Daily, 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 kind of meal however a standard 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 develop into synonymous with individuals like Lyons: younger, overworked white-collar professionals considering how salad may also help them self-optimize. Chains resembling Sweetgreen and Chopt have thrived in large 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 an entire new inhabitants of hungry employees. Different salad joints are promoting salad sooner than ever—in some instances, at fast-food costs. Alongside the best way, the unhappy desk salad has develop into even sadder.
Something could make for a tragic desk lunch, however there’s one thing distinctive about salads. Don’t get me improper: 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 not like, say, a burrito or sushi, which no 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 at all times time for arugula.
Throughout the early pandemic, the unhappy desk salad appeared doomed. Staff sitting at a desk at residence reasonably than within the workplace might fish out greens from the fridge crisper drawer as a substitute of paying $16. Even when they wished to, a lot of the places had been in downtown cores, not residential neighborhoods.
However the unhappy desk salad has not simply returned—it’s thriving. Take Sweetgreen, perhaps probably the most well-known purveyor. It guess that People would nonetheless need its salads irrespective of the place they’re working, and to date, that has paid off. The corporate has been increasing to the suburbs since no 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 development to enlargement into smaller cities. Most of its places are within the suburbs, and most of its future shops can be too.
Sweetgreen will not be the one firm to have made that gamble. Chopt beforehand introduced that it could open 80 % of its new shops within the suburbs; the Minnesota-based model Crisp & Inexperienced is eyeing the fringes of midwestern cities. Salad has develop into so entrenched as a lunch choice that even conventional fast-food giants resembling Wendy’s and Dairy Queen have launched salad bowls in recent times. Possibly probably the most novel of all is Salad and Go, a completely 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 develop to Southern California and the Southeast. Its CEO, Charlie Morrison, has positioned it as an inexpensive and handy various to unhealthy choices: a rival to not Sweetgreen, however to McDonald’s.
Certainly, unhappy desk salads could be made with surprising pace. Based on Morrison, you’ll be able to drive off along 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.
Larger accessibility to salad, typically, is an effective factor. America might stand to eat much more of it. Little question some salads might be consumed outdoors of labor: on a park bench with buddies, maybe, or on a blanket on the seaside—a woman can dream! However certainly lots of them might be packed, ordered, and picked up with horrifying pace, solely to maximise the time spent working within the glow of a pc display screen, 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 dangerous 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 seemingly; sitting for lengthy stretches raises the chance 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 form of low-cost, quick salad could make up for working so fervidly that taking a couple of minutes off to get pleasure from a salad will not be doable and even fascinating.
Earlier this month, Sweetgreen launched a brand new menu merchandise you’ll be able to add to its bowls: steak. The corporate’s CEO stated that, throughout testing, it was a “dinnertime favourite.” That the unhappy desk salad might quickly creep into different mealtimes often is the saddest factor but.