"There’s lots of professionals around here so I thought it would be a good idea to offer a quick and easy, but highly personalised, lunch for them," commented owner Richard Simms who was inspired to establish the business following a trip to New York and seeing the range of delis and salad bars there. The motivation also comes from how he feels about salads.
"I like salads and I live in the city centre and before I set up this bar, there was nowhere where you could get a personalised, tasty salad that’s quick and convenient. So when this retail unit came up, I really liked the building which is both attractive and got lots of heritage, and I liked the area and thought it was a great opportunity to serve a lunchtime market."
On offer are a full range of salads with lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and gherkins. Manhattan’s also do Italian pasta, Caribbean rice, tagliatelle, couscous, potato salad, boiled eggs plus the 4 basic toppers, chicken, ham, tuna, and prawn. Diners can then top that off with up to 10 dressings. Dessert consists of a range of fruit including orange, grapefruit, pineapple, grapes, melon and apples. A regular salad is £3.25 and a large £3.75. The fruit pots are just £1.25.
Richard says that customers like the range, price and ease of the self service concept.
"Basically, you just pick up the tray, fit as much as you want in from the salad bar and then go and pay for it! So far we’ve had tonnes of good feedback with people saying that our salads are lovely and promising to come back."
Returning customers are also helped out with the bar’s reward system which gives customers a stamp if they spend £4 or more every visit. When they reach 4 stamps they can get a free coffee or fruit pot.
While Richard loves salads, he recognises that not everyone in Hull will be as passionate. "It’s true that getting people to swap fish and chips for salad is no easy task, but I’m sure that many of the professionals who work around here will appreciate a healthy lunch that’s fast, easy and good value. The city does need to change its attitudes a bit and hopefully appreciate this offering, but that’s the challenge for me, to spread awareness of the fact that we’re here."
Future plans for Richard include participation in Hull BID’s YUM! Festival of Food at the end of July and he is also planning for the end of the summer.
"As we get towards winter we’ll have to diversify and do home made soups, jacket potatoes, things like that, all kept around the self service theme. I’m also trying to roll out an ordering system so that people can order exactly what they want in their salads, we’ll make them and then they’ll be collected or possibly be delivered."
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