Freshness is one of those words that gets thrown around a lot in the food industry. At Simply Salad, we don’t use it lightly — and we don’t let it become just a tagline. For us, freshness is a promise that starts at 6 a.m. and continues until the last bowl is served.

You won’t find frozen lettuce, processed toppings, or sauces sitting on a shelf for days. What you will find is a team of people washing, chopping, grilling, and prepping food the right way — every single day.

This article takes you behind the scenes of how we keep our ingredients fresh, flavorful, and real — no shortcuts, no pretense.

Every Simply Salad location starts the day with a clear mission: get every ingredient ready for service — safely, quickly, and at peak freshness.

Here’s what a typical morning looks like (we start in the middle of the night btw):

2:00 AM - 7:30 AM – Delivery Checks

• Fresh produce from our favorite California farm arrives from our distributor
• Managers check quality, temperature, and documentation
• Any item not up to standard is sent back — no exceptions

7:30 AM - 8:30 AM – Cleaning & Vegetable Prep

• Food contact surfaces, knives, and prep stations are cleaned and sanitized
• Romaine lettuce is cut, washed, and dried
• Vegetables and cut and prepped
• Avocados are ripeness-checked and stationed

8:30 AM - 9:30AM– Dressings & Toppings

• Homemade dressings are portioned and prepared for lunch rush in our refrigerated stations (our homemade dressings have no preservatives so need to be refrigerated)
• Croutons, pita chips, tortilla strips, crispy wontons, and crispy onions are prepared for service
• Chicken, salmon, steak and all proteins are prepped and stationed

By the time guests walk in at 10 AM, everything has been freshly prepared with detail and care — not out of a bag, not sitting for days just Simply Salad fresh.

Why We Prep Daily — Not Weekly

Some restaurants prep food two or three times a week. It cuts costs. It saves time. But it also cuts corners.

At Simply Salad, we believe:

• Lettuce should crunch, not collapse
• Tomatoes should be juicy, not mealy
• Chicken should be marinated then grilled and baked, not reheated
• Greens should smell like greens, not like plastic

This is why we prepare ingredients fresh every single day — even if that means more labor and tighter timing. It keeps flavors intact, nutrients preserved, and your experience consistent.

Where Our Ingredients Come From

Freshness doesn’t start in the kitchen. It starts in the soil.

We partner with trusted California farms to source items at maximum freshness. When romaine is thriving in Salinas, we use it. When grape tomatoes are in their short window, we grab them. This gives our food a natural rotation that’s tied to what’s best — not what’s cheapest.

Examples

• Leafy greens from Central Valley farms
• Avocados from California and Mexico

We believe in ingredient integrity. That means we know what’s going on the plate — and who grew it.

Behind the Cold Line: How We Store & Serve Fresh

Once ingredients are prepped, they go into cold refrigeration systems that keep every item at a regulated temperature — without drying it out.

Our in-store systems include

• Refrigerated cold wells throughout our food line
• Sealed containers for all items
• Labels with time/date stamps and employee initials on every batch
• FIFO rotation (First In, First Out) to eliminate waste
• Twice-daily checks for temperature, texture, and color

No ingredient is ever held past its allowed timeline. If it doesn’t meet our standards — it gets tossed. Period.

Staff Training: The Front Line of Freshness

Tools and systems mean nothing without people who care.

Our prep staff are trained from day one on how to:

• Handle produce safely
• Identify spoilage signs
• Log and label correctly
• Maintain prep hygiene
• Communicate when something’s off

We keep our team tight, and we empower them to speak up. If a batch of kale looks tired or the tomatoes aren’t where they should be, we fix it fast — or we don’t serve it.

Everyone on our team knows: if it’s not fresh, it doesn’t fly.

Guest Benefits: Why It Matters to You

Fresh food isn’t just about visuals — it affects taste, health, and trust.

When food is prepped daily, you get:

• Maximum flavor: Bright colors, sharp citrus, crisp textures
• Better nutrition: Vitamins and antioxidants intact
• Less preservatives: No artificial shelf-life needed
• More trust: You know what you’re eating, and when it was made

Our guests tell us they taste the difference. And we believe them. Because when you serve food with real freshness and real intention — people feel it.

Not Just a Trend — Our Culture

We don’t prep like this for marketing. We do it because it’s our culture and what customers deserve.

From our founders to our store teams, the commitment to freshness runs deep. You won’t find frozen shortcuts or processed compromise — just ingredients that were handled with intention and served with pride.

Fresh food takes more effort. But that effort is what makes Simply Salad Simply Better.

Want to taste the difference real freshness makes? Order your salad or wrap today — prepped fresh this morning, served with purpose. Order Now (https://simplysalad.com/order)