As the Geer Gardens shopping center in Turlock undergoes renovations, one space has reopened with new tenants, who are hoping to provide community members with healthier food and drink options. 

Those folks are Tianna and Lizandro Barragan, and this weekend, they are approaching one month of operation of Vitality Bowls at 2585 Geer Road. It is the 31st location in the state, coming 14 years after the company was founded by Roy and Tara Gilad in San Ramon as a result of discovering their daughter’s severe food allergies and wanting to find safe, healthy food alternatives.

“It’s been great so far,” said Tianna. “People seem to really enjoy what we have to offer and are excited to try a bit of everything we have on the menu.”

The menu at Vitality Bowls is vast, but as the name says, it’s all about the bowls, specifically açaí bowls, which are popular dishes with açaí berries small, purple fruits produced by the açaí palm trees that native to Central and South America and a known antioxidant. In bowls, they are often mixed with other fruits and toppings like granola, nuts and seeds.

Tianna and Lizandro were introduced to the “super food” in Florida, as each pursued masters degrees at the University of Tampa. They “fell in love” with the bowls, and when they moved back home to the Central Valley, they were ecstatic to discover the Vitality Bowls location in Manteca.

Over a year ago, as aspiring entrepreneurs, they just happened to stop by the Manteca store when they noticed a sign saying that franchising was available. They jumped at the opportunity.

“It was just perfect at the time for us to come across that,” Tianna said. “We are first-time entrepreneurs, and we were brainstorming ideas, mainly thinking about an ice cream shop. But we discussed this and filled out the paperwork, they reached on a week later and it got the ball rolling.”

Lizandro is from Patterson and Tianna is originally from the Southern California town of Monrovia, but they have grown to love Turlock. So when a location was being discussed, it was a no-brainer.

“We thought this was a really good community to bring it into,” Tianna said. “We saw that Turlock was kind of lacking healthy food options, and we know that a lot of people now are very health conscious. Being so close to the university (Stanislaus State), too, was a plus because students are a big target. When we were in college, we were always looking for places to hang out, study, and also eat healthy, which isn’t easy in college. We want to offer all of that.” 

It’s evident in the remodeling job. The inside of the space, which is 1,980 square-feet and was home to Majesty Bible and Gifts for nearly a decade, is almost unrecognizable.

As soon as you walk in, you are met at the register with the backdrop of their massive menu and a newly constructed kitchen, where the magic happens.

Oe of the most popular orders have been, of course, the bowls, specifically the Dragon Bowl, which features a base of pitaya, banana, pineapple, raspberries, coconut milk and mango peach juice with toppings of strawberries, kiwi, almonds, organic goji berries, bee pollen and honey.

The kitchen is complemented with a full allergy kit to accommodate customers.

“We take allergies very seriously here, so if somebody does come in and have allergies, we do have an allergy kit where we use everything from that to create the food.

“We use all the backup food to make sure that none of that food has been cross contaminated with the other food. We always make sure that that’s the number one priority, keeping the kitchen clean, keeping utensils where they need to if we’re working with an allergy,” Tianna said.

As far as drinks go, an early hit has been the pina colada smoothie, which contains organic coconut blend with banana, mango, pineapple, mango peach juice and coconut milk.

There have also been steady orders of paninis and wraps, specifically the Vitality Wrap and the Chimichurri Steak Wrap. The Vitality Wrap has a tomato basil tortilla, hummus, avocado, super greens, grains, roasted potato, radish, pickled red onion, lemon tahini vinaigrette, garlic aioli and superseed crunch. The Chimichurri Steak Wrap is similar with the tomato basil tortilla, grass-fed sous-vide steak, super greens, grains, roasted tomato, chimichurri, garlic aioli and sunflower seeds.

The space has regular tables and chairs, couch chairs, a bar area, and a kid’s zone. There are also plans to build a wall near the back of the space to create a study room for students or companies to utilize. 

“We’re really happy with how it turned out and some of the ideas we have to make this space better,” Tianna said. “And of course, to welcome in the community and promote health and wellness. That’s the top priority.”