A View From The Top

How innovation drives this fast-growing salad concept

Jerry Eicke, director of Franchise Development for The Salad House, discusses how important influencer culture, technology and overall innovation have been to growing the New Jersey-based brand.

Jerry Eicke, director of Franchise Development for The Salad House, discusses how important influencer culture, technology and overall innovation have been to growing the brand. provided

December 29, 2020

By Jerry Eicke, director of Franchise Development for The Salad House

The restaurant industry has been built on constant innovation and change. New menu items, cooking styles, flavor profiles, and kitchen technology have created an industry that is always adapting and striving to become more efficient and provide more quality to their customers. The evolution of a restaurant concept often lends itself to the growth the brand has experienced, and is a strong indicator, especially to prospective franchisees about how management views innovation and how the concept adapts to change.

Concept innovation
The Salad House was founded in 2011 in New Jersey, but we didn't start franchising our concept until 2017. During the six years between starting the restaurant and launching the franchise opportunity, we spent countless hours looking at the model and seeing how we could innovate the brand to create a more streamlined concept. The constant state of review helped us provide our franchisees with the best franchise opportunity on the fast-casual market. The first step was beginning to use a more advanced point-of-sale system.

I think most restaurateurs would agree that the POS system is one of the most important pieces of equipment in the restaurant. We went from a generic POS system to one that could provide us with vital data to inform us on a variety of decisions, ranging from deciding if we should keep a specific menu item, to trends within our customer base. One of the primary ways this allowed The Salad House to innovate was by helping us see what was selling.

When The Salad House originally opened, we had a very large menu that provided a lot of options for our customers to choose from. However, not every item sold enough to be worth keeping on the menu, and thanks to the data that we received from the upgraded POS system, we were able to make strategic decisions about what items should stay, and which items should be removed from the menu. Data has allowed The Salad House to make informed decisions, which in turn helped streamline the concept, helping us to be successful.

Delivery Innovation
Third-party delivery vendors have played a key role in helping thousands of restaurants innovate their concepts. Prior to Covid-19, these were great relationships to have as the convenience factor of delivery became more important to consumers.

People enjoyed being able to order their favorite salad creation from the comfort of their home, and our brand was quick to recognize that and cultivate strong partnerships with delivery vendors. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, those relationships have proven to be invaluable. Our foresight in establishing these relationships has greatly aided our ability to continue serving customers throughout Covid-19, and this delivery and convenience factor will continue to be a key factor in the restaurant industry moving forward. People will continue to lean heavily on delivery even after the pandemic is over because they have gotten accustomed to the convenience, which is why it is incredibly important for restaurants to continue to nurture and grow their delivery relationships.

Influencer importance
For a long time, it has been clear that social media can play a major role to help restaurants grow their brands and establish a loyal following to support their concepts. Since the beginning, The Salad House has worked very hard to utilize social media as a collaboration tool. We have worked for years to craft strong relationships between ourselves and the local influencer communities because we understand the important role that influencers play in growing local brand awareness. Especially as we head into 2021, it is going to be crucial for restaurant brands to have strong relationships with influencers. Not only does this help with exposure to your brand through channels that younger demographics utilize, but it also provides you with opportunities to amplify marketing efforts like new menu item launches, special promotions, fundraisers, etc. By being able to lean on influencers to help spread the word about a new product or special deal, you are able to reach a much larger audience than just posting on your brand's own page. Leveraging those influencer partnerships is going to be vital as we transition into 2021.

Looking ahead
As restaurants look to 2021 for a more stable landscape, it will be important for concepts of all kinds to continue to try and innovate and adapt wherever possible. Influencer marketing will continue to grow, and brands that can establish partnerships with their local influencer communities will continue to thrive. Third-party delivery will be especially key as customers continue to lean on delivery to provide them with the restaurant experience while in the comfort of their own home, as well as the convenience of ordering with the press of a button on their mobile device utilizing

The Salad House's new mobile application. In order to continue to innovate and adapt, restaurant concepts should do their best to see things from the viewpoint of their customers: what are they looking for? What is popular? What trends do they like? How can they be engaged easier? Restaurant concepts that can successfully answer these questions will see success in 2021 and beyond.

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