Build-your-own-salad bar opens up in downtown's City Market

Margie Brown spends a lot of time at City Market in Downtown Bay City.

She manages The Pantry. She manages the Sweet Shoppe. She’s the manager at Amphora. And, oh yeah, she manages The Harvest Store, too.

So when a salad bar left City Market, a void opened up. Brown was hopeful that someone else would come in and open their own salad bar. After that failed to come to fruition, however, she had an idea. Why don’t we just do it ourselves?

Salad Works is the latest attraction to open at City Market. Located inside The Harvest Store, Salad Works offers build-your-own salads with fresh and local produce. There’s everything from hummus to cottage cheese, from artichokes and olives to crab meat. A new machine just arrived so they’ll be able to cook their own quinoa, too.

Salad Works hopes to stock locally-grown produce.Opening inside The Harvest Store makes sense, she says, as the two businesses can share produce, ensuring that even less food goes to waste.

"The food doesn’t go bad as quickly, so it helps our business," says Brown.

"And it helps the public because there aren’t that many fresh salad bars out there."

Salad Works aims to use as much Michigan produce as it can. Brown says that they’re always looking for local farmers who want to sell their produce to the store.

They’ve also partnered with Arnold Farms of Midland, featured in Route Bay City on Nov. 14. The company hires adults with disabilities to harvest and package their micro greens and hydroponic lettuce.

Salad Works celebrated its opening on Jan. 3.

"We have something that other stores don’t have. We have specialized service," Brown says.

"We know our customers’ names. We carry their produce to their cars. The customers have become our friends, so to speak."


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