Just Salad, the 100-unit, New York City-based salad chain, has opened its first drive-thru lane store after initially announcing a foray into this new format last spring. The store in Livingston, N.J., was supposed to open last August and, after a slight delay, made its debut in December.
This is part of a larger trend of healthier salads and bowls-based brands pushing into drive-thru lanes and more convenience-based formats. Sweetgreen, for example, has seen success with its automated Infinite Kitchen model, and plans to debut more pickup-only and drive-thru formats in the future. Arizona-based Salad and Go is a drive-thru salad concept that grew by more than 65% in both unit count and sales in 2023, according to Technomic data.
For Just Salad, although drive-thru formats won’t comprise the majority of the brand’s stores moving forward, CEO Nick Kenner said that he thinks the brand has an opportunity to boost traffic in suburban areas with greater population density. For example, the Livingston store is located at the edge of a busy outdoor shopping mall.
“In the past, there was something inherently down-market about drive-thru lanes, but in reality, it’s just about pushing out the product in a more convenient format, and that’s what our customers want,” Kenner told Nation’s Restaurant News.
Just Salad will be opening several drive-thru locations this year, with the next slated to open in Connecticut in mid-2025.
Here’s an exclusive sneak peek at Just Salad’s first drive-thru format.
