The Salad Kitchen sees long-term potential for 100 sites nationwide, as it brings the quick-service salad bowl concept to the franchise market this year.

The five-site strong business currently operates across central London serving a “satisfying and indulgent” offer, that doesn’t compromise on nutritional value.

Co-founded in 2014, university friends Sam Cole and Ross Cannon had grown tired of the salad scene in London, and went on a mission to create innovative, hearty salads with “the availability and price point of Pret”.

“We found that in London, quick-serve salad was a bit unimaginative”, Cole tells MCA, describing what was out there as, “crunchy water that left you hungry again.”

“You could get really good restaurant served salad - places like Ottolenghi where they do these amazing salads with loads of flavour and creativity.”

“But then you’d be paying restaurant prices”.

Starting with often “unorthodox” recipes and reimagining them to work in the salad bowl format, the menu features a weekly salad base, with the ability to add custom protein and dressings such as kimchi, roast tempeh, goats’ cheese, lemon pesto, teriyaki mayo and more.

Cole says, “We pride ourselves on converting non-salad eaters – and because its healthier, people don’t mind having it every day.

“We are healthy and incredibly nutritious, but that’s never been our focus.”

Owning a 50/50 split in the company, Cole and Cannon see franchising as an opportunity to “turbo-charge” growth and are working with Bee Smart franchise consultancy to realise this goal.

“Every site we’ve opened has been a real success, but there is only so quickly you can grow organically.

“We’ve always ‘tongue-in-cheek’ said we want to be bigger than Pret - that’s what we’re aiming for, but it’s about 20 years down the line.

“We see a lot of potential in the long term”, Cole adds. 

With ambitions for the salad concept to work on a “national scale”, the brand is keen to grow out from its London base but is already getting interest for franchising as far as Manchester and Scotland.

It is also looking toward two upcoming openings in the Oxford Street and Mayfair area. 

Historically focused on the lunchtime office trade, with locations such as Canary Wharf and Farringdon, Cole says the brand is widening its reach with a renewed retail focus.

“The newer sites are near high streets, so we’re going to start exploring the evening and weekend trade and broadening it out from that office grab.

Reflecting on a shift in consumer working patterns in recent years, Cole added, “when Covid hit, and all the office workers went home we were genuinely worried.

“But what you’ll notice when you go to our shops is there are queues around the block, and that’s always been the case since day one.

“I think foot traffic is lower now - but we’ve never had the capacity to be able to serve as many customers as we’ve got coming in, so our numbers haven’t changed.

In light of this, the brand has introduced app and digital ordering, to “increase our capacity, and how efficiently we can produce and send out these salads.

Currently operating in small scale c500 sq. ft units, it also sees the potential to tack on a Salad Kitchen to existing QSR operations, as a “great option for multi-unit operators to improve sales and economics of scale within their businesses”.

“QSR is definitely the focus”, says Cole, however the founders are keen to retain a personal customer experience through expansion.

“We love the face-to-face, how many of our customers are regulars and the relationships we build with them.

However, he says, “Tech is going to be a big part of it,” and is exploring how the brand can incorporate a kiosk set-up.

Sustainability is also a key part of the brand’s decision making, with a focus on biodegradable or compostable packaging, and internal logistics run on electric vehicles.