At a time when seemingly every restaurant across the Valley is raising prices, Gilbert-based Salad and Go is intent on going the other direction.
The chain of drive-through salad shops has announced ambitious plans to lower the price of its 48-ounce salads full of organic ingredients with chicken or tofu from $7.18 to $5.74 by January.
‘‘We truly believe that consumers should not have to pay a premium for eating organic, ready-to-eat food,’’ Salad and Go founder Roushaun Cristofellis tells MXSW. ‘‘It should not be for the few, but for everyone.’’
Cristofellis launched the concept in 2013 after finding no convenient alternatives to fast food in her Gilbert neighborhood. She and her husband, Tony, recently announced the chain’s 15th Valley location is coming to south Chandler.
Salad and Go offers a menu of 10 gourmet salads (also available as wraps), all for $5.74. To add chicken or tofu, though, costs an additional $1.44.
‘‘It is our job to remove the obstacles that are currently in the way for people to make healthy eating choices,’’ Cristofellis says. ‘‘We have already made it convenient, fast and affordable — but we feel we can do even better and make it even more affordable to more people.’’
The price reduction is planned in four stages. The first starts July 17, when the price for salads with chicken or tofu will drop to $6.82.
To lower costs, Salad and Go recently launched a number of efficiency initiatives, including no longer placing single salads in plastic bags unless requested by the customer.
‘‘The reason we are taking the price reductions in stages is so that we can continue to put the efficiency efforts into action that will, in turn, lower our cost structure, allowing us to lower prices,’’ Christofellis says.
‘‘Some efforts are easy to quickly implement, like not giving a plastic to-go bag for single salads or wraps, while some initiatives will take more time, like developing additional direct relationships with farmers, online ordering, optimizing the store’s ordering, and a few other initiatives.’’
