TOSSED IS SHAKING UP THE SOUTH

Tossed, an upscale quick-casual salad franchise with a cult following that started in New York City and was hailed by the New York Post as “the granddaddy of the salad movement,” will open locations in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; and Houston, Texas by the end of this year. Additional lease negotiations are underway. This is in line with Tossed’s plans to reach 200 locations by the year 2010.

The Palm Beach Gardens location, set to open in November, will be a corporate affiliate location and serve as the new store prototype. It will have a new look and be completely paperless using an advanced POS system from Aloha. Tossed worked with Metro Design, a West Palm Beach-based design firm, to create a fresh look which can be easily replicated in a variety of restaurant markets. “A great deal of effort and creativity were expended to create a restaurant which had corporate design integrity, however, is affordable to construct in any local,” said Pete Russo, President of Metro Design. “Colors and finishes were selected to have a “punch” of intensity.”
Because the original Tossed opened in 1998 to 45 minute lines and was exalted by New York Magazine as “the place to get a salad,” it was important that all future locations be designed to handle traffic, which peaks at lunch and dinner. “Simply having a large restaurant to accommodate peak times is not necessarily the most efficient use of space. Emphasis on flexibility and comfort assure that the maximum number of patrons would be able to dine comfortably at any time of the day,” Russo explained. The goal of the redesign was to freshen the look, improve traffic flow and ensure that Tossed’s design would be a success in any market.

Tossed customers can choose from a selection of specialty salads but more than half of customers choose to create their own, selecting ingredients from a menu that features five different lettuces, more than 70 “Toss-Ins” and over 20 types of dressings. The menu includes whole wheat, fat-free crepes, sandwiches, soups, smoothies and desserts. Tossed has the distinction of being the world’s first online salad bar, a service launched in 2000 that allows customers to create and order a salad from their laptop by logging on to www.tossed.com. Time Out New York described Tossed as “a restaurant that serves heaping salads on big plates, Tossed offers stylish seating and hip sounds.”

The first of 19 Tossed locations in Atlanta is slated to open on October 15th in Alpharetta, GA. Bob Russell, Operations Director for the Atlanta investment group, will be overseeing the project and is excited about bringing the concept to fellow Atlantans. “There are a lot of folks out there who never use their kitchen. Atlanta has a young thriving market with a lot of density and growth. The Tossed concept has Atlanta written all over it,” Russell said.

Russell has owned casual dining restaurants in the past and has also worked for Sodexho in their healthcare department. Now, Russell will marry his two experiences to oversee Tossed in Atlanta. “At Sodexho, we worked to dispel the myth that hospital food can't be good food. I believe that Tossed will do the same for salads,” he explained. Russell was first introduced to the concept while visiting NYU with his daughter and dining at Tossed. “I saw the potential for Tossed in Atlanta immediately” he said “not to mention dozens of other cities.”

Houston, for example, is another ripe market for the Tossed concept, according to Bryan Sansbury, CEO of Sansbury Investments, who will open seven restaurants in the Houston area by 2010. The group’s first location is scheduled to open in the “Energy Corridor" of Houston on December 1st. The group hopes to eventually open as many as 20. “Market research found that many people just want to grab a salad but they were finding the choices to be limited when it came to high-quality ingredients and the ability to have personal input in an upscale fast-casual setting. We began researching concepts nationally and Tossed quickly emerged as the front runner,” Bryan explained.

Bryan’s brother, Trent, will serve as the Operations Manager overseeing the day-to-day operations. Trent worked as a manager with the Pappas Restaurants, specifically with the Pappasitos concept and was looking to stay in the food service industry but with greater ownership. Now, he will be able to put his restaurant franchise experience to use to benefit himself and the rest of his family with Tossed.

According to Eric Schmitt, Tossed CEO, Palm Beach, Houston and Atlanta were definitely target markets. Eric says Tossed has long-term potential for 1,000 U.S. restaurants. They are also looking toward D.C., Detroit, Denver, Seattle, Dallas, Boston, Phoenix, Cleveland, Philadelphia, St. Louis, the Carolinas as well as Northern and Southern California in addition to other major metropolitan cities where Tossed would be embraced as a place where, according to Chef Magazine, “a customer can have the salad of his dreams.”

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