A 6-by-6-foot food truck is a modest place to start a franchise, which is the story Palm Berries is telling Charlotte. The family-run açaí business began in Denver, North Carolina, in 2019 and now has locations across North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
WCCB Charlotte published that look on Thursday. Co-founder and CEO Noor Mehmood and her brother, Ashan Mehmood, share how they built the company and demonstrate one of the bowls, from the fruit base through the toppings and the drizzle.
Life Savings in a Publix Lot
The company's own account is specific about the stake. In 2019, Palm Berries says, the founders invested their life savings in the truck and parked it in a Publix parking lot. By 2020, that parking-lot start had become a first storefront in Denver, North Carolina.
The site still calls the business a family-owned local favorite there. Bowls and smoothies are fresh, customizable and made to order. Franchise Times has reported the same 2019 truck in Denver, North Carolina, the town, not the mile-high city.
Two Founding Rosters
WCCB's version is a family story. Noor Mehmood is co-founder and CEO. Ashan Mehmood is his brother. Thursday's piece is their walk-through of the build, with the bowl as the demonstration.
Franchise Times has named three founders: Ahsan Mehmood, Noor Zahid and Chandler Gottlieb. Same year, same kind of truck, same North Carolina town. The names don't match the broadcast, and a third founder appears in the trade-press account who isn't in Thursday's family frame. The company's about page tells the savings story as "we."
A Regional Bet, With Corporate Shops Too
Palm Berries told Franchise Times it franchised because potential partners asked and because growth looked easier that way. The stated map was regional: a strong customer base in North Carolina, and brand awareness in South Carolina and Georgia. Georgia, in that telling, is awareness. The shops described alongside the brand are in the Carolinas and Virginia.
WhatNow Charlotte reported two corporate-owned locations in preparation, in Asheville and South Charlotte, and a longer list of potential North Carolina markets: Plaza Midwood, Harrisburg, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. Franchising was the growth story told to Franchise Times. Corporate-owned shops were on the company's plate in the WhatNow account.
On July 28, 2025, JournalNow identified a new Palm Berries at 2627 Lawndale Drive in Greensboro. The photos, dated July 22, included a Protein Bowl, a Queen City Bowl, a Dubai Bowl and a Flamingo Blend.
Addresses From Midtown to Arlington
QCity Metro reported a Midtown Charlotte shop at 1111 Metropolitan Avenue, Suite 150, open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and covered Palm Berries as a Black-owned smoothie-bowl concept.
The company's locations page lists addresses in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Among the listings: 2931 S Glebe Road in Arlington, Virginia; 33 Town Square Boulevard, Suite 130, in Asheville; and 5140 Sunset Blvd. #C in Lexington, South Carolina. Menus and location information are on the company site.
Holding the Bowl Steady
WhatNow reported the company's growth rule in one sentence: "It's really about operational efficiency and making sure the customer experience stays the same." Palm Berries says it is building systems and streamlining logistics, store operations and service times to hold that line.
Partner requests were the reason the company gave for franchising. The consistency work is how it says a bowl made by someone else still matches the one the founders demonstrate. That is a real constraint once the counter is no longer a single truck window.
The aisle isn't empty. Franchise Times noted that blended-fruit-bowl brands became more common as açaí dishes gained popularity, naming Playa Bowls, Everbowl, Vitality Bowls and Sobol. Palm Berries' reply, in its own description and in those Greensboro photos, is still a bowl assembled to order.
For a street address, the locations page is the list the company publishes. The operating rule attached to the wider map is the short one: keep the customer experience the same.
