Albertsons Launches High-Tech Salad Bars

Albertsons Cos., which last week introduced two new digital meal planning and scheduling solutions, continues to marry technology and fresh food with the launch of six Picadeli tech-enabled modular salad bar concepts at Safeway, Acme and Kings locations across Washington, D.C., Maryland and New Jersey.

Sweden-based Picadeli offers a modular store-in-store salad bar with the mission to make fresh, healthy food accessible and affordable to the masses, delivering on convenience and taste at a time, the company said. 

While new to the U.S., Picadeli’s salad bars are in over 2,200 retail locations across seven countries throughout Europe, including Carrefour, EuroGarages, Franprix, Rewe, 7 Eleven, Coop, ICA and Kesko. The company reports having sold more than 45 million salads in 2019. 

“Picadeli has created an innovative, technology-forward solution to address the strong demand for healthy, affordable foods that can be customized quickly,” said Jewel Hunt, group VP of deli foodservice for Albertsons, in a statement. “Fresh meal solutions is a category where we are continuing to differentiate our offerings, and by introducing Picadeli, we are giving our customers a great option for healthy meals at an affordable price.”

The Swedish salad bar company said it is simultaneously solving labor issues while redefining fast food—providing “grocers and retailers with a smart, safe solution that grows sales with a turnkey, fresh food platform.”

“The lack of convenient, healthy fresh food at an affordable price has created a unique opportunity for grocers to win over consumers who have been left behind by the growth in cheap, less healthy fast food, and expensive fast-casual concepts,” said Patrik Hellstrand, CEO of Picadeli U.S. (featured in above photo). “Albertsons is a leader in recognizing the demand for healthy and affordable food by its customers, and we are thrilled to work together to introduce our offering to the U.S. The fast fresh food market is ripe for disruption and innovation, and Picadeli’s proven offering has demonstrated it solves this need for consumers and leading retailers across Europe. We look forward to continuing to deliver on our mission here in the U.S.”

Picadeli salad bars are customized for each location, featuring ingredients specifically selected for each market and with sustainability in mind, noted the company. Its technology is designed to create efficiencies that reduce food waste, while reducing labor, lowering break-even and increasing profitability. 

Food safety is also integral to its salad bar design, which includes technology-enabled shielding hoods, automatic hand sanitizer and bowl dispensers. Its innovative mounting system for utensils ensures that the grip is never in contact with food, and that products are not mixed.

The bars’ digital management system allows for full traceability of its supply chain and operation, as well as QR code scanning to ensure products do not stay out longer than allowed, signaling the need for refilling and AI reordering, the company explained.