Chopt

Chopt, formally known as Chopt Creative Salad Company, is an American fast-casual restaurant brand built around made-to-order salads and other vegetable-forward meals. Founded in 2001 by Tony Shure and Colin McCabe, the company developed in the New York metropolitan market and later expanded into a wider group of states, including the District of Columbia, Maryland, Connecticut, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. The brand has been described as operating more than 70 locations across these markets. The core Chopt proposition is customization. Customers can select from combinations of leafy greens, vegetables, grains, proteins, toppings, and dressings, or order from a menu of composed salads. The brand's preparation process is part of its identity: salad ingredients are chopped together with a mezzaluna-style knife before dressing and service. This creates a distinct format between a conventional sit-down salad restaurant and a standard quick-service counter, while allowing customers to adjust ingredients and portions to their preferences. Although salads remain the center of the menu, Chopt's offering extends to warm grain bowls, hot-top salads, sandwich wraps, soups, and house-made iced teas and lemonades. Examples of composed menu items identified in reference material include the Mexican Caesar, Kebab Cobb, and Crispy Chicken Ranch. The menu also includes seasonal and limited-time offerings influenced by different cuisines and geographic regions, giving the brand a mechanism for menu rotation and experimentation beyond its permanent core products. Chopt's market position is associated with fresh, convenient, customizable meals in the fast-casual segment. Its concept responds to customers seeking a quicker alternative to full-service dining without limiting the meal to traditional fast-food formats. The brand's emphasis on greens, vegetables, dressings, grains, and proteins also gives it broad appeal across lighter meals, portable lunches, and customized dietary preferences, although the available reference material does not establish specific nutritional, sourcing, or dietary certifications. In January 2020, Chopt merged with Dos Toros Taqueria, a founder-led mission-style burrito and taco chain established by Leo and Oliver Kremer in 2009. The combination created Founders Table Restaurant Group. Chopt's chief executive was reported as leading the resulting venture, which was intended to provide a platform for Chopt, Dos Toros, and potentially other founder-led fast-casual restaurant concepts. The transaction changed Chopt's corporate context from a standalone restaurant chain into a principal brand within a broader restaurant group. Chopt remains an active regional American restaurant brand rather than a globally distributed chain. Its identity continues to rest on made-to-order chopped salads, customizable ingredients, seasonal menu development, and expansion through selected U.S. metropolitan and suburban markets. Publicly available reference material supplied for this entry does not establish a current store count, current leadership roster, headquarters address, ownership percentages, financial performance, or official website URL.

Chopt was founded in 2001 by Tony Shure and Colin McCabe as a restaurant concept focused on salads prepared to order. Its early and enduring distinction was the combination of a fast-casual service model with a preparation method in which selected ingredients are chopped together using a mezzaluna knife, then dressed and served. This format made the preparation visible to customers and supported a high degree of customization. The brand's menu developed beyond a narrow salad-only model. Customers could choose among greens, proteins, vegetables, grains, toppings, and dressings to create an individual meal, while also selecting composed salads designed around particular flavor profiles. Chopt added warm grain bowls, hot-top salads, wraps, and soups, as well as house-made iced teas and lemonades. Seasonal menu changes became another part of the operating model, with limited-time items drawing on regional and international culinary influences. From its base in the New York City market, Chopt expanded into additional U.S. markets. The locations identified in reference material include New York City, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Connecticut, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. The company was reported to have more than 70 locations, although the supplied material does not provide a date-specific current unit count or a complete location list. A major corporate turning point occurred in January 2020, when Chopt merged with Dos Toros Taqueria. Dos Toros had been founded in 2009 by brothers Leo and Oliver Kremer and operated a mission-style burrito and taco concept concentrated mainly in New York and Washington, D.C. The combination formed Founders Table Restaurant Group. Chopt's chief executive was reported to head the new organization, which was designed to retain and develop founder-led fast-casual brands and potentially add similar concepts. The merger placed Chopt within a multi-brand restaurant-group structure while preserving its own salad-focused identity. Chopt's business remains based on regional restaurant operations, counter-service convenience, made-to-order preparation, menu customization, and product rotation. The available reference material does not document subsequent acquisitions, major ownership changes, public listing activity, financial results, leadership changes, scandals, recalls, or a current corporate headquarters address.

• 2020

  Merger creates Founders Table Restaurant Group

  [1]Chopten.wikipedia.org

  Chopt combines with Dos Toros Taqueria, creating Founders Table Restaurant Group as a broader platform for founder-led fast-casual restaurant brands.

• 2001

  Chopt is founded

  [1]Chopten.wikipedia.org

  Tony Shure and Colin McCabe establish Chopt as an American restaurant concept centered on made-to-order chopped salads.

A fresh, customizable fast-casual restaurant concept centered on chopped salads, vegetable-forward meals, grain bowls, wraps, and seasonal menu innovation.

• Salads · 2001

  Customizable salads

  Chopt's central product format allows customers to select greens, vegetables, grains, proteins, toppings, and dressings. The selected ingredients are chopped together with a mezzaluna-style knife, dressed, and served as an assembled meal. This format combines personalization with the speed and counter-service structure of fast-casual dining.

• Salads

  Composed salads

  The brand offers pre-designed salads for customers who prefer a defined combination rather than building a meal from individual components. Reference examples include the Mexican Caesar, Kebab Cobb, and Crispy Chicken Ranch, illustrating the use of varied culinary influences, proteins, vegetables, and dressings within the salad format.

• Grain bowls

  Warm grain bowls

  Warm grain bowls extend Chopt's menu beyond chilled greens. They combine grains and hot ingredients with vegetables, proteins, and sauces or dressings, providing a more substantial cooked-meal alternative while retaining the brand's customizable fast-casual format.

• Handheld meals

  Wraps

  Chopt's wraps translate salad-style combinations into a portable format. They use the brand's broader ingredient system of greens, vegetables, proteins, grains, and dressings, offering an alternative for customers seeking a handheld meal rather than a bowl or chopped salad.

• Soups

  Soups

  Soups complement Chopt's salad and grain-bowl menu and provide a warm meal option within the fast-casual restaurant format. The supplied reference material confirms their presence but does not identify a complete permanent soup range or specific recipes.

• Beverages

  House-made iced teas and lemonades

  Chopt serves house-made iced teas and lemonades as beverage complements to its salads, bowls, wraps, and soups. The available material identifies these as in-house drink offerings but does not specify flavors, recipes, or launch dates.

• 2020

  Merge with Dos Toros TaqueriaM&A

  Background

  Chopt and Dos Toros were both founder-led fast-casual restaurant businesses operating primarily in major U.S. metropolitan markets. The merger was intended to create a larger platform while preserving the individual restaurant concepts.

  Action taken

  The companies combined in January 2020 to form Founders Table Restaurant Group, with Chopt's chief executive reported as leading the resulting group.

  Aftermath

  Chopt became a principal brand within Founders Table Restaurant Group alongside Dos Toros. The group was described as potentially seeking additional founder-led fast-casual restaurant concepts, but no later acquisition is established by the supplied material.

  Source

1. 1Chopten.wikipedia.org