Retail Watchers

With most salad bars in U.S. grocery stores having been closed for a year now, Reasor's Supermarkets in Oklahoma has introduced a robotic salad bar.

I would actually go for something like this if it's as good as it looks:

I know that new ACME in Philadelphia (former Fresh Grocer) had this as a feature when it opened a few months ago. I don't like the idea of it...I know the Coke Freestyle machines often get traces of other syrup in its nozzles, and here you have the added bonus of allergens in the mix.

Not something I expect I'd use anytime soon... and I like salad bars. Lots of prepackaged salads in the produce department that you have to dump certain ingredients into yourself so you can leave stuff out you don't like.

Heinen's in Cleveland had this in one of their stores for a short time. Apparently, the mechanics didn't work well and then no one used it.

I thought I'd posted about one of these "Sally" machines before, but I don't remember which chain or geographic region. (maybe QFC, one of the ones with the in-store grown greens?)

I suppose for me it would be about price point. I have always been able to build a pleasant enough salad at the "per pound" bar to my liking. Of course, that's still all closed in the "fancy" stores here that offer that level of food service.

The premixed salad bowls that have nitrogen gases in them are usually OK and around $3-4 so it seems like most grocers would maintain that offering unless their customers are clamoring for some tech.