Salad chain brands will see a rise in popularity throughout the country as national lockdown measures ease up and Americans move away from their comfort food quarantine diets and resume their health and fitness routines. As many Americans work to shed those extra pounds they gained through both stress eating and mandated gym lockdowns, the convenience of salad restaurant chains will be there to accommodate their renewed healthy living goals. The International Food Information Council’s 2020 Food & Health Survey, released in June, reported that more than half of the American consumers surveyed changed their diet to a healthier one within the last six months. Millennials and Gen Z-ers, especially, have embraced a more health-conscious, plant-based fresh food diet.
Development trends in this segment are shifting toward opening more units in suburban markets rather than pre-COVID plans of concentrating salad-theme eateries in densely populated urban locales. Look for Saladworks, Chicken Salad Chick, Sweetgreen, Chop Stop, Salata, Coolgreens, and Chopt, along with franchise newcomers fresh&co and The Salad House to expand their national presence, swooping in to fill the gap left by the closure of the salad-bar chain, Sweet Tomatoes/Souplantation.
Saladworks hopes to open approximately 50 new units next year and 75 new units in 2022 as the chain focuses on franchise development in the Mid-Atlantic states of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Units in Tennessee, Ohio, North Carolina and Indiana could also be in the works. The brand anticipates its growth over the next two years to be 50% new franchisees, 25% existing franchisees and 25% company-owned restaurants. The chain seeks high-density areas that are not already oversaturated with similar salad-brand dining concepts and expects to continue to add new restaurants within more suburban areas near hospitals and colleges. Saladworks looks for space at the sweet spot of 1,700 s.f., preferably end cap, but will consider inline and freestanding conversions. Space can include rooftops and lower-level mixed-use office buildings sites. Nontraditional venues, such as military bases, airports and universities, will also be considered. Sites should be within high-visibility convenience centers, or at a space with a strong retail anchor. Preferred co-tenants would be similar types of fast-casual brands, such as MOD Pizza, Five Guys and Starbucks. Sites with a minimum population of 30,000 within a two-mile radius, $65K median income, a median age of 40 and below and 15,000 workplace population will be sought after. The restaurant is known for its customizable salad options.
The Southern-influenced Chicken Salad Chick fast-casual restaurant chain is on track to open approximately 45 to 50 new units per year over the next five years. The brand has 177 units in 17 states mainly throughout the South and the Midwest. With about 80% of its fleet of restaurants operating as franchise units, the brand is especially interested in expanding into the Midwest where it does not yet have a presence, notably Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. Units in West Virginia will also be targeted. A franchise deal has already been signed for upcoming units in Kansas City, Kan. Chicken Salad Chick will also continue to penetrate states where it has recently expanded into, including Indiana this year, and Ohio and Illinois in 2019. Upcoming franchise deals have been inked for growth into Austin, Texas, and Boca Raton, Fla. Chicken Salad Chick seeks inline and end cap space, preferably with a drive thru and a patio, at approximately 2,800 s.f. Locations in regional shopping centers that attract a lot of female and family shoppers, with T.J. Maxx, Target and Ulta Beauty as co-tenants, will be desired. Trade areas should have a population of 60,000, with an average household income of $60K. The chain features over a dozen types of chicken salad choices, and an egg salad option, served in a bowl, as a sandwich, or by the scoop.
The fast-casual restaurant chain Sweetgreen will open about 20 new units this year and expects to open approximately 35 to 40 new units per year until at least 2022. The brand will continue to add new units in states it first penetrated this year, including New Jersey, Colorado and Florida, the latter of which will see two new units in Miami before year’s end. Next year will see the first two units in Atlanta, and the chain is eyeing Arizona, Oregon and Washington. Immediate growth plans include continued expansion into Texas and California, while still focusing on inline urban downtown units, especially within New York City. Sweetgreen is also targeting suburban spaces since discovering that those units have done particularly well during the pandemic. Sweetgreen looks for space in the 2,500-s.f. Range, either standalone, inline or end cap, in affluent shopping malls, lifestyle centers and street-front mixed-use developments.
