BY THE SACRAMENTO BEE – There’s a world of difference between doing electrical work on nuclear submarines and dishing up heaping servings of “superfoods” made with acaí berries imported from Brazil.
But that’s the transition made by Roseville resident Dana Verducci, who later this month is opening the region’s first Vitality Bowls cafe, part of a fast-growing Bay Area-based chain.
The cafe, at 3988 Douglas Blvd. in Roseville, will have 14 varieties of acaí bowls – ranging from the vitamin-boosting Warrior Bowl to an almond milk and kale Detox Bowl – along with smoothies, panini sandwiches, salads and organic coffee.
As a classroom volunteer in Roseville, she saw the need for a pre-packaged back-to-school kit filled with pens, notebooks and other materials and ended up founding BoxOfSupplies.com, a firm she still owns.
And, more recently, when driving her kids back and forth to sporting events, she realized there was a shortage of healthy food options. Her research led her to Vitality Bowls, which was started in the Bay Area in 2011 and now has 22 locations – most of them franchised sites – in five states.
She’s sold on the superfood concept – fruits and vegetables loaded with vitamins, amino acids and antioxidants that “people in other countries have used for their healing processes (since a time well before) Western civilization.”
In fact, Verducci figures she could use a little nutritional healing herself from the stress of preparing for the May 19 opening of her 1,200-square-foot store near Sierra College Boulevard.
“I’m running on fumes,” she said.
The aim, according to Verducci, is to give people a health choice.
“I can’t tell you how many hamburger joints we have, but if you want to eat something healthy there’s really nothing here,” said Verducci, who is 52.
Meeting a need has been Verducci’s mantra since she lost her nuclear electrician job in Hawaii during military base cutbacks in the early 1990s.
She was on a softball team at the time and realized there were no indoor batting cages on the islands. So, in her first entrepreneurial turn, she opened Hawaii’s only two cages before moving to California a decade ago to take care of her health issues and find better schools for her kids.
As a classroom volunteer in Roseville, she saw the need for a pre-packaged back-to-school kit filled with pens, notebooks and other materials and ended up founding BoxOfSupplies.com, a firm she still owns.
And, more recently, when driving her kids back and forth to sporting events, she realized there was a shortage of healthy food options. Her research led her to Vitality Bowls, which was started in the Bay Area in 2011 and now has 22 locations – most of them franchised sites – in five states.
She’s sold on the superfood concept – fruits and vegetables loaded with vitamins, amino acids and antioxidants that “people in other countries have used for their healing processes (since a time well before) Western civilization.”
In fact, Verducci figures she could use a little nutritional healing herself from the stress of preparing for the May 19 opening of her 1,200-square-foot store near Sierra College Boulevard.
“I’m running on fumes,” she said.
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