company. Ferderbar recalls scribbling notes on a napkin while on a flight home from San Francisco. But, if you ask Snider, the idea originated after he tasted acai for the first time. Regardless, the duo’s dedication to the business exists in equal measure.
“We spent every Thursday night watching football and going over to [Joe’s] house to kind of create somewhat of a formalized business plan [and] see if this could be a viable option for Lancaster,” Snider said.
Acai has joined the rank of smoothies and salads as a nutritious and convenient grab-and-go option. When frozen, the superfood berry from Brazil mimics an ice cream texture without the dairy found in traditional frozen treats.
Oola Bowls pairs an acai base with berries, bananas, seeds, nut butters and a house-made granola taken from a recipe by Snider’s grandmother. As they prepared to launch the business in 2018, Snider and Ferderbar spent weeknights tasting samples and developing recipes they could confidently introduce to the Lancaster community.
They hoped to unveil their creations at Lancaster Central Market.
“Central Market was always a dream of mine,” Snider said. “Finding out that they had a stand open just drove me to really figure out a way that we could get in there.”
After proposing the idea to the Central Market board, Ferderbar and Snider waited to hear if they would receive approval to open their stand. Itching to get started, they bought and renovated an old Italian ice trailer, opening the first Oola Bowls food truck in 2018. Shortly after, they received confirmation—the vacant stand in Lancaster Central Market was theirs for the taking. Snider quit his job and went full time in the venture.
“The moment that I was most scared was when Brock quit his job full time to work at Oola Bowls,” Ferderbar recalled. “Is this even gonna work or is this gonna fail before it gets started?”
It did work, as evidenced by the opening of the company’s 12th location in Camp Hill, coming after years of expansion—establishing online ordering, getting a stand at Hersheypark and opening brick-and-mortar franchise locations across central Pennsylvania.
In October, 50 people received free acai bowls in celebration of the opening of the company’s brand-new location. With an extensive career in the coffee industry, Camp Hill’s General Manager Christopher Fisher now aims to introduce the Harrisburg area to Oola Bowls’ unique spin on the superfood.
“We very much value quality over quantity,” Fisher said. “We are just trying to focus on two bases—the acai base and the pitaya base—and we are making sure those can be the best that they can be.”
Fisher leads his team through the daily operations, encouraging connection between the tight-knit Camp Hill community and the team working behind the scenes to prepare Oola Bowls’ signature treats.
“I want people to be their best and also bring their best,” Fisher said. “I think if you give them the tools, they for sure can rise up to where you need them to be.”
Snider said that the pair has always had a positive outlook, despite the adversity that accompanies almost any business startup.
“I think [we’ve] been creative enough to see the positive side of each situation, and I think there’s a lot of things that, at the time, seemed very negative and almost detrimental to our company,” he said. “But without them happening, I don’t think we would have been pushed into some of these opportunities.”
Oola Bowls is located at 3201 Market St., Camp Hill, as well as locations in Hershey, York, Lancaster and Lebanon. For more information, visit www.oolabowls.com.
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