By Kaitlin Hoskins, News Editor
What started as a drawing and a desire to offer families healthy alternatives to fast food now has a brick-and-mortar store with the name Salads2Go – and even more stores on the way.
Lee Harrison, CEO of Salads2Go, Harmony Hydration and Gardens on Air, hopes that families of all back-grounds can enjoy Salads2Go’s healthy options and rest assured knowing what they are feeding their family.
“We have this thing called ‘True Transparency’,” said Harrison. “It means that you know exactly what is in our products because we tell you. We know exactly where the ingredients come from and we know what ingredients we put in our products.”
Harrison said Salads2Go sources all of their ingredients locally. The lettuce and other produce is grown at Gardens on Air, Harrison’s hydroponic commercial gardening facility in Hokes Bluff.
According to Harrison, whatever ingredients they cannot grow, they source from a list of Alabama farms.
“We want to support other Alabama farms and especially smaller women-owned businesses,” Harrison said.
Salads2Go offers fresh seasonal salads, fresh cold press juices, electrolyte water from Harmony Hydration, hummus and more.
Harrison hopes Salads2Go, which officially opened its first location in June, is a staple for local families. To that note, he said he wanted the prices to be as low as possible so more families can enjoy the products.
“I’d rather sell 200 salads at $5 a piece than 100 salads priced at $10 or $15,” Harrison said. “When you go to other places you get maybe two ounces of lettuce and pay $10 or $12 or maybe even $15. We use four to six ounces, and it is all fresh.”
The Gadsden store was the first for Salads2Go, a location in Hokes Bluff is opening in the next week or two and, according to Harrison, “more good news is hopefully on the way.”
Harrison, who grew up in Florida in the 80s before his father moved the family to Alabama, tries to make the work environment at Gardens on Air, Salads2Go and Harmony Hydration (a water company that produces PH balanced electrolyte water) pleasant and makes sure the company’s employees are satisfied and paid a living wage.
“We try to make sure they are taken care of,” Harrison said. “It’s my goal to have this be the last job these people will ever have. I want them to be debt-free and have enough to go out to eat with their families.”
Visit Salads2Go at 118 Chestnut St. in Gadsden. Order online at Salads-2-Go.com.