Salad Concept Tosses Up New Locations
Twenty-year-old pioneer concept in the salad category expands in existing markets and beyond.
Susan H. Fishman

In 1986, former chef John Scardapane had some ideas for putting together a quick-casual salad restaurant. When he explained the purely salad concept to the powers-that-be at Cherry Hill Mall in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, they were very interested in the idea for their food court, but wanted the restaurant to provide sandwiches, soups and other offerings right off the bat. But Scardapane convinced the mall to let him start out with salads and, within a very short period, his restaurant, called Saladworks, was the Number 1 concept in the food court. Today the company has roughly 71 franchises in several states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Florida, as well as single units at O'Hare Airport in Chicago, Union Station in Washington, D.C., and Harborplace in Baltimore, Maryland.

Inside Saladworks' location in Berlin, New Jersey.

James Neilland, director of real estate for Saladworks, is leading the charge to expand the franchise in its existing markets and its anticipated further expansion into Connecticut, Virginia and a variety of non-traditional venues, such as colleges, airports and other major transportation facilities.

“One of the nice things about being here is we don't have a magic glowing number up on the wall that we have to hit,” says Neilland. “We definitely want to grow, but we're trying to grow intelligently and profitably for us and our franchisees.”

John Scardapane, founder of Saladworks.

The company is almost equally split between strip center locations, which average approximately 2,500 to 3,000 square feet, and food-court locations, which are typically 400 to 800 square feet. Most recent openings include a strip center location in Turnersville, New Jersey, and a freestanding unit in Bensalem, Pennsylvania.

“We started out in food courts in malls, but we've also been very successful with freestanding units and strip center units,” notes Neilland.

Saladworks' restaurants provide an “adult atmosphere,” with marble countertops, comfortable seats and subdued lighting.

“You won't find a lot of Formica or plastic or loud rock music,” says Neilland. “It's a place where adults can sit down and have a healthy meal in a pleasant, quiet environment.”

Ideal locations for the concept offer a good daytime population, preferably consisting of white-collar occupations from offices, universities and hospital/ medical complexes. Most of the restaurants' business is usually daytime /lunchtime, although some units are split equally between lunch and dinner. Dinner crowds typically consist of the nearby residential population, which tends to be slightly above average in terms of median incomes.

A lot of people assume Saladworks competes directly with players like Panera Bread or Atlanta Bread Company, but the company doesn't look at it that way, says Neilland.

“We've not really run up against anybody who is in a large way our direct competitor,” he notes. “There are some smaller folks with a six-store chain or a few stores in different food courts whose primary use is salads, but there's nobody who really competes with us with our entrée-size salads.”

In fact, Saladworks enjoys the opportunity to provide customers with something other than the ubiquitous sandwich, hamburger or Chinese food.

“I think we're more appealing to a slightly higher-income consumer,” Neilland explains, “and that our use will be more appealing to landlords who are trying to put together a tenant mix that's just slightly more upscale in that regard.”