Franchising

Just Salad raises $200M to support growth

Photo: Just Salad

February 24, 2025

Just Salad has raised $200 million in capital from Wellington Management, alongside D1 Capital Partners, Neuberger Berman and Stripes. The company is now valued at $1 billion, and proceeds of the transaction will support unit growth, menu innovation, technology initiatives and improving the customer experience, said Nick Kenner, founder and CEO of Just Salad.

"The quick-service food industry is in the early days of disruption, and the average consumer desperately wants healthy, craveable, convenient and accessible options; no one does that better than Just Salad," he said in a company press release. "We are proud to partner with world-class investors like Wellington, D1, Neuberger Berman, and Stripes to propel our next phase of growth. We have a tremendous runway to build Just Salad into a leading national restaurant brand, and this investment demonstrates the confidence in that opportunity and our team's ability to achieve that goal."

Just Salad opened in New York City in 2006 and has nearly 100 locations across urban and residential markets in New York, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

"We're excited to invest in Nick and the Just Salad team," Michael Carmen, co-head of Private Investments at Wellington Management, said in the release. "Just Salad offers consumers a great product at an attractive price and stands out from other restaurant companies with its strong brand and impressive same-store sales growth. This growth is outpacing others in the fast-casual category and is being driven by increased consumer traffic during the past year."