Salad and Go is coming on strong. The Arizona-based fast food salad chain started with one store in 2013 and recently grabbed headlines when it brought on famed restaurant executive Bobby Shaw as its CEO. Founded by former-school-teacher-turned-health-advocate Roushan Cristofellis, they currently operate 8 restaurants in the Greater-Phoenix area, with plans to double that amount by the end of next year and ambitions to push into other states soon thereafter.
Their timing is impeccable. The US market for healthy quick-service food has grown by 550% since 1999—ten times the growth among legacy fast food chains.
Selling a variety of 48 oz. salads, which customers can also have served as wraps, in addition to soups, smoothies, and a recently-added breakfast menu, Salad and Go drive-thru is one example of a newfound union between traditional fast food models and today’s increasingly health-conscious consumers.
The Good of Small Things
Perusing their menu, it quickly becomes clear that this is not typical fast food fare, with artisanal and often organic ingredients that are locally sourced, yet somehow remain affordable, and, according to early reviews, also “superb.”
That kind of quality costs some serious green. Salad and Go spends up to 60% more than the industry average on yearly food costs and yet only claims an average ticket of roughly $10. How is this balance possible?
In this case, size matters—they leverage their small size to lower overhead. For example, each restaurant is about 650 square feet, offers no interior dining room, and seasonally rotates through a maximum of ten salads. They thereby get by with a relatively smaller staff and lower operating costs than traditional establishments. Also, their base ingredient, lettuce, is the same across most items served, meaning they can acquire it, and other vegetables, in bulk.
The result? According to Cristofellis, the industry averages 20% for operating expenses. Salad and Go’s? 14%. “That’s why we’re able to put more into our food,” she brags.
Small Stores, Big Green Goals
What they lack in size, they sure make up for in ambition: “The goal is to change the way America thinks of—and consumes—traditional drive-thru fast food,” CEO Shaw says. “It’s able to capture the speed and convenience of traditional drive-thru, but it’s great-tasting, good-for-you food that you can’t get anywhere else.”
Aspiring for a holy trinity of convenience, affordability, and health, Salad and Go has found a way to deliver on all three and believes such a model is truly groundbreaking.
Essentially they are leveraging their small size and operating costs to bridge the gap between affordability and health for many consumers in a quick and convenient manner. According to Cristofellis, “We know that so many of those people eating from traditional drive-thru fast food are forced to go there, because they, just like me, needed something convenient and affordable, and that was their only option.”
Of course, there are other options, though none have struck this ideal balance in quite the same way. While fast-casual restaurants such as Tender Greens and Native Foods certainly share their health-conscious customer base, Salad and Go doesn’t see it that way. “We don’t consider anyone a competitor who doesn’t have a drive-through. Our mission is to make drive-through better.”
While many healthy-fare competitors emphasize decor, ambiance, and atmosphere in order to communicate the freshness and quality of their food, Salad and Go does away with the frills. They know they are not the first to serve a salad, but they hope to be the quickest and most affordable.