Preferred co-tenants include upscale fitness centers, such as Equinox or SoulCycle, juice bars and organic-minded grocery stores. Upcoming Atlanta locations will be a 3,768-s.f. unit at the Lenox Square Mall, and a 2,900-s.f. unit at the Ponce City Market mixed-use development. Sweetgreen, which currently has farm-sourced foods from ten different farms throughout the country, began introducing dinner food options in April of this year, and it anticipates offering more healthy snack items in the future, such as organic chocolate treats. The brand was also ahead of the social distancing curve when it introduced its “Outpost” shelving units in office buildings and apartment lobbies two years ago, and it expects to have close to 4,000 of these locations by early 2021.
Southern California-based Chop Stop, which began franchising its quick-serve salad concept two years ago, expects to open approximately 25 new units per year over the next three years. Chop Stop seeks inline and end cap space, as well as freestanding drive-thru space, between 1,100 and 1,500 s.f. in neighborhoods with a high concentration of businesses and residential housing at such venues as strip malls, shopping malls and regional power centers. The brand is seeking new franchise deals centered in the West, including all areas of California, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Colorado and Utah. Exceptions will be made for new regions if the franchisee agrees to open at least ten units, such as its deal with a Texas franchisee that plans to open at least a dozen units within the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The first of those units opened in August in Frisco, Texas, at an end cap in a new strip center that also houses a Target and is near office buildings and residences. This year, the restaurant chain also migrated into the new state of Nevada in June, opening a 1,515-s.f., counter-service restaurant at the open-air Town Square shopping center in Las Vegas, which also houses a Broken Yolk Café. A second Nevada unit is expected to open within the next two months in Reno, Nev., in a 1,280-s.f. former Quiznos at an outparcel within a Walmart shopping center, with AT&T as a co-tenant.
Salata continues to expand its restaurant’s national footprint, and expects to open approximately 25 new units per year over the next two years. Immediate future unit growth is expected in Chicago and Los Angeles, and upcoming growth will occur in the new territories of North Carolina (Raleigh/Durham and Charlotte), Jackson, Miss., Denver, Kansas City, Mo., Las Vegas and throughout Tennessee. Continued expansion is also expected in Texas, especially in Lubbock, Wichita Falls and El Paso. Future targeted states for growth include Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida and Arizona. The average unit size is 2,800 s.f., as well as 750- to 1,800-s.f. nontraditional space such as in airports. The brand prefers end cap space, but will consider freestanding sites in retail centers within busy trade areas with strong daytime populations. Site should be near other popular fast-casual chains, such as Chipotle, as well as big-box retail, grocery stores and fitness centers. Site should also include a pick-up window and patio space.
The restaurant brand also seeks new development space, such as its upcoming 2,700-s.f. End cap unit at the Block 14 at Garden Oaks lifestyle center development in Houston, developed by the Gulf Coast Commercial Group, which will also house a McAlister’s Deli and that broke ground in June. Its demographic base is 66% female, between the ages of 25 and 54. Salata has a customizable assembly-line ordering format, and rebranded itself last year with the slogan, “Salad How You Feel,” meaning, with its 50+ ingredients and toppings, each salad for every visit can vary depending on how you feel.
Coolgreens, an Oklahoma-based salad chain franchise, has its eye on further expansion into Boston and central/south Florida. The restaurant began expansion last year into Nebraska and Texas. Coolgreens is on pace to open approximately 15 to 20 new units per year. In Texas alone, the brand will open 50 units over the next five years at a rate of 10 per year, beginning with Houston, followed by Austin and San Antonio. The chain is also set to open its first restaurant in Orlando, Fla., in 2021. Coolgreens seeks end cap space with a patio, but will consider inline space, between 1,800 and 2,400 s.f., in lifestyle or power centers with a big-box anchor such as Target, Super Walmart, Whole Foods Market or LA Fitness.
