On daily basis, the blogger Alex Lyons orders the identical salad from the identical New York Metropolis bodega and eats it in the identical place: her desk. She eats it whereas working in order that she will publish a narrative earlier than “prime time”—the noon lunch window when her viewers of workplace employees scrolls mindlessly on their computer systems whereas wolfing down their very own salad. Lyons is the protagonist of Unhappy Desk Salad, the 2012 novel by Jessica Grose that gave a reputation to not only a sort of meal however a typical expertise: making an attempt to concurrently maximize each well being and productiveness as a result of—and that is the unhappy half—there’s by no means sufficient time to dedicate to both.
The unhappy desk salad has change into synonymous with individuals like Lyons: younger, overworked white-collar professionals considering how salad can assist them self-optimize. Chains resembling Sweetgreen and Chopt have thrived in massive coastal cities, slinging “guacamole greens” and “spicy Sonoma Caesars” in to-go bowls that may be picked up between conferences. The costs can creep towards $20, reinforcing their fancy popularity.
However quick salad has gone mainstream. Sweetgreen and comparable salad chains have expanded out of metropolis facilities into the suburbs, the place they’re reaching a complete new inhabitants of hungry employees. Different salad joints are promoting salad sooner than ever—in some circumstances, at fast-food costs. Alongside the way in which, the unhappy desk salad has change into even sadder.
Something could make for a tragic desk lunch, however there’s one thing distinctive about salads. Don’t get me fallacious: They are often scrumptious. I’ve spent embarrassing quantities of cash on unhappy desk salads, together with one I picked at whereas writing this text. But in contrast to, say, a burrito or sushi, which not less than really feel like little indulgences, the principle cause to eat a salad is as a result of it’s nutritious. It’s gasoline—not enjoyable. Even when there isn’t time for a lunch break, there’s all the time time for arugula.
Learn: Don’t consider the salad millionaire
In the course of the early pandemic, the unhappy desk salad appeared doomed. Staff sitting at a desk at house reasonably than within the workplace may fish out greens from the fridge crisper drawer as an alternative of paying $16. Even when they wished to, a lot of the places have been in downtown cores, not residential neighborhoods.
However the unhappy desk salad has not simply returned—it’s thriving. Take Sweetgreen, possibly probably the most well-known purveyor. It wager that Individuals would nonetheless need its salads regardless of the place they’re working, and to date, that has paid off. The corporate has been increasing to the suburbs since not less than 2020 and has been spreading ever since. In 2023, it opened shops in Milwaukee, Tampa, and Rhode Island; final week, when Sweetgreen reported that its income jumped 26 % over the earlier 12 months, executives attributed that progress to growth into smaller cities. Most of its places are within the suburbs, and most of its future shops could be too.
Sweetgreen isn’t the one firm to have made that gamble. Chopt beforehand introduced that it might open 80 % of its new shops within the suburbs; the Minnesota-based model Crisp & Inexperienced is eyeing the fringes of midwestern cities. Salad has change into so entrenched as a lunch choice that even conventional fast-food giants resembling Wendy’s and Dairy Queen have launched salad bowls lately. Perhaps probably the most novel of all is Salad and Go, a wholly drive-through chain that sells salads for lower than $7. It opened a brand new retailer roughly each week final 12 months, and now has greater than 100 places throughout Arizona, Nevada, Oklahoma, and Texas, with plans to broaden to Southern California and the Southeast. Its CEO, Charlie Morrison, has positioned it as an affordable and handy different to unhealthy choices: a rival to not Sweetgreen, however to McDonald’s.
Certainly, unhappy desk salads may be made with stunning velocity. In accordance with Morrison, you may drive off together with your salad in lower than 4 minutes. Different chains together with Simply Salad and Chopt are opening up drive-through lanes to spice up comfort. Sweetgreen, which has additionally dabbled with the drive-through, has put in salad-assembling robots in a number of places, which may reportedly make 500 salads an hour.
Learn: Your quick meals is already automated
Higher accessibility to salad, normally, is an efficient factor. America may stand to eat much more of it. Little doubt some salads will likely be consumed outdoors of labor: on a park bench with buddies, maybe, or on a blanket on the seaside—a woman can dream! However absolutely lots of them will likely be packed, ordered, and picked up with horrifying velocity, solely to maximise the time spent working within the glow of a pc display, the crunching of lettuce punctuated by the chirping of notifications.
As I lunched on kale and brussels sprouts whereas penning this story, my silent hope was that they could offset all of the unhealthy that I used to be doing to my physique by sitting at my desk for nearly eight hours straight. Eating whereas distracted makes overeating extra doubtless; sitting for lengthy stretches raises the danger of diabetes and coronary heart illness. Individuals who take correct lunch breaks, in distinction, have improved psychological well being, much less burnout, and extra vitality. No sort of low-cost, quick salad could make up for working so fervidly that taking a couple of minutes off to take pleasure in a salad isn’t doable and even fascinating.
Earlier this month, Sweetgreen launched a brand new menu merchandise you may add to its bowls: steak. The corporate’s CEO mentioned that, throughout testing, it was a “dinnertime favourite.” That the unhappy desk salad may quickly creep into different mealtimes often is the saddest factor but.
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