John Cappasola had been watching The Well location come together for months through construction photos and video updates. Walking into the finished space the evening before the grand opening, the CEO of Playa Bowls had one reaction.
“I’ve been seeing it in pictures and coming together for months,” he told 6ixRetail during the brand’s family and friends event last Wednesday. “I couldn’t wait for today.”
It has been a long road to this moment. As 6ixRetail reported in April, Playa Bowls signed a master franchise agreement with Eat Up Canada Inc. covering more than 160 locations across the country, with The Well chosen as the launch site for the brand’s first shop outside the United States. What that story could not capture was what the months between signing and opening actually required.
Cappasola was clear about where the effort went. Finding the right operator, he said, was the straightforward part.
“The easiest part was once we found Alex and George,” he said. “I spent a few days with them in their restaurants and it was a no-brainer. Great people first operators. I have been around a lot of operators in my life.”
George Heos and Alex Gerzon of Eat Up Canada brought decades of Canadian franchise experience to the table. But Cappasola said what took longer was everything that followed.
“The thing that took the longest for our team was really making sure the brand could be brought to life properly here so that we could connect in a unique and inspiring way with Canada,” he said. “That’s where Eat Up Canada’s expertise and commitment to the Canadian consumer came in.
Cappasola said he came to Playa Bowls from a long career in fast food for a specific reason. He had spent years in the industry always angling toward the healthier side, grilled proteins, fresh ingredients, always working within formats that were not built for it. Playa was built for it.
“When I had our menu offerings, it was just so unbelievable to me,” he said. “I had been eating acai bowls in California since 2010, so I knew the category, but Playa Bowls was superior to anything I’d tasted before.”
He said that personal conviction in the product is not unique to him. It runs through the franchise system in a way that surprised even him.
“Many of our franchise owners in the US came to Playa because of a love for the product,” Cappasola said. “Some of them had never done franchising before, never been restaurateurs. And the story I keep hearing is, I fell in love with the menu, I fell in love with the lifestyle, and I had to be part of it. I have heard that from numerous franchise owners. There is something about owning it and loving it and wanting to be part of it.”
That dynamic is already playing out in Canada before a single franchise location has opened.
Heos said Eat Up Canada currently has eight prospective franchisees in various stages of discussion, and not one came through paid advertising.
“We have a website, but we have not directed anyone to it,” he said. “Every single one of these prospects has a very strong personal connection to the brand from their own time in the US.”
Six of the eight are women, a pattern Heos said he had never seen in decades of franchise development. He admitted it was his biggest concern going in.
“My business partner Alex said, don’t worry, we will attract the people we want because of the brand,” Heos said. “He was 100 percent right. Because it is the lifestyle, the affinity to the brand. It is almost like, I want to be part of that. That does not come up in a boardroom.”
The family and friends event Wednesday gave both sides an early read on how the Canadian market would receive the brand.
Heos said a significant portion of guests who came through were Canadians who already knew Playa Bowls from time spent in the US, and nearly all of them arrived with the same concern.
“Their biggest worry was the Target scenario,” he said. “They walk in expecting less. They walk out saying, I was not expecting this to be as good as it was in the US.”
Delivering the full brand required both sides to move quickly and trust each other. Juices were removed from the Canadian lineup, as they represent a lower sales category in the US, and Heos said that call took one conversation.
“There are franchisors who would say, this is exactly how we do it in the US and that is how it works here,” he said. “John said okay in one conversation.”
Cappasola said the flexibility runs both ways, and that Canada will shape what Playa Bowls does going forward as much as the US playbook does.
“You want the menu to breathe with the consumer,” he said. “We will be doing ongoing testing in the US and sharing it with the team up here. They will be doing things and sharing it back with us. The category never sits still. Protein, fiber, collagen. We want to be nimble enough to move with it.”
Heos said the quality of that day-to-day relationship is what most people underestimate when they look at cross-border franchise deals.
“Every single day we say, oh my God, we partnered with the right people,” he said. “John and everybody on their team truly wants us to be successful and Playa Bowls to be successful. They are always looking to say, yeah, that is a different way of looking at it. From the menu to everything.”
Cappasola put it simply. “We feel like we have really great brand shepherds up here,” he said.
The expansion roadmap is already moving.
A second corporate shop at 197 North Queen Street in Etobicoke, across from CF Sherway Gardens, is targeting an end of July opening. Several team members from The Well will transfer to help launch it.
Three additional franchise-operated locations are planned before year-end, with confirmed interest in Vaughan, Burlington, a second downtown Toronto address, Ottawa and Halifax. Beauleigh is handling national real estate as the pipeline grows.
“We want to grow quickly, but it is always going to be done the right way,” Heos said. “It is not growth at any cost. It is going to be done with the right real estate and the right franchisees.”
Cappasola said from day one, the conversations with Heos were built around the idea that learning goes both ways.
“We talked about this from the very beginning,” he said. “We will learn some things from you just like we learn from our franchise owners in the US. How franchisees in the Canadian market react to the brand, ways to tighten up operationally, improvements to the build-out. We want to be open-minded because we have really good operators up here.”
As for what comes after Canada, Cappasola was measured.
“For us to expand more globally, the circumstances would have to mirror what we found here,” he said. “Right operator, right market conditions, a genuine belief that the brand can win. We’re focused on being successful in Canada.”
On his bowl of choice, Cappasola did not need a moment.
“The Pure Vida Bowl. Basics. Acai, Granola, Honey, blueberries, strawberries. I think our acai is the best on the planet.” He visits his local Playa regularly and can’t get enough of the bowls or smoothies. “Honestly I can’t get enough of it. I freaking love it.”
Heos goes straight to the OG Nut Bowl, acai with granola, banana, strawberries, coconut flakes and Nutella, an order locked in during his first evaluation of the brand and unchanged since.
Playa Bowls at The Well is located at 430 Front Street West. Follow @playabowlsca on Instagram and @playabowlscanada on TikTok. Franchise inquiries at playabowlscanada.ca.
Dustin Fuhs is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of 6ix Retail, Toronto’s premier source for retail and hospitality industry news. As the former Editor-in-Chief of Retail Insider, Canada’s most-read retail trade publication, Dustin brings over two decades of expertise spanning retail, marketing, entertainment and hospitality sectors. His experience includes roles with industry giants such as The Walt Disney Company, The Hockey Hall of Fame, The Canadian Opera Company, Starbucks Canada and Blockbuster.
Recognized as a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert in 2024, 2025 and 2026, Dustin delivers insider perspectives on Toronto’s evolving retail landscape, from emerging brands to established players reshaping the city’s commercial districts.