With the recent launch of our smoothies, there’s no better time to connect (or re-connect!) with your community to tell them about Nautical Bowls and our commitment to all-natural, superfood meals. Vanessa and Jeremy, owners of Nautical Bowls’ New Hope location, have done just that. Originally one of our pilot smoothie locations, New Hope rolled out smoothies on January 1st, after identifying a need for this new menu item within their community, and didn’t look back! From finding promising community connections, to having a great team to help execute and keep things running smoothly, New Hope has truly maximized and made the most of our newest Nautical Bowls menu addition – selling up to 600 smoothies per month!
When New Hope opened their doors last year, they were nearing the end of the summer season buzz. Knowing that they needed to get their name out there, Vanessa and Jeremy reached out to Lifetime Fitness for a potential partnership. Recognizing that Lifetime did not have a cafe, Nautical Bowls New Hope saw that they could fill the gap for delicious and healthy post-workout bowls and smoothies. Working directly with Lifetime and meeting the requests of many Nautical Bowls guests and Lifetime members, New Hope began to offer free bowl cards for new Lifetime memberships and eventually moved to BOGO bowl offers. They also continue to offer a 20% discount to Lifetime employees and have since gathered a following where the Aurora Club meets at their location once a week. When asked for advice on how to initiate a conversation with a potential community partner, Vanessa says, “Just be open and honest when reaching out,” emphasizing that “everybody wants to help”.
After having a large community partnership solidified to help support them and bring guests through their doors, the next place New Hope turned was educating guests about Nautical Bowls’ superfood product, sharing more about the unique menu offerings, and generating smoothie excitement. How did they do it? Through samples! After having experience sharing bowl and oatmeal samples when they first opened, New Hope went this same route when they began to roll out smoothies. “We did samples for the first two to three weeks of the month,” says Vanessa, eventually moving to different days each week to try and hit different guests coming in. After they saw an increase in smoothie sales and felt that they had built a great guest base for them, they then stopped their sampling. New Hope averages 20-25 smoothies a day, however they are considering the idea of offering samples again once we enter the summer season and larger crowds hit.
In talking more with Vanessa and learning how New Hope operates, it’s clear their success can be attributed to several things – preparation, having a dedicated staff, and an emphasis on community involvement. When smoothies began to roll out, Vanessa and Jeremy looked to their manager Val to help. With Val spearheading the smoothie project, she made sure New Hope was prepared with extra blenders and that the deckhands felt empowered. “Having a consistent manager who enjoys this process has been very helpful,” says Vanessa. While stepping into something new can be intimidating, New Hope learned that having a plan for smoothies allowed their deckhands to adapt and learn really quickly. “I was worried about so many things, but everything works itself out.”
As a relatively new store, New Hope knows they can’t stop at just their Lifetime partnership. Recognizing the many opportunities around them, Vanessa and Jeremy are aware they have untapped local potential that they plan to nurture their relationships with. Coming this summer, New Hope has already signed on to sell their bowls at a local pool concession right near their location. Up next for them is working on partnering with the YMCA right across the street!
