Opening its first Arizona restaurant at Tempe Marketplace in May 2015, Mad Greens will also open a second restaurant in June at the corner of Scottsdale and Acoma in Scottsdale (inside the East Thunderbird Square shopping center). Two more Phoenix-area restaurants will open in July and subsequent locations will be announced later in 2015 and 2016.

“We wanted to do our first out-of-state expansion right,” says Mad Greens co-founder and chief strategy officer Marley Hodgson. “This meant carefully researching who had the healthiest appetite for a made-to-order salad restaurant offering locally sourced, hand crafted options, as well as a heavy dose of fun. We feel that Arizonans are trendsetters when it comes to craving fresh, better-for-you restaurant options and that’s why Arizona is such a great fit as we move beyond Colorado for the first time.”

This spring, Mad Greens will also open new Colorado restaurants in Westminster, Lone Tree, Castle Rock, and North Colorado Springs with additional locations announced in early summer.

Founded in 2004 with 12 current locations across Colorado, Mad Greens has built a loyal following for its healthful, customizable menu, highlighted by create-your-own salads topped with premium, farm-fresh ingredients, and more than 20 salad dressings made from scratch each morning by Mad Greens’ certified “Dressing Mixologists.”

And while the Arizona restaurants will be the first outside of Colorado, the Mad Greens team has already planted deep Arizona roots, partnering with local farmers and purveyors such as Abby Lee Farms, Bella Fresh, Duncan Family Farms, Hickman Farms, and Shamrock Dairy to provide the freshest, most flavorful menu ingredients. Furthermore, to celebrate the Arizona openings, Mad Greens will be unveiling a new, chef-designed salad starring local ingredients that will appear on the Arizona menu permanently.

“At Mad Greens, we believe eating better is more than just a casual phrase or a healthy meal. It’s a way of life,” Hodgson says. “It’s about preparing everything in-house and making things from scratch because that’s the way food should be made. Most importantly, eating better can be a tasty, crazy-fun, crazy-interesting experience.”