With summer approaching, it’s not surprising to see a new crop of salads and lighter dishes on chain menus.

Among them is Wendy’s Berry Almond Chicken Salad, which has a full cup of strawberries and blueberries in it, at $6.49 for a full salad and $4.49 for a half-size portion. It’s also available without chicken at $5.29 for a full size and $3.89 as a half size.

The dish is being offered at the height of berry season, showing how even a national burger chain can respond to the demand for seasonal ingredients.  

Bruegger’s, meanwhile, added five new salads to its “Under 500 Calories” menu, all priced at around $4.99.

The Mandarin Medley, Sesame Chicken and Chicken Caesar are permanent menu items. The other two, Harvest Chicken and Classic Cobb, are available through the end of the summer.

The Harvest Chicken has diced chicken, salad greens, apples, toasted almonds, dried cranberries, Cheddar cheese and strawberry vinaigrette.

The Classic Cobb is made with turkey, salad greens, bacon, egg, tomato, blue cheese crumbles, croutons and red wine vinaigrette.

The Sesame Chicken is chicken tossed with salad greens, sesame seeds, toasted almonds, chow mein noodles and Asian sesame dressing.

The Mandarin Medley has grilled chicken, salad greens, Mandarin oranges, dried cranberries, blue cheese crumbles, sliced almonds and balsamic vinaigrette.

The Chicken Caesar has the usual Caesar ingredients as well as Asiago cheese.

Bruegger’s also figured out a way to remove one-third of the calories from its bagels: It developed a double-bladed slicer that simply cuts out the middle third of the bagel, leaving the top and bottom intact. This new “skinny” bagel is literally skinny in addition to being 200 calories instead of 300, and all of the chain’s bagels can be served that way. In regional tests, customers especially liked the skinny bagel for making sandwiches.

Bruegger’s is still trying to figure out what to do with that middle third of the bagel. For now they’re giving it to customers, possibly to eat it later.

Contact Bret Thorn at bret.thorn@penton.com.