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Chop Stop: The salad QSR with a 'meat-n-potatoes' guy at the helm

What's a "meat-and-potatoes" guy doing in the salad business? Very well, thank you.

January 9, 2019 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

"I'm a meat-and-potato guy," said chopped salad QSR founder and CEO Mark Kulkis without hesitation.

That may not be the kind of statement you'd expect from the fellow behind this leafy brand. But, that is, indeed, one primary reason Kulkis believes his chopped salad brand has worked in California, and will soon also work in areas outside of those very health-focused confines, as Chop Stop grows in earnest this year into that bounty of all things bovine, Texas. 

Originally from the solidly Midwestern state of Michigan, Kulkis fired up his chopped salad restaurant on the sunny shores of Southern California a couple of years ago. At that time, Kulkis said he was cognizant that the locals would be receptive to a salad brand, but he has always intended to move beyond those veggie-loving borders. 

And that's exactly what the brand will do this year, as it begins franchising in earnest, with plans to add 16 new stores this year. And get this, at least a healthy portion of those will be in that slab-o'-meat-lover's state of Texas. 

But in a podcast interview that will be published here on Jan. 18, Kulkis explains that he designed the brand for non-salad eaters like himself, right along with the salad-smitten.

"That's actually the way I designed my salad," he said in the interview airing next week. "Our portions are huge and you can add as much meat and cheese and other good stuff in your salad as you want. ... So, I am that Texas demographic."

Though the podcast will cover the brand's expansion plans, we wanted to also know how the chain's leadership plans to really make the brand burn bright in the sparsely populated QSR salad category. We learned that this particular specialty is a slightly different fast food "beast," so to speak, that requires special care and handling to make customers happy. That begins with the careful selection of non-salad menu items all while striving for menu simplicity.

How a salad concept draws dinner diners, salad-scorners

"We do offer warm rice-and-bean bowls made with same chopped ingredients to appeal to people on colder days and also at nighttime when people feel like something more substantial," Kulkis explained, allowing that it rarely gets too awfully "cold" in the chain's current Southern California home, though residents there still swear 65 degrees can induce frostbite. 

"We also introduced burrito bowls and you can get either (burrito or rice-and-bean) of those as a wrap. Then, we have soft pretzels sticks. ... But the focus is always on chopped salad. We're not looking to be everything to everyone."

And for the most part, that bowl strategy has worked to attract dinner traffic, even though Kulkis admits those alternative dishes remain a small overall percentage of sales. But he said the additional options also bring in  incremental sales for the guest who either refuses to order a salad or wants something different from his or her usual choices. This approach also keeps those highly profitable groups of diners coming back, even though there's always that one person who never wants what the restaurant the rest of the group picks actually specializes in.

The surprise about what that ultra-healthy salad-eater drinks

We also wanted to know if the beverage array varies for a salad-centered brand from that of the traditional meat-centered QSR. In fact, Kulkis said he really thought it would. But he was proven wrong.

"Here's a funny story: I opened first without a soda fountain because, well, I thought if these are people who want to eat healthy they're not going to want any sodas," he recalls. "But then we had so many customers asking, 'Hey do you have any sodas?' that ... every restaurant since then has had soda fountain. ...

"But, we also offer teas, and last year teas were beating up sodas, so we also have a pretty robust selection in the beverage cooler."

Speaking of "beating up" the competition, Chop Stop said delivery has been a huge windfall for the brand, which uses third-party delivery to get salads to the off-site masses. And, contrary to what some might surmise, salads delivery very well, thank you. 

"Of all the products you could possibly do delivery with, I think ours is almost custom-tailored for delivery because we're serving a cold product that doesn't need to be too cold," Kulkis explained. "As a result, on the way from restaurant to customer our food not only can't get cold, but can't melt. It's perfect. It travels really well."

Delivering on eco-friendliness

But any conversation around delivery now has to also be a discussion of sustainable packaging, particularly along the very eco-minded West Coast. It might surprise some then to learn that Chop Stop uses plastic bowls and utensils. But it's recycled plastic that can also be, in turn, recycled again. Kulkis explained his reasoning for this choice is relatively simple. 

"When we first started, I thought compostable was the way to go," he said of his initial research into his brand's in-store and delivery packaging, which includes clear, deep plastic bowls to show off the ingredients. "Then I kind of got clued in that to make use of the compostable stuff, you have to have access to a commercial composting facility. Otherwise, it sits there in the landfill just like anything else and it's not going to decompose properly."

So Chop Stop went recycled plastic and makes that very evident on its very eat-on-the-go bowls. Each shows the number of recycled water bottles used in its creation on the bottom. Those bowls are then also recycled after use. 

Big plans for 2019

Kulkis said with the brand firmly established, Chop Stop this year will begins its path out of Southern California. He expects to have 23 stores open in three Western states by the end of this year and has a goal to open 100 stores total over the next three years. 

He chose franchising as his mode of growth and so far, it appears to be working for this first-time restaurateur and his leadership team. In fact, Kulkis said he fully expect to be heading back to Michigan with the brand in the not too distant future. After all, he's a Michigander and he loves his chopped salad, so why in the world wouldn't everyone else. 

"I want to be the first chopped salad anyone has -- to get that surprise," he said. "Then, going forward we want to stake out a place as the gold standard for this product. ... It really does have an addictive quality."

Photos: Provided

About S.A. Whitehead

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Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.