A new Playa Bowls opening later this month in Cleveland's University Circle will carry something almost no other location in the chain has: kosher certification. The açaí bowl and smoothie shop at 11446 Euclid Ave. is set to open to the public on Sept. 19, and it will operate under supervision from Ohio-K Kosher, overseen by Rabbi A.J. Kushner.
The kosher designation was not part of Playa Bowls' original plan for the University Circle store, according to Cleveland Jewish News, which first reported the opening. Community members sent roughly 200 direct messages to the location's Instagram page asking whether the shop would be kosher, and those messages convinced the Playa Bowls team to pursue the certification, the outlet reported.
Hannah Lippman, general manager of the University Circle location and a congregant of B'nai Jeshurun Congregation in Pepper Pike, said the certification is unique among Playa Bowls stores. “The team is very excited to open,” Lippman said, and she described her own hope to bring a kosher restaurant to the community, even though she does not personally keep kosher. Aaron Greene owns the East Side franchises of Playa Bowls that include the new University Circle shop.
What's on the Menu
Playa Bowls built its menu around açaí bowls with bases of açaí, papaya, coconut, mango and green, topped with fruit, granola, honey, Nutella and other add-ons. The chain also serves smoothies, oatmeal and cold brew coffee, and Lippman singled out the coffee, calling it incredible. The full menu is published at playabowls.com.
Most Playa Bowls locations are not kosher, according to Lippman, and the chain's other Northeast Ohio outpost, Playa Bowls Rocky River on the west end of the region, is not kosher either. Playa Bowls already has locations in Canton, Columbus, Athens, Cincinnati and Dayton, and the chain now counts more than 400 locations nationwide.
A Chain on a Growth Tear
The University Circle opening lands amid a period of rapid national expansion for Playa Bowls. Private equity firm Sycamore Partners acquired the chain in September 2024 from Tamarix Equity Partners and Pacific General, according to a Pacific General announcement, after those firms grew the brand from about 100 locations to more than 250 across 22 states during a three-year ownership stretch. Under CEO John Cappasola, who previously led Del Taco and Nothing Bundt Cakes, Playa Bowls restructured its leadership team last September with plans to open 90 new locations by the end of 2025, per Fast Casual.
The chain traces back to 2014, when Jersey Shore natives and surfers Abby Taylor and Rob Giuliani started it with a single blender and a pop-up sidewalk stand outside a Belmar, New Jersey pizza shop, according to a report carried by Two River Times. Hoodline has tracked the brand's Midwest push in recent months, including new locations in Kenwood and Pittsburgh, and reported on a St. Louis healthcare executive's franchise plans earlier this year.
Landing in a Changing Corridor
The new shop sits in University Circle, steps from Case Western Reserve University, which enrolled 12,475 total students in the 2024-2025 academic year, including 6,528 undergraduates, according to university figures. Fewer than 20% of CWRU undergraduates were Ohio natives as of August 2024, down from roughly half in 2009, per Signal Cleveland, a shift that has fueled demand for recognizable national fast-casual brands among the campus population.
Playa Bowls' arrival follows Chick-fil-A's debut of its first street-facing Cleveland storefront last month, also along Euclid Avenue in the Uptown development near CWRU, as Hoodline previously reported. University Circle Inc. launched its Connecting the Circle master plan in May to upgrade crosswalks, sidewalks and public spaces along Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street, part of a broader push to draw pedestrian traffic and retail tenants to the district.
A Growing Kosher Footprint
The certification also fits into a wider expansion of kosher dining on Cleveland's East Side. Pitmaster Mendel Segal opened Mendel's Kansas City BBQ in nearby Shaker Heights in January 2023 under Cleveland Kosher supervision, according to YeahThatsKosher, and later announced plans to expand into local craft brewing. Rabbi Kushner, the head mashgiach for Ohio-K Kosher Supervision now overseeing the Playa Bowls location, is a graduate of Telshe Rabbinical College and serves as rabbi at Agudas Achim Congregation in Canton, in addition to work as a police and hospital chaplain.
