I’ve gotten some requests for more information about Salad Club and getting one started at your office. If you missed the first post, pop back and read the overview of Salad Club first.
I would make PDF downloads, but let’s face it, most folks download something, look at it once, and then forget about it. I’m just going to write it all out here so you can copy/paste/modify/whatever you like.
Promotional Emails
Subject: The Rules of Salad Club
1st RULE: You do not talk about SALAD CLUB.
2nd RULE: You DO NOT talk about SALAD CLUB.
3rd RULE: If someone says “stop,” goes limp, or taps out, the lunch is over.
4th RULE: Only Salad Club members can help themselves to a tasty, healthy lunch.
5th RULE: One lunch at a time.
6th RULE: No fried foods, no taco shells.
7th RULE: Lunches will go on as long as they have to.
8th RULE: If this is your first week at SALAD CLUB, you HAVE to bring a bottle of dressing.
Short version:
If the idea of crowdsourcing a (insert company name here) salad bar appeals to you, scroll down to the bottom for details.
Long version:
Hello!
In my first couple weeks at (insert company name here), I have come to a few semi-startling conclusions.
1) I am FAT-tastic. (Wait, knew that already……)
2) If I continue to chow down in local eateries and nom on the office food here, situation #1 is only gonna get worse.
3) Sitting in a cube all day is not good exercise.
As I’m fairly sure I’m not alone in at least one or two of aforementioned conclusions, I’ve decided to pitch the idea of SALAD CLUB.
My Thought Process (you’ve been warned):
- I love salad.
- I hate making salad at home.
- Salad from home = boring, annoying
- Salad from salad bars = expensive, but FUN
- Crowdsourcing a (insert company name here) salad bar would be easy, cheap, and take the planning out of lunches!
(Instead of $5-10 a day on lunch, you can spend less than that and have a week of lunches!)
How It Would Work:
- Members sign up, contribute a bottle of salad dressing (so we have a bank of available flavors!)
- Everyone in the club signs up for a salad fixin’ to bring (we’ll have a Google doc spreadsheet)
- Bring your fixin’ on Monday. (Amount pending # of Salad Club members.)
- Salad Club members raid the fixins and make their salads all week.
- Lather, rinse, repeat.
Anyhoo, if you’re interested in being a member of Salad Club, shoot me an email. Members can hop in and out from week to week, so it’s not a lifetime commitment. Lemme know!
Subject: You gotta put your behind in the past…
(“No, no no. Amateur. Sit down before you hurt yourself. It’s “You got to put your past behind you.”)
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Nerds wishing to feast on the (insert company name here) Salad Bar of NOMS must join Salad Club. It’s a week-to-week commitment, no long-term contracts!
“OMG, yes, E! I want to be a member of Salad Club and will click here NOW!”
YOUR 2010 RESOLUTION = BE LESS FAT (oh hey, that’s mine too!)
- You’ll have a healthy lunch every day of the week!
No planning ahead other than bringing your contribution on Monday.
No more produce rotting in your fridge at home because you forgot to use it in time.
YOUR 2010 RESOLUTION = SPEND LESS MONEY
- Eating lunch out = $7-12 per day ($35-60/week)
- Eating Salad Club = $5-12 a week
- Savings = a lot, y0.
Seriously, you know you want to try it. At least for one week, mebbe?
Imagine your pants being too big for your geek physique!
Imagine your wallet full of wads of cashola!
OMG!!1!!ONE!1!! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
Join by clicking, putting yer name next to something, and bringing it on Monday. Seriously, even if you don’t get this until Monday, just make a quick trip to the nearest grocery store on your morning break.
You can stop reading here, unless you have questions, in which case,
maybe I have answers below:
FAQ-ITY FAQ
“WTF, how does this work?”
- Everybody in the club brings in a part of a salad (greens, cucumbers,
peppers, tomatoes, etc etc). When lunchtime comes, you raid the fridge
and make yourself a salad using our ingredients.
“Do I need to eat with you people? I like to be a hermit at my desk.”
- There is no social component to Salad Club.
“What about MEAT? I DEMAND DEAD ANIMALS AND BIRDS!”
- If you’re achin’ (yup yup yup) for some bacon (yup yup yup), you can sign
up for meatstuff and bring in your dead, precooked flesh products.
“I have commitment issues… can Salad Club and I date casually?”
- Yep. You can pop in and out from week to week.
“What if I only want salad like 2 days a week? Is it still worth it?”
- Yep. Let’s say you buy $7 worth of veggies for Salad Club that week.
That averages out to $3.50 a lunch for 2 days, still a big savings over eating out.
“Won’t it be more expensive as more people join?”
- Not really. We’ll just assign more people to certain things (like greens).
“I’m in another area of the building, can I join?”
- Sure! You’ll just have to come over to the (department) kitchen for lunch.
“E, you’re sure into this Salad Club thing. Are you freakin’ insane?”
- Yes, thanks for asking. 
“What’s the link for Salad Club again? I don’t want to scroll back up.”
- Click here, oh lazy one.
The Spreadsheet
My advice is to use Google Docs since it makes it really easy for multiple people to share one spreadsheet. (If you want to go low-tech you could post a list on the fridge, but then people couldn’t access it over the weekend.)
I have two tabs in our spreadsheet. The first is for Salad Fixins and the second is for Dressings.
Salad Fixins Categories
- Greens
- Tomatoes
- Cucumbers & Carrots
- Bell Peppers
- Misc Veggies (x3)
- Shredded Cheese
- Beans/Chickpeas/Boiled Eggs/Etc
- Croutons/Craisins/Dried Fruit/Etc
- Nuts
- Olives
- Meat (if you have carnivores)
For dressings, I made list of dressings (so we didn’t get doubles of the same type at first), but now people are checking out what we have and adding new ones to the collection.
How It’s Growing
We started out with just four people in our Salad Club and it worked out great. The more people saw us, either building salads in the kitchen or carrying them back to our desks, the more interested people became. They asked questions. They peered into our salad bowls. They asked more questions.
And they came forward.
This coming week, we’re looking at 7-8 people! At this point, we’re going to need a second big box of organic greens, so I’ll probably be picking up one on Monday and another on Wednesday.
Leftovers
What do we do about leftovers?
If it’s something you’ve brought in and it’s clear that it won’t make it through the weekend, you’re free to take it home and finish it off.
But sometimes, things go bad. The cool thing is that it isn’t much. It’s especially not much considering how much food would go bad in my personal fridge if I tried making salads at home! (How many times have you found a bag of brown lettuce in the back of your fridge?) Luckily, our resident hardcore vegetarian also has a compost heap at home, so he takes our rotted vegetation to a better place.
Give it a Shot!
Even if your club starts out with only 2-3 people, you can still save a lot of money and have easy healthy work lunches. I promise that it’s worth it!