'We have mad queues': The Salad Project aims to reach 20 sites by 2027

The Salad Project has revealed plans to open three new London restaurants this year, with the aim of expanding to 20 sites by mid-2027.

The London-based salad bar launched in Spitalfields in 2021 and has since grown to five sites across Battersea, Bank, Oxford Circus and Mansion House.

Florian de Chezelles, co-founder of the Salad Project, told The Caterer: “We’re doing incredibly well. We have mad queues and the salad hype is very much happening. There are still many Londoners who have never heard of the Salad Project, and based on the success of our existing restaurant, we know they would really very much enjoy our product.”

The upcoming sites will be located in areas of London the group already has a presence, as well as “new territories”.

Two of its existing salad bars – Spitalfields and Bank – are situated a 15 minute walk away from each other.

De Chezelles said there were benefits to targeting locations where people are already familiar with the brand, as many office workers were “only really willing to walk seven minutes [on a lunch break] and not a single minute more”.

Last month, Salad Project secured £1m funding from several investors, who De Chezelles said were some of the brand's "most loyal customers" with backgrounds in hospitality and finance.

“On the grand scheme of things, it’s not a lot of money given our short term ambition, but the fact is we’ve built a healthy, profitable business, meaning that we are able to finance our own growth, so raising that money is just about making sure that we’re able to go a little bit faster than if it was all organic,” he added.

Although the Salad Project has ambitions to expand nationally, De Chezelles said it was only a “tier two priority” for now as “London is a pretty big place”.

The group’s most recent opening in Mansion House (pictured below) operates as a self-service, collection-only site for customers who are keen to skip the queue.

“It’s a little bit early to draw conclusions, but it’s behaving in exactly the way we thought it would," said De Chezelles. "There’s a bit of an education piece to understand how it works, but customers like it and see the appeal.

“It’s going to take probably about six months until we reach a maturity point when we know exactly how well that’s going to perform."

The Salad Project was founded by De Chezelles and James Dare, who have teamed up with culinary director Clementine Haxby. The group was named Uber Eats Restaurant of the Year in 2022.