BOWL OF SALAD WITH FORK TEST-MARKETED

SALINAS, Calif. -- Tanimura & Antle here is test-marketing a line of salads that come complete with fork, napkin and a bowl.

, the company said.

The salads are currently being test-marketed in San Francisco; Denver; Springfield, Mo.; St. Louis; Atlanta, and Louisville, Ky., said Tiffin Whitfield, product manager. A national rollout is tentatively scheduled for June.

The suggested retail is $1.99 to $2.49, and four varieties are available: a Santa Fe salad, with iceberg and romaine lettuce, jack and cheddar cheese, mild jalapeno ranch dressing and tortilla strips; Italiano, with romaine, radicchio, dry Italian salami and parmesan dressing; Caesar salad, with romaine, parmesan cheese, garlic croutons and Caesar dressing; and baby spinach salad, with bacon pieces and creamy ranch dressing. The salads contain shelf-stable meats and cheeses, with a 14-day shelf life from the day of packing. "All the [non-produce] ingredients are shelf-stable. That was one of our big concerns," said Whitfield. "We're not sure produce is quite ready for something with a [perishable] meat product. It's kind of touchy, so we didn't want to mess with it."

T&A will market the salads as an alternative to fast food, Whitfield said.

"We're targeting the working person who doesn't have time to prepare lunches, or even go out to lunch," she said.

The bowls were designed to be approximately the same width as packaged salads, Whitfield said. The containers stand upright, so retailers don't need to stack products on top of each other.

"We did that specifically for the merchandising purposes," she said. T&A plans to display the product during the Food Marketing Institute's annual convention in Chicago next month.

T&A is not planning consumer advertising during the test-market phase, Whitfield said. Instead, the company will focus its efforts on supporting retailers.