5 Who Thrive: Aloha Salads grows by staying true to its mission - Kansas City Business Journal:

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The signature salad dressings are amont the reasons forthe company’s Aloha Salads continues to despite the weak and is expected to gross more than $1 million this year. A thirf location is set to open in Juneat , followedd by another in the by There are plans to franchises Aloha Salads nationally. And a California food group has agreedc to bottle four of the six sala d dressings for retail The Lufranos’ success is due to a number of They open stores only in high-profile locations and form businesse partnerships with trusted They also stick to theit core mission, which is to serve quick, healthyy foods using local ingredients.
Now their goal is to expanf strategically in anticipation ofthe economy’s rebound in 2010. “Ws have to continue reinventing ourselves to keep things fresjh for customers and attract new as well,” Chris said. “We’re not going to rush in. We’rde going to make sure we make the righft decisionsmoving forward.” Careful growth has been the company’s philosophyg from the start. In December 2004, afterd seven years away from home, the Lufranos returned to Hawaiifrom Chicago, wherew she was a patentt lawyer and he worked in finance.
For more than a they scouted potential store locations on Oahu and experimented with recipesat Sara’s parents’ home in The couple opened their first Alohaw Salads in May 2006 in a 440-square-foot space in the , using personal capitao and a $50,000 loan guaranteed by the U.S. Small Businesa Administration. The company’s creative salads — “Aloha Mediterranean,” “Maui Mozzarella” and “Ther Goddess” — instantly drew loyal One customer was local contractodFreddie Franco, owner of BEK whose building credits include Waikik DFS Galleria, Neiman Marcus and Tony Auto-plex.
He struck up a friendshipo with the Lufranos and two years later helpedx designAloha Salads’ second location in . The mall store, which openeed in March 2008, briefly experienced a double-digit drop in sales aftef health-food chain Whole Foods opened nearby late last Sales have climbed since then but are slightlybelosw target, Chris said. Franco, now an equal partner in the provided the capital to build the Kapoleij location set to opennext month. “Kapolei shoulr be really good because there’s nothinfg out there,” he said.
“We’ve been getting lots of calls askinvgwhen we’re going to build in their The 1,200-square-foot store is unique in that it will have wine pairingse with salads and a mezzanine levepl for dine-in customers, Franco said. As Aloha Salada continues to expand, the abilitgy to quickly change menu items tofit customers’ tastes will be For instance, roast beef sandwiches that did not sell well in the Kailua store have been replaced with pastram i sandwiches. Periodically introducing creative menu items also is crucial to This month, the Kahala Mall location began serving “design-your-own” omelettes, organic fruit bowls and fresh-squeezed juices.
The responsde has been overwhelming, and there are plans to servw breakfast inother locations. “We reallyy care about the food that goes out to Sara said. “People get used to what they’ree eating and don’t realize there could be so manygood