Greenlane
New Concept Creation | Culinary, Brand, Experience
Designing craveable salads for life in the fast lane.
180
12
SECONDS: AVG. TIME FROM
ORDER TO PICKUP
SECONDS: THE TIME IT
TAKES TO BUILD A BOWL
“Introducing Greenlane”
Background.
In today’s restaurant landscape, being health-forward, value-first, delicious and convenient rarely play well together. Given how much demand there is for all three, this creates a whitespace in the market that an ambitious brand can own.
Greenlane is exactly that. This distinct new salad-centric ‘fast food’ concept defies industry norms by delivering on health, value, and convenience simultaneously in a beautifully experiential drive-thru format. Led by Erica Spector Wishnow and Judd Wishnow, the Greenlane team partnered with TCE to bring this vision to life.
The challenge.
We quickly uncovered a massive chasm in the salad world, between leading salad concepts such as Sweetgreen that have higher price points inaccessible to the everyday American consumer, and typical QSR salads that are a culinary afterthought, leaving much to be desired. The consumer is always forced into compromise - whether it’s for speed, cost, flavor, health, or convenience. And yet, as more and more time-strapped Americans eat meals on-the-go, there exists a significant opportunity to deliver on the flavor and quality of fast-casual brands with the speed and convenience of the drive-thru. One problem… salads aren’t exactly easy to eat on-the-go, with one hand on the steering wheel. Not to mention, the drive-thru itself isn’t exactly the most engaging or brand-building experience (at least, not compared to walking into a beautiful restaurant). Our challenge was to find a way to not only make quick, affordable, healthy-ish meals delicious, but also create a brand-building drive-thru experience that cues quality.
The insight.
We tackled the tensions in our pursuit from a few angles. From a culinary perspective, we innovated on the salad itself. First, we confirmed that many consumers use the drive-thru for delayed consumption and often eat their drive-thru meals while parked or back home. Second, we simply made our salads easier to eat on-the-go, designing “spoonable” chopped salads that don’t require any bite-building, and the option to get every salad in a portable wrap format. We learned that our target consumers aren’t looking for the ultimate health play, rather they want something that feels mildly ‘better for them’ without sacrificing saucy, crunchy, indulgent flavor. The result? ‘Salad-so-flavorful-you-forget-it’s-a-salad’ salad.
From a design perspective, we leaned away from the ‘health-core’ aesthetic of most modern salad brands, and introduced more bold graphics and colorways that breathe new life into the segment while maintaining necessary category cues. The store itself features no seating or on-premise dining, and so it was crucial to design a drive-thru that makes an impact. Hence, the green lane. As guests navigate through the drive-thru, they watch our custom lenticular facade evolve as they enter into a covered trellis with digital storytelling along each step of the journey. Here, you are immersed in the Greenlane experience without stepping foot inside.
Our activities.
We approached the creation of this concept holistically, designing for the brand, menu offering, guest experience, store/experience design, and operations from the ground up. This included identifying our target consumer; aligning on guest-centric mission, vision, values; defining our competitive proposition; developing the recipes in our test kitchen; designing a visual identity system that stands out; building store layouts and renders that revolutionize the boring drive-thru model of today; creating operational materials and kitchen schematics; and beyond.
Our results.
A desirable, feasible, and viable new restaurant concept. Welcome to Greenlane – rebellious salad for life in the fast lane. Greenlane’s first two brick and mortar spaces opened in Summer 2023 in Tampa, Florida.
