Au Bon Pain recently rolled out new salads, including a chickpea, cucumber, and tomato dish and a green bean and beet salad. It also unveiled two new dressings, a hazelnut vinaigrette and a sesame ginger dressing.
“We experiment with salads,” John says. “Right now, we are testing a smoked chicken, orange, and fennel salad. It’s doing very well, and you will see it in cafés next summer.”
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Au Bon Pain is also experimenting with a salad that doesn’t include lettuce—the grilled chicken breast over a white bean salad. In the fall, the café chain will test pear and Gorgonzola and roasted butter-nut squash salads.
“The ingredients that are going into salads are changing because as people get aware of healthier ingredients, they want them in their food,” John says.
John’s observations are directly on trend. Nuts, fruits, beets, and cheese are becoming increasingly popular salad ingredients, according to Technomic’s report. In fact, the report noted one of the most popular salads on the market combines pecans, bleu cheese, and dried cranberries, “three ingredients that would have been considered extreme a decade ago.”
While consumers search for more unusual nuts and fruits, cheese, especially the robust bleu and Gorgonzola varieties, has surged in popularity as salad and dressing ingredients, according to Marilyn Wilkinson, director of national product communications of the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.
“We are seeing more cheese use on a salad,” Wilkinson says. “Certain types are being warmed or fried and put on a salad. We are also seeing Parmesans and Goudas being made into crisps, crackers that can be eaten with the salad or shaped like a bowl. People who are looking for lighter meals also seek cheeses because it offers a more satiated feel to the salad. Salads have a lot of potential for originality, and certainly the variety of cheeses lends itself to that concept.”
Jason Chodash, executive vice president of Tossed, a quick-serve salad chain based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, agrees. He says consumer sophistication goes beyond healthy and into the realms of flavor, texture, and service.
At Tossed, which offers more than 60 ingredients and 20 dressings, guests have a “salad palette” to create whatever kind of entrée they desire. They can also choose from a host of house specialties. Tossed’s Signature Salad features baby field greens, roasted chicken, goat cheese, toasted almonds, mango, jicama, cucumber, and dried cranberries with vinaigrette dressing. Unusual salad dressings include fat-free cucumber dill, at 10 calories an ounce, as well as citrus chipotle dressing.
“A guest can eat as healthily as they want and enjoy their meals,” Chodash says, adding that prices range from $6.95 to $8.95, depending on ingredients. “If you want bacon, we have bacon. If you want tofu, we have tofu. You can create your salad to any dietary need or desire. You can pick and choose and change.”
Tossed has even turned to its customers for ideas. This past May each of the chain’s 13 stores chose a locally created salad recipe to forward on to a national contest. Local winners were awarded a catered meal for 10. The national winner received a $100 gift certificate, a catered meal for 10, and a gift basket.
This year’s winning salad, A Touch of Sweetness, includes a meat protein, baby field greens, baby spinach, peppers, broccoli, Mandarin oranges, pineapple, plantain chips, sunflower seeds, and honey sesame dressing.
As for iceberg, Chodash says, “Iceberg has been on its way out for a very long time. We have it on our menu. It’s not in any of our dishes, but it’s there if somebody wants it.”