Key Takeaways
- Georgios Frangulis, the fiancé of tennis world star Aryna Sabalenka, founded Oakberry in 2016 using a $50,000 life insurance claim following surgery for thyroid cancer.
- Engineered with a streamlined no-kitchen franchise model, Oakberry expanded to over 1,100 locations across 50 countries and now generates more than $300 million in annual revenue.
- Frangulis built Oakberry into a lifestyle brand through high-profile sports activations in Formula 1 and major tennis tournaments, which originally led to partnering with and meeting Sabalenka.
From a cancer diagnosis to building an açaí empire
Before building a global chain spanning more than 1,100 locations across 50 countries, Oakberry founder Georgios Frangulis faced overwhelming personal and professional hurdles. Now widely recognized as the fiancé of tennis world star Aryna Sabalenka, the Brazilian entrepreneur took an extraordinary gamble after moving to California in 2015, where he noticed a booming demand for açaí bowls but found the local offering subpar.
Frangulis sought to bring authentic Brazilian açaí to international standards. However, after struggling to secure retail space in Los Angeles as a young founder with no U.S. credit history, he pivoted back to Brazil. The timing proved critical, as he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in August 2016 while completely broke. Rather than giving up, he funded his initial 60-square-foot kiosk in a São Paulo shopping mall by claiming insurance money following surgery.
“You either go, ‘Fuck it. I’m terrible. I cannot make anything work.’ Or you have to focus on, okay, it cannot get any worse than this. And I got to stay positive,” Frangulis explained about navigating that pivotal period. “I called to cancel a life insurance that I had that I didn’t even knew that I had… They pay me 75%.” That payout of roughly $50,000 allowed him to open the very first Oakberry location on December 6, 2016.
Designing a high-speed, no-kitchen franchise
From the beginning, Frangulis engineered Oakberry to expand via franchising, knowing he lacked the capital to scale rapidly on his own. He avoided complex kitchen setups to keep operating costs low and turnaround times fast, enabling kiosks to operate in high-footprint corridors without venting or grease traps.
“I wanted Oak to be as simple as possible on a operational perspective and as cool as possible on a brand perspective,” Frangulis said. “A franchisee is going to pay 6% of his revenues to the franchisor. But the margins on the operation, the bottom line of the P
Aryna Sabalenka in 2026
Now ranked no.2, Sabalenka played her last contest on the 12th of September when she was overcome by world no.1 Elena Rybakina 6-4 5-7 6-2 in the final of the U.S. Open (draw).
This season Aryna achieved an overall 46-9 win-loss record. Aryna has won 3 titles in 2026 in Brisbane, Indian Wells and Miami.
