The Salad Station, a family-owned Hammond-based restaurant chain, is opening its first location in the Capital City at 10608 Coursey Blvd. between Cedarcrest Avenue and W E Heck Court.
The Salad Station is a self-service, purchase-by-the-pound salad, potato and soup bar that offers customers more than 150 options to build their own meal. The restaurant currently has two locations in Hammond and one each in Mandeville, Covington and Amite.
Construction permits were pulled today to build out 2,250 square feet of a 4,790-square-foot single-story building with two suites for the new Baton Rouge restaurant.
The build out, which includes plumbing for a kitchen, full HVAC, lighting, restrooms and more, is expected to cost $108,000, according to information included on the permit.
Project contractor Matthew Morrow of Morrow Builders says construction will start immediately.
Scott Henderson, The Salad Station founder, says the Coursey location is expected to open sometime in September and will be corporate owned.
Construction also is expected to begin soon on a new, franchise-owned Salad Station in Denham Springs, at 615 S. Range Road.
A typical Station Salad has about 40 to 50 seats, Henderson says. Customers have the option to dine in or carry out. The restaurant also offers catering, says Henderson, whose family also owns a farm that grows The Salad Station’s seasonal vegetables.
“We actually know the product,” he says, adding that the restaurant incorporates a farm-to-table concept.
Plans to expand into Baton Rouge have been underway for at least four months, he says.
Baton Rouge is an attractive market because of the number of jobs here, he says.
“It was the logical next step to go to a larger market and our demographics suggest that our restaurant is a high-volume lunch restaurant,” Henderson says.
The restaurateur says he is interested in having two more Salad Stations in the greater Baton Rouge area—one at Essen Lane and Perkins Road near Our Lady of the Lake Hospital, and another in Gonzales.
—Alexandria Burris
