Restaurant Business Online: Saladworks Names Kelly Roddy CEO

Restaurant Business reported that former Schlotzsky’s President Kelly Roddy has stepped up as new chief executive officer of custom-salad restaurant Saladworks. Roddy is joining Saladworks with a vision to increase U.S. system sales as well as unit count.

“I think the brand is extremely well-positioned with where the industry is heading,” said Roddy. “It has a good menu. Things are extremely fresh. We don’t buy things precut, so it’s very much on-trend.”

Roddy wants to push the brand’s unit growth into double-digits by the end of the year, and has been receiving franchising applications in droves. “We had 65 inquiries last week,” said Roddy, who is prepared to invest more resources towards growth with a focus on store-level profitability.

“If you make franchisees successful, they’ll make the brand successful,” said Roddy, and the brand has had many success stories with its franchisees. “If you have a good menu and a good product and you’re focused on unit-level profitability, then good things will happen and you’ll build a really strong company,” he continued.

The fast casual salad market is currently booming, with similar concepts such as Sweetgreen, Tender Greens, Just Salad and Chopt all making waves in population-dense urban areas.

In order to adapt to the rapidly developing QSR and fast casual restaurant landscape, the 30-year-old Saladworks brand is building out digital and technology-based services including online ordering and third-party delivery partnerships.