by Dustin Skelley, Prepared Foods Category Manager
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed a lot about the way we live and interact with each other, our communities, and our food. Throughout the pandemic the Prepared Foods team at Willy Street Co-op has been focused on how we can expand access to products safely and with minimal impact to customers. The past year we’ve been focused on packaging and merchandising changes and fundamentally rethinking the way our products are offered. The most exciting of these changes is coming to our East Side store on Williamson Street! The East Deli will be launching Sally the Salad Robot in early May.
Chowbotics
Sally is developed by the Chowbotics team based in Hayward, California and is a fully automated salad bar that holds up to 22 ingredients. Sally is about six feet tall and weighs 750 pounds. Customers can build their own salads by selecting the ingredients of their choosing on a touchscreen. If building a salad from scratch seems too time consuming, salad lovers can also try one of the salads on a preprogrammed, chef-crafted salad menu. Our spring menu will feature a mango chicken salad, ancient grains, and a ginger tofu salad, just to name a few! Sally makes it easy to customize your salad, even the preprogrammed salads in Sally can be fully customizable; customers can swap out a dressing, or choose a different topping if desired by simply following the prompts on the touchscreen. Once ingredients are selected, it only takes Sally about a minute to assemble a salad.
Same Quality Ingredients
Perhaps the best part about Sally is that it will feature the same quality ingredients you’re used to seeing and eating in the Willy Street Co-op Deli. We’ll still be sourcing the same local organic produce, and our culinary staff will still be preparing ingredients and salad dressings for Sally to dispense. Once the ingredients are prepared by our culinary team, they’ll be loaded into Sally for customers to enjoy.
Reducing Waste
Sally will also help reduce waste at the Co-op. Since ingredients are constantly being monitored and refrigerated, they’ll hold up a lot longer than they would on a traditional salad bar. Also, because Sally takes care of building the salads in the fully enclosed chamber, there’s no risk of cross contamination of ingredients.
Safety and Quality
Sally offers a level of safety and quality that no other service can offer. Sally monitors and records temperature and ingredients levels by the minute, keeping all of the ingredients inside at a crisp 38ºF and free from any outside human contact. Most importantly, Sally is fun and easy to use! We’ll have staff trained up and ready to help with any questions customers may have about Sally and how it works, but the best way to check out Sally is to come and try a fresh made salad for yourself!