New smoothie spot opens in SLO County. See what’s on the menu at Mellow Banana
If you’re in the mood for a healthy new treat in SLO County, look no further than the Mellow Banana.
Arroyo Grande’s newest smoothie shop opened April 1 at 1474 East Grand Ave. in the Smart and Final shopping center.
It’s the brainchild of co-owners Chantal King and James Clayton, who wanted to give people an easier alternative to healthy eating, King told The Tribune.
“It’s just been something on my heart,” she said. “Like, ‘I would love to open a smoothie shop.’ ... But it became, you know, a larger purpose once I studied medicine.”
King, a physician’s assistant in Arroyo Grande, said through her work she’s seen how difficult it is for people to start and maintain healthy diets, and that it’s often intimidating to talk about those things in a medical setting.
“I feel like one of the hardest things for patients is how to actually implement that into their life and what that looks like — and if they don’t have communities surrounding them, it’s just really hard to be consistent with a healthy lifestyle,” she said. “I liked the idea of being able to influence and teach people about health in a really non-formal environment — just doing community — and offering healthy options and making it like simple and easy.”
That’s easier said than done, King noted, saying it also took the addition of partner Clayton to take it from just healthy eating to something that people would enjoy.
“I can kind of push like ‘Oh it’s going to be really healthy,’ but he’s like, ‘But what about the taste?’” she said. “ It made a good balance between us to offer something for all different types of people — wherever they are on their journey.”
The shop of course specializes in smoothies — its super-blend protein shake cookie treat called the “Salvation Mountain” is particularly popular, King said.
It also offers waffles, including paleo and vegan options, and acai bowls, she said.
“It’s been a big weekend thing,” King said of the waffles.
Business has so far been good, she said, if not a little overwhelming given the pressures of running a new restaurant.
“We had a lot of community support, especially from people that I’ve met over the past three years and from the church and things like that,” she said. “But over the weeks following, it’s been good, pretty consistent. And it’s been cool to, like, see a lot of people that we don’t know.”
King said moving forward she hopes Mellow Banana can become a place for people to feel like part of a community.
“We want to make living a healthy lifestyle easy,” she said. “ And so we want to really connect with people in the community and just make it like a fun and simple process. We’re there for connection.”
The Mellow Banana is open Thursday and Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Saturday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.
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