As consumers increasingly seek out fresher, healthier options in a quick-service setting, brands positioning themselves as better-for-you alternatives are working to make nutritious eating as easy and accessible as possible.
For Salad House, a 20-unit franchise based in New Jersey, that means offering a wide variety of flavors and ingredients while ensuring the menu remains approachable and familiar.
“Our menu is staples done right,” says founder and CEO Joey Cioffi. “You don’t have to Google the ingredients. I’m a big foodie, but I’ll still walk into some of these better-for-you concepts and go, ‘What is that? What does it taste like?’ Before I put that on my salad, I have to figure out what it actually is.”
While many guests want options that support wellness, they don’t necessarily want to feel restricted. Cioffi compares it to the rise of non-alcoholic beverages—people still crave the taste of a great beer, but may opt for a low- or no-alcohol version. The key is striking a balance where healthy choices are satisfying and don’t feel like a compromise.
To that end, salad chains are expanding their offerings to broaden appeal and eliminate the veto vote. Sweetgreen, for example, has introduced Protein Plates and Ripple Fries to shake off its salad-only image. Others are pushing beyond their core offerings with items like grain bowls, sandwiches, wraps, indulgent desserts, and more.
This menu diversification isn’t a departure from health-focused branding but an adaptation to attract a wider audience and drive frequency, says Nick Kenner, founder and CEO of New York-based Just Salad. That’s important as the 100-unit chain extends beyond the dense urban markets where it started.
“We’ve learned a lot from going from a primarily urban concept to a primarily suburban concept,” Kenner says. “It’s more clear than ever that our customer doesn’t necessarily care whether it’s a warm bowl or salad or wrap. They just want it to be healthy, fast, affordable, and great tasting.”
Salad House was built with that philosophy in mind from the start. The idea for the concept stemmed from Cioffi’s wife, who noticed plenty of chopped salad shops in the city but few in the suburbs. To fill that gap, he knew the brand needed a diverse menu with chicken sandwiches, tenders, wraps, and other familiar items that appeal to the whole family.
“Some people might want a salad every day, but that’s a small percentage,” Cioffi says. “You’ve got the people that don’t care at all. Then, you’ve got everyone else in the middle that still indulges here and there while being interested in healthier options, too. I think that middle ground is the perfect place for us.”
Chicken Salad Chick doesn’t fit neatly into any one segment. It’s not a salad concept, a traditional chicken chain, or a standard sandwich shop. But it occupies a unique space on the spectrum between indulgence and health. While the nearly 300-unit brand doesn’t lead with a better-for-you message, CEO Scott Deviney notes that its scratch-made approach, fresh ingredients, and protein-forward menu naturally carry a health halo.
The brand introduced its first big menu addition a year and a half ago when it introduced the Chicken Melt, a warm option that added variety without introducing new ingredients. The sandwich features chicken salad and a flavored slice of provolone cheese on a buttered croissant. The only operational change? Bringing in a toaster.
The item was an immediate hit with customers and has helped drive traffic during dinner hours and in colder months. Building on that success, Chicken Salad Chick has experimented with new variations, including a bacon cheddar melt introduced late last year. The company sees room for additional hot sandwich offerings but plans to keep them aligned with its core identity.
“Where we can really highlight the chicken salad as the hero, that’s where we’ll play,” Deviney says. “Different cheeses, different toppings that you could toast—that’s where we see that product line going.”
Looking ahead to 2025, the biggest menu change won’t be about food but rather how guests navigate the ordering process. The company sees an opportunity to streamline the menu layout, making it clearer and more intuitive.
“There’s some confusion on how and what to order,” Deviney says. “Is it a scoop? Is it a sandwich? What does the meal look like? We’re working with focus groups to nail how the ordering process works and make sure that guests know what to do when they walk in the door.”
While a more streamlined approach will bring some operational efficiencies, the primary goal is improving the guest experience—especially in new markets where brand awareness is lower.
“Because we’re not having to educate on how to order, we can talk about the great chicken salad flavors, and not as much about how to bundle it,” Deviney says. “There will be a throughput gain on that, but right now, the focus is making it easier for the guest to know how to order every time.”
This focus on improving the ordering experience isn’t unique to Chicken Salad Chick. Brands that fit more squarely into the salad segment are also rethinking accessibility—not just in terms of menu variety but in how easily guests can order and receive their food. In a category that hasn’t always been synonymous with speed and convenience, salad concepts are evolving to match the frictionless experience consumers now expect in quick service.
Just Salad took a major step in that direction in January when it debuted a new drive-thru location, the first of several planned for 2025.
“I think the customer wants convenience, whether they’re eating healthy or having coffee,” Kenner says. “They want to save time. We want to disrupt fast food. And it’s pretty hard to disrupt fast food without the drive-thru.”
Other salad and healthy bowl brands are making a concerted push into drive-thru lanes and other convenience-driven formats. CAVA plans for a significant portion of its new locations to feature digital order drive-thru windows, while Sweetgreen is expanding its automated Infinite Kitchen model and rolling out more pickup-only and drive-thru stores. Salad & Go has rapidly scaled its footprint in recent years thanks to its streamlined, drive-thru-only prototype. Some, like Chopt Creative Salad Co. and Salad House, are leaning into self-order kiosks, allowing guests more control over customization without slowing down service.
Kenner says that in the short-term, Just Salad’s drive-thru units are an add-on to how it densifies existing markets. They could play a bigger role in expanding the brand’s reach down the line, especially as it continues pushing into more suburban areas and planting flags in new regions.
“There aren’t as many sure-fire trends as you might think out there, but people wanting to eat healthier is a trend that’s growing pretty rapidly—not just on the coasts, but all over this country,” he says. “I think the category is really well positioned to serve those changing customer needs.”
