When Salad and Go abruptly filed for bankruptcy in August and shuttered all its locations, co-founder and executive chef Daniel Patino was “crushed.”
“I was not ready to let this team go,” Patino said.
Patino purchased the intellectual property from Salad and Go, along with two locations
in the East Valley, at a non-bulk auction in early October. The sale was approved by a judge in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas on Oct. 14.Now, he is focused on building the brand back to what it was before its abrupt demise.
“My plan is to bring it back slowly and bring it back to what it was,” Patino said.
Patino co-founded Salad and Go about 13 years ago, and the brand grew far beyond his expectations.
“I consider it my purpose,” he
said. “For the last 13 years I wanted to create great-tasting food and give back to my community.”
He plans to grow the brand back methodically and slowly.
“We have an opportunity, a second chance, to do this, and we need to be disciplined,” he said.
Through his years at Salad and Go, he built strong relationships with farmers, vendors and other suppliers. He said he plans to be “knee-deep” in all the processes to make sure the quality of the food and service in the drive-throughs remains high.
Patino was classically trained in fine dining, and prior to starting Salad and Go, worked in high-end restaurants. Salad and Go’s model was totally different from what he was used to, but he said his goal was to approach creating the salads the same way he would have at a cold station, or garde-manger, in a fine dining restaurant.
“The thought process was to give people the same quality and experience, but as a drive-through,” he said.
Patino said he and his partners are determined to bring back the affordable, healthy options that the community valued in Salad and Go.
“I want people to understand that this is for them,” he said. “I truly believe we can make an impact on people’s health and the way they eat.”
There is no set timeline for when the first Salad and Go locations will reopen, but Patino said he would like to be operating again by the end of the year.
He aims to bring staples back to the menu while focusing on innovation and seasonality of ingredients.
“In food, innovation is constant,” he said. “We will bring some of the fan favorites back but also innovate. I want to really focus on seasonality and what’s available and give people really good choices of food.”
Corina Vanek covers development for The Arizona Republic. Reach her at cvanek@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X @CorinaVanek.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Salad and Go could reopen by year’s end under former chef | Exclusive
