Playa Bowls franchisee Gene Sherman has signed a lease for 1,226 square feet at Westview Promenade in Frederick, Md., adding a third county location to a fast-growing cluster that will soon span five units across two additional Maryland counties. The deal, brokered by Danielle Bridge of Hill Management Services and Mason Bernstein of KLNB for the landlord, with Jeff Banks of Tennant Commercial representing Sherman, marks another step in the 400-plus-unit national chain's push deeper into mid-Atlantic suburbia.
The Expansion Map
Sherman currently operates one Playa Bowls location at Clemson Corner in Frederick County. The Westview Promenade shop is scheduled to open in December 2026, followed by a Urbana unit in Q1 2027. Sherman is also targeting two additional sites in Carroll or Washington counties, bringing his potential portfolio to five units. The Westview Promenade center, a 200,000-square-foot outdoor lifestyle destination anchored by Regal Westview Cinema and MOM's Organic Market, draws a trade area of more than 90,000 residents within five miles, with average household income exceeding $85,000 — demographics that skew toward the better-for-you foodservice segment Playa Bowls competes in.
Health Positioning Drives the Bet
Sherman, a former operator of two Anytime Fitness franchises, is applying a health-and-wellness thesis to his foodservice investments. Playa Bowls' menu centers on 40 items — açaí, pitaya, coconut and green bowls, oatmeal bowls, cold-pressed juices, smoothies, and cold brew — blended fresh-to-order with no artificial dyes or chemicals, and with gluten-free and vegan options throughout. "People are rejecting manufactured food which causes inflammation and, instead, turning to meals and snacks that are prepared with fresh and real ingredients," Sherman said, citing strong consumer response to his original Frederick store as the trigger for accelerating expansion.
The site selection logic is deliberate: MOM's Organic Market, a co-anchor at Westview Promenade, draws a shopper profile Sherman described as a natural Playa Bowls customer. That co-tenancy strategy — aligning with organic grocery and health-oriented quick-serve neighbors — mirrors broader positioning seen across the better-for-you fast-casual segment, where operators increasingly cluster around wellness-adjacent retail to reduce customer-acquisition costs.
Market Context
Playa Bowls, which now operates more than 400 shops across 30 states, has scaled primarily through franchising since its founding. The brand competes in a superfruit-bowl and smoothie category that has drawn sustained investment from both independent operators and multi-unit franchisees in recent years, as consumer demand for functional and clean-label foodservice options continues to outpace broader restaurant traffic trends. Multi-unit franchise clustering — building density within a defined geography before expanding to adjacent markets — is a capital-efficient model that franchise operators across fast-casual segments have leaned on to extract marketing and supply-chain efficiencies.
Danielle Beyrodt, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Hill Management Services, said the brand's loyal customer base and operational track record made it a natural fit for the center's tenant mix, adding that ingredient transparency and preparation methods are increasingly a deciding factor for Frederick-area consumers.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