Site should provide a minimum of 20 parking spaces, have excellent visibility and great ingress/egress with a traffic signal, as well as 10,000+ daytime/lunch population, and a daily traffic count of 25,000+. Space within secondring metropolitan areas should be near traffic generators such as healthcare centers, offices, universities, residential communities, updated movie theaters and major retail corridors. Coolgreens is experimenting with an even smaller prototype, in the 1,000- to 1,050-s.f. range, as well as drive thrus, which are expected to debut in mid-2021. Coolgreens has wide name recognition in its new regions due to its “Coolgreens Markets®” refrigerated grab-and-go concept that encompass just six s.f., and which franchisors agree to place in at least 25 sites, notably downtown and metro locations within high-rise office and medical buildings, corporate campuses and mixed-use retail developments. The Coolgreens restaurant offers a build-your-own salad, as well as signature salads, in addition to sandwiches, flatbread pizzas, quinoa bowls and soups to capture more of the dinner time and male customers.
The founders of Chopt hope to open around 10 to 15 new units per year over the next two years. Chopt looks to expand its brand into new states within the South, notably Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Texas. Continued growth in the mid-sized markets in the Northwest is also to be expected, especially in Connecticut. The brand is moving away from its urbancentered origins and seeking suburban space between 2,000 and 3,500 s.f. in super regional and specialty malls with a strong grocery anchor, such as Trader Joe’s. Its upcoming location expected by the end of the year will be a 2,641-s.f. unit at a new lifestyle center in a refurbished farm space called the Shoppes at DiPiero Farm in Montvale, N.J., developed by the S.Hekemian Group. Co-tenants will include Wegmans, CityMD, Lululemon and Orangetheory Fitness.
After the debut of its first quick serve/pickup-only 1,501-s.f. unit late last year in lower Manhattan, with a Chipotle as a co-tenant, Chopt hinted that similar units will be in its future development plans. In January, Chopt with funding by private equity firm L Catterton, acquired the Dos Toros Taqueria brand and its 21 units in New York, New Jersey and Chicago. Chopt’s new ownership entity, now called Founders Table Restaurant Group, expects to acquire additional restaurant brands in the future.
Salad Chains On the Cusp of Flourishing
New York City-based chain fresh&co was approved for franchising its brand last year, and hopes to extend its restaurants into the Northeast. Thriving urban and suburban neighborhoods within Long Island and upstate New York, as well as New Jersey (Jersey City, Hoboken, Paramus and Princeton) and Pennsylvania will be targeted. The brand is also seeking multi-unit franchisees in Florida, the Carolinas and Georgia. The restaurant chain is hoping to open up to 25 to 30 new units by late 2022/early 2023. Fresh&co seeks space between 1,400 and 2,200 s.f. In ground-floor mixed-use inline spaces in business districts, power centers, and food hall spaces in retail centers and regional malls with high daytime populations and strong visibility from a main thoroughfare. Health-related co-tenants are preferred, such as Planet Fitness and Sprouts. Fresh&co prides itself on its organic farm food sourcing, and the brand has a reputable farm source provider in Florida to assist with potential growth in the Southeast, in addition to its own farm in Long Island. Fresh&co provides salad options, as well as soups, paninis and grain bowls.
While The Salad House only has three locations in New Jersey, the chain is currently seeking multi-unit franchisees, and wants to expand into the Northeast, notably in New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Areas of interest include Bucks County, Pa., Long Island and Westchester County, N.Y. The Salad House seeks around 1,500 s.f. in mixed-use spaces, strip centers or street-front retail districts. Preferred co-tenants include other healthy eating chains, such as East-coast based Ono Bowls, and optometry/eyewear brands, such as Warby Parker. The made-to-order fast-casual restaurant specializes in salads, but also serves wraps, soups, sandwiches and smoothies.
Although Just Salad is still interested in expanding into new markets, especially throughout the Northwest and the Southeast, the brand is halting further expansion plans for the remainder of 2020. Just Salad currently has 44 U.S. franchise locations in five states. The brand hopes to raise capital by either striking a deal with a private equity firm, or by launching an IPO by the end of 2021. Pre-coronavirus, the restaurant chain had begun expansion into the southern states of North Carolina and Florida, and had plans for further growth especially within the Miami market. Just Salad prefers inline space at approximately 2,300 to 2,500 s.f. in both urban and suburban markets within regional shopping centers and mixed-use structures, including medical buildings. Co-tenants such as Publix, Orangetheory Fitness, Chipotle, Panera Bread and Total Wine & More are desired.
