Giardino Gourmet Salads, the fast-casual salad concept founded in Miami in 2004, has taken its growth seriously, boasting a 14.5 percent in year-to-date comparable sales increase as of April 2013.

This positive growth in salesis attributed to several new initiatives implemented by the company, including new menu items, a focus on delivery, and a new operations program aimed at delivering a higher-quality in-store experience.

“While franchise expansion and average unit volume increase continues to be at the forefront of the Giardino’s efforts, our increasing sales are a testament to the fact that we are priming ourselves for bigger and better things and people are noticing,” says Julio Ramirez, board member and investor.

Giardino’s leadership team, which has more than 90 years of restaurant experience, along with its dedicated founders and licensees, have high hopes that this accomplishment will help the company reach its goals of expansion.