It is a mirror image of me and all that I am. My heart, my soul, my experiences, my hope, my money, my life. I really built this restaurant for myself. It is commonplace to see four guys in business suits sitting down together eating salads. My tagline is “So good, even guys like our salads.” It’s true. ![]() The first time I saw two friends sit down together after they saw each other in line, I knew that I was on to something. They invite people to sit down together as a community. When I told my designer (not Bob), he looked at me, tilted his head, and said with a slight smile, “You realize we live in Texas?” I love my gathering tables. Perfect! I needed to optimize my seating and live up to the Snappy part of the name. I checked it out online and saw these cool long tables. My friend told me about a noodle restaurant that he visited a lot in the UK called Wagamama. The last thing that I really had to worry about was the design. To this day, most of the industry rags call me for help on stories about “going green.” ![]() As I was confronted with more and more of these objections, I realized that I might be on to something. Each one of these was initially greeted with some kind of resistance. I decided to use milk paint on the walls, reclaimed wood for the tables and detail work, CFLs whenever possible, hemp uniforms, organic tea, earth-friendly cleaners, and humanely raised meat products. Keith) that saw the vision and helped me source many of the environmentally friendly items I use today. Thankfully, I found a distributor (Ben E. Persistence is the other word I have come to personally define. Most of the food reps politely nodded their head in agreement and then never called me back. When I started talking to suppliers about wanting to use biodegradable take out containers, utensils, and cups you would have thought I had three heads. “Leave it better than the way you found it” was a lesson I learned while hiking 100 miles at Philmont. I’ve always been concerned about the environment, but up until opening the restaurant, I only recycled paper at the local school. I taped a quote to my notebook that led me through the startup phase, “It’s easy to make a buck. ![]() Healthy for the environment and healthy for my stockholders. One of the revelations I had along the way was that in order for this place to be successful, it had to be a direct reflection of my personal and business philosophies. We sold a ton of wine and so I hosted groups of general managers and chefs on red-carpet tours of the wine country multiple times. It was a great job! In fact, I’ve been to most of the places Bob is visiting this weekend while I try and do justice to his blog. A 210-unit casual dining Italian restaurant chain. And I have come to realize that balance would be a key attribute in my world in myriad ways.Ī quick background on me: I worked at Brinker International as the Marketing Director for Romano’s Macaroni Grill from 1996 to 2004. I choose the name Snappy Salads because 1) it uses alliteration, 2) connotes a quick transaction, 3) says to people “fresh,” 4) my grandfather used to say, “Chris, you are looking snappy today!” and most importantly, 5) has the same number of letters in both words. ![]() From that point on, every place I went ultimately became research for this concept and was scribbled down in one notebook. I liked Chipotle because of their efficiency, Freebirds because of its cool vibe, Potbelly’s because of its pricing strategy, and Subway because it was everything that I didn’t want to be. I wondered if I might be on to something.įrom then on, I ate a ton of burritos, sandwiches, and salads as part of my research. It seems crazy now, but there were really only two or three places that I could find on the internet that were even remotely similar to my idea. Once I landed, I immediately began to research this crazy idea of a restaurant that only served made-to-order salads. I came up with a few name options and developed the general idea on the plane. It was more of an exercise to calm my mind (I’ve always been a dreamer), but turned out to be the genesis for Snappy Salads. One day on a flight from DFW to LA, after not being able to find anything at the airport to eat, I pulled out my notebook and starting jotting down my ideas for a new restaurant that would be perfect for the airport. I created this concept out of desperation. Instead, I thought it might be more interesting to focus on why/how I created Snappy Salads and why I believe that it’s successful. Sorry, Bob, for not sticking to the plan. I can’t even say my name in less than an hour.” So I told Bob that I was going to write an article on obesity in America but it was boring and somewhat preachy (we even had a picture of a saber tooth tiger ready to go). When Bob first asked me to guest blog for him I thought, “That’ll be easy, I’ve got a lot to talk about.
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