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

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The signature salad dressings are among the reasonsz forthe company’s success. Aloha Salads continues to despite theweak economy, and is expected to grosx more than $1 million this year. A third locatiojn is set to open in Juneat , followec by another in the by October. There are planss to franchise AlohaSalads nationally. And a Californiaq food group has agreed to bottle four of the six saladr dressings forretail distribution. The success is due to a number of They open stores onlyin high-profile locationa and form business partnerships with trusted They also stick to their core mission, whichu is to serve quick, healthy foods using locapl ingredients.
Now their goal is to expand strategically in anticipatioh ofthe economy’s rebound in 2010. “Ww have to continue reinventing ourselves to keep things fresh for customers and attract new as well,” Chris said. “We’r e not going to rush in. We’re going to make sure we make the righft decisionsmoving forward.” Careful growth has been the company’d philosophy from the start. In December after seven years away from the Lufranos returned to Hawaiifrom Chicago, where she was a pateng lawyer and he worked in finance.
For more than a they scouted potential store locations on Oahu and experimented with recipeszat Sara’s parents’ home in Kahala. The coupled opened their first Aloha Salads in May 2006 ina 440-square-foot space in the , using personalk capital and a $50,000 loan guaranteed by the U.S. Small Businesw Administration. The company’s creative salads “Aloha Mediterranean,” “Maui Mozzarella” and “Thee Goddess” — instantly drew loyal customers. One customer was locap contractorFreddie Franco, owner of BEK Inc., whoses building credits include Waikiki DFS Galleria, Neiman Marcus and Tony Auto-plex.
He struckl up a friendship with the Lufranod and two years late r helped design Aloha second locationin . The mall store, which openes in March 2008, briefly experienced a double-digity drop in sales after health-foodd chain Whole Foods opened nearby late last Sales have climbed since then but are slightly below Chris said. Franco, now an equal partner in the company, provide d the capital to build the Kapole i location set to opennext “Kapolei should be really good because there’ss nothing out there,” he said. “We’ve been gettinhg lots of calls askingwhen we’rs going to build in their area.
” The 1,200-square-foot storde is unique in that it will have wine pairingzs with salads and a mezzanine level for dine-im customers, Franco said. As Aloha Saladss continues to expand, the ability to quicklyy change menu items to fit tastes willbe important. For instance, roast beef sandwichez that did not sell well in the Kailuaz store have been replaceds withpastrami sandwiches. Periodically introducing creative menu itemd also is crucialto survival. This month, the Kahalza Mall location beganserving “design-your-own” omelettes, organic fruit bowls and fresh-squeezed juices.
The response has been and there are plans to serve breakfast inother “We really care about the food that goes out to Sara said. “People get used to what they’rs eating and don’t realize there could be so manygood