February 10, 2025
This New Business of the Year started as a summer project, meant to be temporary, but it so quickly became a Hannibal favorite that customers. . . employees . . . and the owner could not let it go. A quick year after opening as a temporary location, this business officially opened a brand-new brick and mortar building and became a permanent fixture of our community.
From their first day, this business offered something fresh and new, nourishing Hannibal residents and visitors alike, one bowl at a time. Frozen superfruit bases with freshly cut fruit, granola, and drizzles were just what we all needed to make it through the hot summer months, with a lemonade or a lotus on the side.
Kendel Locke, owner of Hula Bowls in Hannibal, receives New Business of the Year award from Kara Viorel.
When they closed for the season, we bought bases in bulk to get through the cold months at home, looking forward to those summer months when the new building would reopen, and a friendly face would once again serve us our superfruit.
When the new building, which was designed in conjunction with the drafting class at HHS, opened in May 2024, we once again started to get our recommended amount of fruit, and also were treated to a newly expanded menu. Smoothies, matcha, toasts and topped bagels were added to the menu last year.
Beyond providing our fruit fix – and their incredible growth, however, is where you really start to see this new business go above and beyond. From making special pink bowls and donating proceeds to Hannibal Regional Foundation’s Life. Light. Hope. patient assistance fund – to sponsoring adoptions at the Northeast Missouri Humane Society – and treating the Hannibal Aquatic Center staff of the week to a Hula Bowl, they have done so much to support the community already. Even more impressive, owner, Kendel Locke, has established a scholarship to help a Hannibal High School senior with seed money to start a business of their own.
If that’s not enough, Kendel has accomplished all of this at the age of 20, starting and growing her business while finishing her bachelor’s degree at Tennessee’s Haslam School of Business in only two years. In addition, she not only opened a new building in Hannibal in 2024, she also opened a Quincy location of the business as well.
Kendel, we are so grateful that you chose to start and grow Hula Bowls in Hannibal – and we can’t wait to see what comes next!
