City Spotlight: The Advantages of Running a Salad Bar Franchise in London

Salad bars are becoming increasingly popular in the UK capital, thanks to the growing number of health-conscious consumers and our demand for quick, convenient food. Thinking about running a salad bar franchise in London? Here’s your go-to guide.

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Launching a salad bar franchise could be a great business move. Let’s start with the biggest advantages of setting up in London; then, we’ll explore a couple of opportunities.

Advantages of running a salad bar franchise in London

1. There’s high demand for salad

Salads can offer nutrition, convenience and value for money; three factors consumers look out for when buying food. In recent years, prepared veg boxes have become more popular than ever, thanks to growing demand in the capital. Between 2008 and 2018, UK spending on chilled, prepared salads and veg leapt by over £580 million to reach £1.1 billion.

One of the main reasons for this increase is due to the innovation that is taking place within the category, especially in the London area. New products are allowing customers to try exciting new products that they would not be able to try at home for the same price. – Callum Albrighton, Marketing Data Analyst, Freshtime

2. There’s a huge ‘on-the-go’ market

London is the largest, busiest city in the UK and its hectic nature makes it perfect for salad bar franchises selling food to eat on the go. From workers grabbing lunch in their break to tourists buying a snack to fill them up while they go sightseeing, there’s significant demand for quick, convenient food items.

3. You can cater to the growing number of vegetarians and vegans

Vegetarianism and veganism are on the rise - which can only mean good things for salad bar franchises. Last year, London was named the most vegan-friendly city in the world by restaurant guide HappyCow, beating New York and Berlin to the top spot. The capital was the first city in the UK to open a vegan cheese shop, and the first on the planet to launch a vegan ‘chicken’ outlet. Residents are ready for your salad bar business.

Veganism continues to become a mainstream lifestyle in London, and this city takes veganism to a new level. –Ken Spector, HappyCow spokesperson

4. You can get creative with new and exciting products

London is a modern, experimental city with its finger on the pulse when it comes to food trends. Consumers won’t be happy with a boring, bland salad, so launching a business in the capital is your chance to let your imagination run wild and get creative. The ever-changing food sector should push salad bar franchise owners to continually drive success and introduce new trends and ideas.

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Salad bar franchises in London

Tossed

Tossed offers fresh, nutritious ingredients to time-strapped Londoners. The salad franchise was launched in 2005 by Vincent Mckevitt, and has since expanded to 25 shops in central London and six Welcome Break motorway services locations. Tossed respects its customers, and became the UK’s first made-on-site business to display nutritional information on its products.

• Becoming a Tossed franchisee: Franchisees can tailor their franchise unit to their own preferences, with two store sizes on offer. The 250-1,250 sq ft stores are best suited to airports, colleges, universities, shopping centres, medical centres, hospitals, train stations and office buildings. The more traditional 1,400-2,400 sq ft outlets are great for urban and suburban locations.

• How much you need to invest: An initial investment of £20,000 is required, but investors generally end up spending between £200,000 and £300,000.

• What you get for your investment: Franchisees get classroom-based and on-the-job training for at least two weeks. The course covers operations, daily management, front of house, inventory control and cash management. On top of this, Tossed takes care of the store’s interior design, menu, food suppliers, product specifications and health and safety standards.

HUMPIT Hummus

This is the only 100 percent plant-based food franchise in the UK. Offering hummus, pitas, falafel, salad, sauces, juices and hot and iced HUMPTEA, Humpit Hummus serves fresh and healthy food to the people of Sheffield, Leeds, York and Newcastle. A stuffed pita with hummus and falafel will please the time-poor, while a bowl of hummus and a pitta will suit those with time to dine in one of HUMPIT Hummus’ restaurants.

• Becoming a HUMPIT Hummus franchisee: This business is on the hunt for regional franchisees all across the UK to bring the brand to their local areas. It offers the chance to operate from small sites with low fit-out and running costs.

• How much you need to invest: You’ll need to make an initial investment of £30,000, but the total capital necessary to grow the business is around £70,000.

• What you get for your investment: When you join HUMPIT Hummus, you can launch a sit-down café or a takeaway site, depending on your chosen location. Whichever model you go for, the franchise team will provide a comprehensive training programme and ongoing support. This will give you everything you need to run your business successfully, from help with site selection to fit-out, product lines and marketing.

The salad bar sector

As previously mentioned, UK consumers spend a total of over £1 billion on prepared salads and veg boxes every year. After over a decade of positive sector growth, the salad bar business sector seems to be a reliable choice for prospective franchisees.

More and more Brits are starting to think about the origins of their fruit and veg, and value high-quality produce. Last year, sales of organic food and drink rose by 4.5 percent to reach £2.45 billion - an industry record.

What’s more, the grab-and-go market in the UK is thought to be worth over £20 billion - roughly equal to the gross domestic product of Estonia. Customers enjoy buying ‘on-the-go’ food at any time of day, so there’s pressure on food franchises to entice them with interesting menus and eye-catching food displays.

Start a salad bar in London

If you’re interested in joining a salad bar franchise, you have several options to consider. As this type of business can straddle several sub-sectors, it’s worth browsing a range of pages here at Point Franchise. Take a look at our salad bar opportunities, as well as our healthy food franchises, sandwich businesses and takeaway options.