---
title: "Food Management: Saladworks Successfully Balances Food Quality and Accessible Price Points"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/45b68c3d-be07-4747-89e8-96c680f76ba0
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/food-management-saladworks-successfully-balances-food-quality-and-accessible-price-points-5436
category: "Fast casual"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Fast casual"
published: 2016-08-04T21:16:11.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T04:13:25.626Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/901708fa240b79e507c27afa60f848707310160804160911.jpeg
---

# Food Management: Saladworks Successfully Balances Food Quality and Accessible Price Points

**TL;DR:** Saladworks balances food quality and price points by using all-natural chicken and negotiating cost savings. The chain's president and CEO, Patrick Sugrue, says factors like service and ambiance also impact consumers' perception of food quality.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2016-08-04. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/food-management-saladworks-successfully-balances-food-quality-and-accessible-price-points-5436).*

## Story

Many operators are learning that restaurant-goers are willing to pay a higher price for a product if they perceive the food quality to be better than that of commodity versions.

At Saladworks, chicken is the bestselling ingredient, said Patrick Sugrue, president and chief executive. The Conshohocken, Pa.-based fresh-tossed salad concept uses all-natural chicken.

“We negotiated harder and really scrutinized the rest of the menu to find a way to take costs out without impacting food quality,” he says.

Sugrue said that not only do various menu ingredients work together to make the custom salads more flavorful, but other factors such as service and ambiance affect consumers’ attitude about the food as well. For example, the chain recently underwent a refresh that included remodeling the restaurants.

“We didn’t change anything about the food, but the feedback was that our food never tasted so good,” he said. “That speaks to the interrelationship of food quality, ambiance and service.”

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- menu pricing (topic)
- Saladworks (company)
- food quality (topic)
- restaurant refresh (topic)

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Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/food-management-saladworks-successfully-balances-food-quality-and-accessible-price-points-5436). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/45b68c3d-be07-4747-89e8-96c680f76ba0).