Katie Archer sought to diversify her family’s income stream. She also wanted to pursue her passion for encouraging healthy eating.
By opening Nautical Bowls franchises in Collier County, she accomplished both.
Nautical Bowls opened at Galleria Shoppes at Vanderbilt, at the northwest corner of Airport-Pulling Road and Vanderbilt Beach Road in North Naples. It joined Coconut Point in Estero as the second of at least five planned locations in Southwest Florida, with Fort Myers also on tap to eventually receive one.
Nautical Bowls is the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based company’s mark on the trending healthy bowl concept. Customers can choose from three sizes and build their own bowl, with sorbet bases with flavors of acai, pitaya, coconut, mango or a concoction called “blue majik.” There are also three types of puddings, vanilla, spirulina and cocoa, a variety of fresh-cut fruits, organic peanut butter and organic almond butter and honey.
There are three sizes of bowls starting at $8 and 10 varieties of “signature bowls,” which range in price from $11 to $17, depending on the size. Nautical Bowls is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Archer joked that customers can eat four meals a day there – breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert.
“The combinations that they’ve made and put into our signature bowls, they can actually be considered meal replacements,” Archer said. “If you order one of those signature bowls, you’re getting everything you need in a well-balanced meal.”
Bill Archer had connections with the founders of Nautical Bowls. Katie Archer wanted to diversify their income from real estate and property management.
“It’s growing very fast,” Bill Archer said. “In less than six months, we went from seven locations to 146 franchise agreements, and 28 locations that are opened. The great thing about it is we got in on the ground floor. Their values align with our values.”
The Archers hired longtime friend Bill Beck to be their general manager. He will operate the new location while setting up their second one, at Stock Plaza on the corner of Collier Boulevard and Grand Lely Drive. That location should be ready by the summer, if not sooner.
Coincidentally, Beck said, both locations used to be dry cleaners.
“It’s a huge move,” said Beck, who met Archer during their days as Costco employees in the late 1980s in Minnesota. Beck went on to become a police officer in Foster City, California. He spent the past five years running South Bay Regional Training Center, a police academy, in San Jose, California. His Costco background came in handy in switching from law enforcement to running a healthy food franchise. He wants to make Nautical Bowls a fun place to work. He has hired about 15 employees, and all of them are students.
“If you’re not having fun while working here, I’m not doing my job,” Beck said. “If you’re stressing about anything while working here, I’m not doing my job. Working here, they’re going to be better prepared for the workforce when you leave. You’re going to be better prepared for life.”