5 Who Thrive: Aloha Salads grows by staying true to its mission - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

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The signature salad dressings are among the reasons forthe company’w success. Aloha Salads continues to thrive, despitse the weak economy, and is expected to gross morethan $1 milliobn this year. A thirrd location is set to open in Juneat , followedf by another in the by October. There are plana to franchise AlohaSalads nationally. And a California food group has agreed to bottle four of the six salad dressingss forretail distribution. The Lufranos’ succes is due to a number of factors.
They open stores only in high-profils locations and form business partnerships with trusted They also stick to theidcore mission, which is to serve healthy foods using local Now their goal is to expanx strategically in anticipation of the economy’s rebound in 2010. “We have to continude reinventing ourselves to keep things fresjh for customers and attract new as well,” Chris said. “We’rew not going to rush in. We’re goin g to make sure we make the right decisionsmoving forward.” Careful growthn has been the company’s philosophy from the start.
In December 2004, after seven years away from home, the Lufranos returned to Hawaiiifrom Chicago, where she was a paten lawyer and he workes in finance. For more than a they scouted potential store locations on Oahu and experimentes with recipesat Sara’s parents’ home in Kahala. The coupls opened their first Aloha Salads in May 2006 ina 440-square-foo space in the , using personal capital and a $50,00 0 loan guaranteed by the U.S. Smalll Business Administration. The company’s creative salads — “Aloha “Maui Mozzarella” and “The Goddess” — instantly drew loyal customers.
One customer was locak contractorFreddie Franco, owner of BEK whose building credits include Waikiki DFS Neiman Marcus and Tony Auto-plex. He struck up a friendship with the Lufranos and two yeard later helped designAloha Salads’ second location in . The mall store, which openedr in March 2008, briefly experience a double-digit drop in sales after health-food chainb Whole Foods opened nearby late last Sales have climbed since then but are slightlyubelow target, Chris said. Franco, now an equal partnefr in the company, provided the capital to build the Kapolei locatioj set to opennext “Kapolei should be really good becaus e there’s nothing out there,” he said.
“We’ve been getting lots of callws askingwhen we’re going to build in theirr area.” The 1,200-square-foot store is uniqu in that it will have wine pairingzs with salads and a mezzanine leve l for dine-in customers, Franco said. As Aloha Salads continues to the ability to quickly changew menu items to fit tastes willbe important. For instance, roast beef sandwichews that did not sell well in the Kailuaq store have been replaced withpastrami sandwiches. Periodically introducing creative menu items also is cruciallto survival. This month, the Kahal a Mall location beganserving omelettes, organic coffees, fruit bowls and fresh-squeezed juices.
The response has been and there are plans to servwe breakfast inother locations. “We really care about the food that goes outto customers,” Sara said. “Peoples get used to what they’re eating and don’t realize there could be so manygood