Nation's Restaurant News: Saladworks Offers New Spring Fit Salad For Those Looking for an even healthier alternative

With spring finally here and the days growing warmer, restaurant operators and chefs are adding lighter dishes to the menu, from seasonal salads to lettuce wraps, and incorporating new ingredients and fish like premium tilapia for a lighter protein.

“People are feeling like, I cannot hide under my parka anymore,” says Patrick Sugrue, president and chief executive of the fast casual Saladworks chain. “They are dressing lighter and thinking about eating lighter and exercising. It’s about being healthy and feeling good about what you are eating.”

The Conshohocken, Pa.-based Saladworks, which already offers salads with fewer than 500 calories, recently introduced its Spring Fit Salad, a limited time offer that contains only 340 calories — 410 with its proprietary light raspberry dressing.

The salad features spring mix lettuce, baby kale, turkey medallions, carrot matchsticks, walnuts, roasted asparagus and quinoa.

“The early returns show consumers are loving it,” Sugrue says.

The LTO gives Saladworks an opportunity to test new ingredients, which if popular can be added to the lineup for customized salads — for example, the roasted asparagus and kale.

“If they really do well in these seasonal salads, it allows us to make additions to our already plentiful case of ingredients and fixings,” he says.