A shop in New York City’s Upper East Side opened last week selling fruit soft serve.
The new eatery, Simply Peeled, calls its product Fruizo, and it’s simpler to make than you might think.
“The initial product came from running frozen bananas through an off-the-shelf food processor,” said co-owner Michael Sloan.
From there they hired research and development chef Derek Hunt to figure out the best settings for running bananas, mangoes and strawberries, mixed with water and a little sugar, through their soft-serve machine.
“No one had ever seen anyone do that with a soft-serve machine before,” Sloan said, adding that customer response has been “amazing.”
“We have people who come in every single day, including a woman who drives in from the Upper West Side,” Sloan said.
In addition to the mango, strawberry and banana flavors, plans are underway to add seasonal flavors, starting with apple this fall.
Currently the soft serve sells for $3 for a 3-ounce cup, $3.75 for 4 ounces, $4.50 for 6 ounces and $5.25 for 8 ounces, but Sloan said they were reworking the sizes so people could determine nutrition information more easily. A small will be 3.5 ounces, or 100 grams, and 75 to 85 calories without toppings, which range from fruit to cereals to chocolate syrup.
“Fruizo Favorites,” which sell for $7 for 6 ounces, include desserts such as the Crunchy Salty Sundae made with banana Fruizo, bananas, pretzels, peanut butter and chocolate chips.
The Bandango Sundae is made with banana and mango fruizo, tortilla chips, salsa and banana and mango fruit.
The Breakfast Berry Sundae has strawberry fruizo, berries, raisins, granola and cheerios.
“Add cinnamon and graham crackers to the apple, and you have apple pie,” Sloan said.
Fruizo Blends, essentially smoothies, sell for $8, and include blends such as the PBJC — banana fruizo with hot peanut butter, chocolate chips, bananas and jam — and the “Breakfast Boost” of banana fruizo, granola berries, bananas and maple syrup. Add-ins such as wheat germ, fiber and protein powder are available for $1 each.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
