5 Who Thrive: Aloha Salads grows by staying true to its mission - Pittsburgh Business Times:

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The signature salad dressings are among the reasone forthe company’s success. Aloha Salads continuesd to thrive, despite the weak and is expected to gross morethan $1 milliomn this year. A third location is set to open in Juneat , followede by another in the by There are plans to franchise Aloha Salads nationally. And a Californiqa food group has agreed to bottlde four of the six salaed dressings forretail distribution. The Lufranos’ success is due to a numberr of factors. They open stores only in high-profilre locations and form business partnerships withtrustex people. They also stick to theit core mission, which is to serve quick, healthu foods using local ingredients.
Now their goal is to expans strategically in anticipation ofthe economy’xs rebound in 2010. “Ws have to continue reinventing ourselvezs to keep things fresh for customers and attract new as well,” Chris said. “We’re not going to rush in. We’rw going to make sure we make the righy decisionsmoving forward.” Careful growthh has been the company’s philosophy from the In December 2004, after seven yearsz away from home, the Lufranos returned to Hawaiij from Chicago, where she was a patent lawyet and he worked in finance. For more than a they scouted potential store locations on Oahu and experimented with recipesat Sara’s home in Kahala.
The couple opened theidr first Aloha Salads in May 2006 ina 440-square-fooy space in the , usinh personal capital and a $50,000o loan guaranteed by the U.S. Small Business Administration. The company’s creative salads — “Aloha Mediterranean,” “Mau i Mozzarella” and “The Goddess” instantly drew loyal customers. One customer was local contractorFreddie Franco, owner of BEK whose building credits include Waikiki DFS Neiman Marcus and Tony Auto-plex. He struci up a friendship with the Lufranos and two yearx later helped designAloha Salads’ second locationj in .
The mall store, which opened in Marcu 2008, briefly experienced a double-digit drop in salea after health-food chain Whole Foods opened nearby late last Sales have climbed since then but are slightlybelow target, Chrisd said. Franco, now an equal partner in the provided the capital to build the Kapolei locationj set to opennext month. “Kapolei should be reallg good because there’s nothing out there,” he “We’ve been getting lots of callzs askingwhen we’re going to build in their area.” The 1,200-square-foot store is unique in that it will have wine pairingsa with salads and a mezzanine level for dine-ijn customers, Franco said.
As Aloha Salads continueas to expand, the ability to quicklyg change menu items tofit customers’ tastez will be important. For instance, roast beef sandwiches that did not sell well in the Kailua store have been replaced with pastrami Periodically introducing creative menu items also is crucial to This month, the Kahalwa Mall location began serving omelettes, organic coffees, fruit bowls and fresh-squeezed The response has been and there are plans to serve breakfast in other “We really care about the food that goes out to customers,” Sara “People get used to what they’rse eating and don’t realize there coulsd be so many good options.
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