Going Greenz: Uptown Location to be Salad Restaurant's First Franchise

By Alex Copeland Fri., Jan. 21 2011 at 3:54 PM

Categories: Announcements of the Food Kind

Dallas-based specialty salad restaurant Greenz and Beautiful Brands International on Wednesday announced an agreement to open the first Greenz franchise in Uptown.

An existing McKinney Avenue store will be converted into the first franchise location. The franchise restaurant has two counterparts that will remain under corporate ownership; a smaller venue at the Equinox fitness club in Highland Park and another in Addison.

Greenz co-founder Casie Caldwell sought out Beautiful Brands International and brokered the franchise arrangement with Larry Koehler of 7k Development, Inc.

"I'd like to keep it as centralized as possible," Caldwell says, although she's not about to turn away interest she's seen from places as far away as Salt Lake City and Florida.

It's unclear how many franchises there will be, but Caldwell says that Beautiful Brands International is actively seeking out potential locations for the future franchises.

The original Greenz restaurant opened in May of 2004, serving up a variety of gourmet salads such as Warm Pear and Goat Cheese and Hawaiian Tuna. The eatery has broadened its menu over the years to include smoothies, wraps and a variety of other gourmet dishes.

Caldwell says she created Greenz to bring fine dining salads to a less formal setting: "At some places, you go to the salad bar and find an errant olive in the pudding or something that shouldn't be there. Make it less of an assembly line."

"We don't toss our salads, we sculpt them," she says.