JUNE 8 • 2023 | 39

Beach, Florida. Every day during 
their family vacation, Torin 
Caplan walked to the Playa Bowls 
store for lunch.
Finally, Matthew Caplan decid-
ed to see for himself what the fuss 
was about.
“They were lined up out the 
door,” he recalls. “I tried it and I 
had never had anything like this. 
It was my first experience with 
an acai bowl, and I was really 
intrigued with the concept.”
Matthew Caplan, who was 
hooked on the nutritious smooth-
ie bowls, decided to check if any 
stores existed in Michigan.
At the time, none did, and 
Caplan began inquiring about 
the idea of opening a Playa Bowls 
in Michigan. He spoke to the person in 
charge of franchise development at the 
company and said, “It’s something that we 
need in Michigan.”
A simple trip to Florida, Matthew 
Caplan says, turned into an “inquisition” 
that led to the Caplans signing a contract 

for a store. “
After we did that, we got a lit-
tle carried away,” he laughs. “We ended up 
signing on three stores.”

BUILDING A LIFESTYLE
Now, the Caplans’ newest location on 
Big Beaver Road in Troy is the third of 
what the Caplans hope to eventually be 

10 stores in Metro Detroit. It’s 
their biggest location yet and 
offers not only nutritious meal 
options, but what the Caplans 
call an entire “lifestyle.”
“It’s a very colorful space,” 
Matthew Caplan says. 
“Every one of our stores was 
hand-painted by an artist and 
has murals all over the walls.” 
He calls it a surfer or beach 
theme complete with upbeat 
music and plenty of room to 
relax and mingle.
Matthew Caplan says their 
most popular product by far 
is the Nutella acai bowl. Most 
super fruit bowls average $13, 
depending on the toppings, 
while the majority of smoothies 
are $7 or $8.
“When I’m eating my bowl, I can step 
outside of the chaos and stress of my life 
and forget that I’m in Michigan,” Caplan 
says, “and feel like I’m on the Jersey Shore 
or the Florida coast. We want people to 
have that vacation sense of relaxing.” 

The mural at the newest 
Playa Bowls in Troy

