Incorporating on-trend flavors into a menu is a fluid process, but an operation’s core ingredients remain, more or less, constant. For this reason, focusing on core ingredients can maximize SKUs while continuously refreshing the menu through new creations. This brings us to salads, which inherently encompass a wide variety of bold ingredients and textures that can be leveraged across formats, especially when fruits and vegetables are part of the build.

Deconstructing salads into their base parts and then reassembling them into flavor-packed small bites can boost any menu with fresh snacks, shareables, appetizers and more. These new items will also sate guest cravings for new taste adventures while allowing the back of house to continue working with familiar ingredients.

The following examples maintain the “essence” of classic salads, but the reimagined builds aren’t restricted to their primary base ingredients. Instead, they take the salad as inspiration and then forge forward as fresh menu items in their own right.

1

Mango Salad

Base: green mango + ripe mango + carrots + mung bean sprouts + red onion + cilantro + mint + roasted peanuts + dressing (lime juice, vegetable oil, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, garlic, fish sauce)

Re-imagined as:

Mango Summer Rolls: Vietnamese spring roll wrappers + ripe mango and watermelon cubes + avocado slivers + feather-shredded carrots + cilantro leaves + mint leaves + spicy peanut dipping sauce

Jerk Steak Taco: jerk strip steak slices + creamy mango slaw + crushed roasted peanuts + flour tortilla

Hot Peanut Chamoy Chicken Wings: sticky brown sugar-hot peanut chicken wings + chamoy (dip) + pickled green mango wedges

2

Watermelon-Feta-Mint Salad

Base: watermelon + red onion + mint + feta cheese + dressing (lime juice)

Re-imagined as:

Shrimp Watermelon Aguachile: chilled shrimp + fruit broth (red watermelon and lime juices, cilantro) + red onion slivers + thin serrano chile slices + feta crumbles + tortilla chips

Watermelon Frosé-Topped Oysters: shucked oysters + red watermelon-mint frosé + finger lime pearls

Watermelon Coastal Cod Roll: feta aïoli + tempura cod fillet + red and yellow watermelon salsa + toasted mini split-top hot dog bun

3

Waldorf Salad

Base: Granny Smith apple + Honeycrisp apple + celery + red grapes + walnuts + golden raisins + dressing (yogurt, mayo, honey, lemon juice, sea salt, black pepper)

Re-imagined as:

Waldorf Salad Slider: butter lettuce leaf + small-chopped Waldorf salad + sweet Hawaiian roll

Sausage, Bread and Waldorf Spread: smoked sausage slices + bias-sliced pickled celery + caramel apple-golden raisin marmalade + jammy red grape-yogurt spread + 5-grain bread toast

Waldorf Fritters: fried savory apple-walnut fritters + roasted grape-golden raisin chutney (dip) + peppered honey yogurt dip

4

Panzanella Salad

Base: salted mixed varieties of heirloom tomatoes + ciabatta bread + red onion + cucumber + basil leaves + dressing (tomato liquid from salted tomatoes, olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, black pepper, garlic)

Re-imagined as:

Bruschetta Trio Sampler: smoked heirloom tomato-basil-onion jam + smashed swicy cucumbers-chickpeas + sour cream-Dijon-charred Vidalia onions + thin slices of grilled ciabatta

Asiago Ciabatta Toasters: warm heirloom tomato sauce dip + basil pesto dip + toasted garlic-butter Asiago ciabatta (cut into bite-size breadsticks)

Meatball Panzanella Lettuce Wrap: small Italian sausage meatball (rolled in ciabatta breadcrumbs) + tangy cucumber-red onion relish + roasted tomato butter sauce dip + Bibb lettuce leaf

5

Harvest Kale Salad

Base: curly kale + Bartlett pears + red onion + dried cranberries + grated cheddar + parsnip chips + dressing (vegetable oil, Vermont maple syrup, orange juice, tamari, Dijon)

Re-imagined as:

Harvest Taco: maple-Dijon carnitas + smoked pear slices + kale pesto + white-corn tortillas

Autumnal Stuffed Portobello: grilled portobello mushroom + stuffing of ground maple pork sausage, cheddar, sautéed curly kale and onions + drizzle cranberry syrup

Kale Queso Dip: kale-white cheddar-cream cheese queso + pear chips + hard pretzels

6

Greek Salad

Base: romaine + tomatoes + cucumber + green bell pepper + red onion + Kalamata olives + feta cheese + dressing (olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, dried oregano)

Re-imagined as:

Greek Potato Tostones: fingerling potato tostones + Kalamata roasted garlic aïoli + feta crumbles

Greek Pita Dip: olive oil-whipped feta-Greek yogurt dip + Kalamata olives + oregano + tomato-garlic oil drizzle + warm pita wedges

Greek Fries: curly fries with sea salt + dried oregano + fine feta crumbles + Kalamata-tomato coulis dip

7

Cobb Salad

Base: romaine + tomatoes + chicken + bacon + hard boiled eggs + avocado + blue cheese + ranch dressing

Re-imagined as:

Cobb Snack Sampler: avocado chicken salad lettuce wraps + spicy barbecue-glazed bacon strips + ranch-flavored deviled eggs + blue cheese wedges

Comeback Chicken Cobb Slider: mini brioche bun + fried chicken bite + bacon + hard-boiled egg slice + romaine + blue cheese comeback sauce

Cobb Salad Tostada: small, crispy corn tortilla + tomato marmalade + shredded romaine + fried egg + pulled roasted chicken + blue cheese crumbles

8

Salmon Entrée Salad

Base: seared salmon fillet + baby spinach + frisée + black lentils + roasted bell pepper wedges + goat cheese + mango-pink grapefruit salsa + dressing (vegetable oil, red wine vinegar, raspberry purée, white miso)

Re-imagined as:

Mango Salmon Cocktail: chilled poached salmon fillet bites + mango-cocktail sauce

Swicy Spinach Salmon Dip: Sriracha-mango goat cheese spinach dip + flaked grilled salmon fillet + fresh bell pepper wedges

Salmon Cakes: sautéed salmon cakes + marinated black lentil “caviar” + mango aïoli topper

9

Chinese Crunch Chicken Salad

Base: romaine + napa cabbage + chicken breast + puffed rice noodles + red bell pepper + mung bean sprouts + crisp wontons + almonds + dressing (sesame oil, rice vinegar, orange juice, ginger, plum)

Re-imagined as:

Sesame-Glazed Fried Chicken Bao: steamed split-bun bao + sesame-honey-glazed fried chicken bite + plum-napa cabbage kimchi + toasted crushed almonds

Ginger Chicken Pot Stickers: ginger-scallion ground chicken dumplings + sesame-orange tamari sauce

Pork Belly-Fried Spring Roll: thin spring roll wrappers + stir-fried shredded napa cabbage, red bell pepper, pork belly + spicy plum almond butter dip

10

MexiCali Salad

Base: mesclun + jicama + tomatoes + fresh corn + black beans + avocado + pepitas + queso fresco + crunchy tortilla crumbles + dressing (vegetable oil, chile-spice mix, lime juice, mango, honey) + crema drizzle

Re-imagined as:

Chile-Grilled Corn Riblets: chargrilled fresh corn riblets dusted with chile-spice mix + avocado-queso fresco sauce

MexiCali Nachos: tortilla chips + shredded carnitas + avocado-salsa verde + minced ripe mango + queso fresco crumbles + toasted pepitas + chile-honey crema

Spiced Black Bean Quesadilla: smashed, chile-spiced black beans + charred fresh corn kernels + queso fresco + pepita-seeded flour tortilla