Just a couple of months ago, a silver Airstream glowing with a large pink lotus appeared near the boardwalk in front of the Hotel del Coronado. The new SunLife Organics smoothie bar peddles colorful, supplement-packed smoothies and smoothie bowls topped with nut butters and organic granola.
SunLife Organics has built its brand around transformation and healing. Founder Khalil Rafati has publicly shared his story of overcoming heroin addiction and homelessness on Los Angeles’ Skid Row. After deciding to get sober, he became interested in juicing and learning about organic foods and superfoods, a journey that eventually led him to found SunLife Organics in 2011.
Now, that philosophy comes packaged in $25 acai bowls and $18 matcha lattes sold outside one of America’s most iconic luxury hotels.
The smoothies feature buzzy ingredients you might have heard about on social media pages or seen at Whole Foods, including collagen, spirulina, Peruvian maca and trace minerals. Some also include SunLife Organics’ branded Hydration and Beauty Powder, a blend of electrolytes and supplements such as vitamin C, niacin, magnesium, chloride, sodium and potassium.
The bowls all have an acai base with toppings like nut butters, cacao spread, coconut shreds, granola and fruit. According to employees at the Del Mar location, the Coronado menu is more condensed than those at other locations but features a signature bowl called The Hotel Del. Rafati said he instructed SunLife’s recipe curator to “experience the Del and walk the bike path” before developing the recipe.
I ordered the Buddha Bowl for $25 and the Garden Matcha for $18. Seeing the price upfront gave me the same wince I had walking through Los Angeles’ Erewhon, the grocery chain that has become a symbol of luxury wellness culture in Southern California. Yet even Erewhon’s famous “Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie” cost less than those at SunLife’s Hotel Del location.
Rafati says the prices are based on the quality of the ingredients. He said he has spent years developing his own protein powders, green powders and supplement blends under the Sacred Lotus label while sourcing ingredients from vendors around the world.
“We are 100 percent certified organic — all of our ingredients. Nobody does that,” he said.
Along with the quality of ingredients, he also said he spent his mid-30s working minimum wage jobs and spending half his paycheck on gym memberships, expensive smoothies and ginger shots. “If I would have gone to Jack in the Box or McDonald’s or places where most people working a minimum-wage job eat, I would have felt horrible,” he said.” The return on investment, the RLI, was totally worth it.”
He mentioned that the Hotel Del determines the pricing for the Coronado location, making the Coronado menu more expensive than others. The same matcha that costs $14 in Del Mar sells for $18 at the Hotel Del.
The bowl arrived overflowing with toppings, leaving the acai almost entirely hidden beneath cacao nibs, coconut shreds and drizzles of honey. The granola was embedded in the scoopable frozen purple fruit rather than simply sprinkled on top, so every spoonful uncovered a melody of textures.
Fresh strawberries and blueberries added sweetness, while clusters of pumpkin seeds, almonds and oats gave the granola an earthy crunch. The cacao-hazelnut spread resembled a thicker, less sweet Nutella, and a generous scoop of a more savory peanut butter melted into the acai. It was as filling as a meal and felt substantial.
The matcha latte came with a light green tint, and the coconut whip clung to the inside of the plastic cup. While the drink looked promising, the matcha flavor was subtle, lacking the robust taste I expected — especially compared with other, more affordable matchas I’ve tried.
While Rafati’s story is rooted in transformation and healing, SunLife has become a luxury wellness brand sold near monied vacationers and retirees in Coronado, raising a larger question: Is wellness just for the wealthy?
