Subscribing to salad

For years, restaurateur and fitness enthusiast Pat Fellows has been preaching a simple message: If healthy food is in front of you, you’ll eat it. And lately, he’s been working on a way to get his FreshJunkie salads and wraps on the plates of more customers. This month, the two-location restaurant officially launches a subscription service that Fellows is pitching as an effortless way to ensure you eat your veggies.

“When we talk about an overarching mission for our concept, it’s to improve how Americans eat, and you do that by eliminating the barrier to entry,” says Fellows, who began test-marketing the delivery service in the fall. “If a salad is right there in front of you, and you don’t have to think about it, it’ll keep you from making bad choices.”

FreshJunkie, Fellows’ quick-service salad eatery, is on the cusp of what its founder believes is a new era. He opened the first location in February 2007 in the Main Street Market, following a growing national trend of salad concepts that allows consumers to order custom or specialty salads prepared while they wait. FreshJunkie serves several signature salads, including the popular Thai, Brickhouse and Mediterranean, in take-out boxes or tucked in whole-wheat wraps. Fellows opened a second location on North Boulevard at Town Square in 2014.

Customers who subscribe online can order a certain number of weekly salads for delivery. There is no geographic restriction. Currently, Fellows and his team take salads from Brusly to Prairieville.

The veteran triathlete and regional race organizer believes that while access to healthier food in greater Baton Rouge has improved, it’s still too easy to order dishes filled with too much salt, sugar and fat.

“Even at places where you think you’re getting a really healthy meal, there’s a lot of stuff that isn’t good for you,” he says. “This way, you’re getting three to four cups of greens in every salad.”

It’s not the only change happening at FreshJunkie. When CC’s Coffee House announced the closure of its North Boulevard location in December, FreshJunkie’s Town Square store began opening earlier and serving coffee. This month, Fellows plans to add espresso drinks, as well as breakfast tacos that will be available for both retail and delivery.

And, Fellows is getting into retail salad dressing. Since he opened in 2007, FreshJunkie has served homemade preservative-free dressings. Fellows has been approved for participation in the LSU AgCenter Food Incubator and will soon bottle four different FreshJunkie dressings: balsamic vinaigrette, honey lime vinaigrette, chicken marinade and the Brickhouse vinaigrette, the creamy dressing with a bite featured on the Brickhouse Salad, a combination of greens, roasted asparagus, edamame and red pepper. freshjunkie.com