Raining Berries, a relatively new coffee and acai franchise that currently operates four storefronts across Florida, has another 12 listed as “coming soon” or “under construction” on its website, including one that will be located in South Tampa, at 1912 S Dale Mabry Hwy.
Franchisee Jonathan Tibben, who’s opening the cafe with business partner Orlando Castillo, filed a plan review for that location with the city on Friday, Dec 9.
“Myself and my family have lived in the South Tampa area for over 30 years and we are overwhelmed with joy for myself and my best friend/business partner, Orlando Castillo, to be able to bring such a beautiful and high quality Raining Berries shop, serving some of the best and freshest coffee, smoothies, açaí bowls, varieties of teas, and Kombucha products to my own community to enjoy. Looking forward to our grand opening, if all goes well, in February 2023,” Tibben tells What Now Tampa.
True to its name, Raining Berries, which was founded in 2018 by entrepreneur, Bimal Bhojani, has an extensive menu of acai bowls and smoothies, as well as coffee, tea, toast, sandwiches, and waffles.
The company draws on “over 200 years of family ties to the coffee industry in Uganda,” to realize its mission of providing “ethically and sustainably sourced coffee, fresh acai bowls, and [a] modern atmosphere” that “invite[s] anyone and everyone in,” according to its website.
Part and parcel of that atmosphere are fully furnished, rentable conference rooms complete with a TV and WiFi that encourage people to take meetings, conduct work, or study at the shop, effectively transforming it into a sort of co-working space – albeit much smaller – without the exorbitant resources and overhead usually required of such enterprises.
Meanwhile, Raining Berries also donates one percent of its gross profits to various charities throughout the year, a nod to its slogan and its sincere awareness of where its products come from; “Real People, Real Coffee, Real Life. That’s the Raining Berries way.”
