Student Entrepreneurs
Bet Salad Will Fly On High

On its first full day of business, a newly opened salad shop on High Street received positive reviews from a successful restaurateur and a caution about pricing from a recovering carnivore.

The Little Salad Shop opened its doors on Monday at 45 High St. It sold between 80 and 90 salads on its first day, according to Tiffany Ho and Etkin Tekin, two of the three young entrepreneurs who have launched the new business.

That’s a promising beginning for Ho, Tekin, and a third rising senior at Yale, Jerry Choinski, who hope to succeed in a tough spot where several small eateries have recently failed. One sold yogurt. Another was a short-lived place that was going to live or die on an odd machine that produced steamed burgers. It died.

The three Yalies predicted they’ll succeed by filling what they see as an opportunity for a place that focuses on fresh and affordable salads.

Tekin got the idea when he lived off campus last year. Off the university meal plan, he fell prey to too much pizza. Food frustration led him to join forces with Choinski and Ho. Now he’s in charge of operations. Ho does the marketing, including a huge social media blitz beginning in the spring.

That the buzz is already spreading, even before students have returned en masse, is a good sign, Ho said.

“We’re serial entrepreneurs,” Tekin said, pointing out Ho. In her sophomore year she created Ready, Set, Go, a college advising company for low-income kids. With operations in New Haven and Providence and relying on college kids to do the advising, Ho said, the company has 70 workers and it raised $100,000 in its first year.

That was a not-for-profit enterprise. The Little Salad Shop is decidedly for profit.

Of the 12 salads on offer, three have bacon and five chicken. Tekin said he wants the salads not to be ​“niche-” but universally appealing and recognizable, with an interesting touch. For example, the Dijon contains touches of fried chicken and the Country Caesar, whole wheat croutons.

All meatless salads are priced at $6.58. The meaty ones are $7.52. With tax they come out to $7 and $8, respectively. Smoothies go for between $3 and $5. The round numbers mean not a lot of pennies are changing hands, keeping everything fast, friendly, smooth.

The restaurant is also eco-friendly, due to recycled bags. Cory Cummings (with Ho in the top photo) is one of the two full and eight part-time employees at the shop. He’s a refugee from Starbucks up the block at the corner of Chapel Street.

Suzette Franco-Camacho, owner of the former notable New Haven restaurants Bespoke and Rhumba. stopped in with her daughters Quinn and Cassie. She chose not one of the 12 menu salads but the do-it-yourself option. Quinn selected the summer salad because she likes the strawberries and nuts, she said. Cassie created one heavy on chicken, bacon. Mom liked especially liked the Greek olive dressing. It’s one of a dozen dressings offered.

Franco-Camacho, who has opened two new restaurants in Branford , pronounced the salads fresh and tasty.

“This has been a tough spot. Historically it competes with the frozen yogurt place,” but she said she sees the new venture as having a real chance to provide food for people looking for fast and healthful food.

She said she likes the eco-packaging and the cute space that features a rebuilt counter with recycled materials from Urban Miners. Tekin did a lot of the build out, including cleaning three layers of white paint off 300 bricks on the southern wall of the historic building.The founders also found a period sign in the basement and displayed it to help create an atmosphere that says salads and Americana go hand in hand.

Aspiring Vegetarian?

Just as the Franco-Camachos left, Nancy Clayton entered and asked, ​“Is this the former burger place? Can I be healthy?”

Clayton, an architect, said her choice to come to the shop followed on just receiving a less than happy cholesterol reading. She is now trying to eat more wisely. However, she admitted to being essentially a carnivore.

After pondering the choices on the chalkboard high above the prep area, Clayton selected ​“The Barbarian.” She said it appeared to be a kind of of transitional choice for a recovering meat-eater.

It features romaine, grilled chicken, broccoli, chickpeas, carrots, egg, almond flakes, and bacon bits. Instead of the suggested roasted garlic or peppercorn dressing (each salad is footnoted on the menu with a suggested dressing), she opted for buttermilk ranch.

Ho filled ​“The Barbarian” order by packing up a copious 7x5x2 inch container.

Clayton was intrigued but not wholly convinced that the young entrepreneurs had hit their price points. As a New Yorker transplanted to New Haven, she said, she still can’t get used to the idea that a salad costs as much as eight dollars.

Ho insisted the salad is far more bounteous than what rival places offer quantity-wise„ ​“The product is not just the food,” but the friendly experience, an atmosphere complete with old-fashioned bottles and an historic welcoming sign, affordable, fast, healthful.

Tekin said that he and his team had investigated going organic, but ​“we do not want to sell $16 salads.” The Little Salad Shop also does not describe itself as part of the slow food movementl it does not purchase produce from nearby farms. Although the ingredients come largely from Connecticut, the restaurant uses large distributors, he said.

“We’re providing healthy options that people can afford on an everyday basis,” Tekin said.

If the Little Salad Shop proves a success, is it possible it might be the next Starbucks? That is, franchised?

“We would love to expand to more locations,” Tekin said.

Ornithologist Mark Aronson later provided this thumbnail review of the eats themselves: ​“Ample, tasty and varied. Yesterday I tried the vegetarian green salad, which was fresh, crisp and flavorful. Served in a paper box so there is certainly a nod given to sustainability though it would be nice to see biodegradable utensils. Today my Wasabi Chicken Salad was more than ample and I was convinced it was nutritious. The dudes there managering, with whom I’ve spoken to a couple of times, are full of enthusiasm and spirit, vim and verve. I will surely buy the stock when they go public.”

Before the Little Salad Shop hits Wall Street, however, Tekin, Ho, and Choinski have to finish school. They each plan to spend 20 hours a week of their senior year, their academic schedules permitting, at the shop. The enterprise is being guided by Yale’s Entrepreneurial Institute, from which all three have already graduated.