Seattle-born Evergreens eyes national expansion

Evergreens is looking to take its fresh salads beyond the Pacific Northwest.

The Seattle-based chain has launched a new franchising program targeting markets including California, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and Texas, according to The Puget Sound Business Journal.

Evergreens currently has 14 stores in Washington and Oregon and said it expects its first franchise location to open within a year. The company is looking to expand into 12 new states.

Evergreens offers salads, warm bowls, wraps

The salad chain offers a range of options, from its Steak It Off salad to Game of Ketones to Southern Saucepitality. Customers can also build their own dish. Along with salads, Evergreens offers warm bowls with playful names like Spice Spice Baby, Pump Up The Yam, and Pita The Fool, as well as wraps such as Steak-cation, Plant One On Me, and Ranch the Wrapper.

Evergreens was founded in Seattle in 2012 by two childhood friends, according to its website.

“Evergreens was created to redefine healthy fast-casual with fresh, flavorful, customizable meals made from real ingredients without sacrificing speed or convenience,” the company stated online. “Today, Evergreens is a trusted brand known for chef-inspired salads, wraps, and bowls that make eating well easy.”

CEO Neil Harfert told The Puget Sound Business Journal the board has discussed franchising for years.

“We had the team, the systems and the financial model that would be compelling enough for people to consider opening a franchise,” Harfert said. “A lot of great work happened before I showed up, and it’s really been about fine-tuning and starting to develop the support structure to help franchisees be successful.”

Bouncing back from cyclosporiasis outbreak

Harfert noted projections for the new store are “incredibly conservative.” He also told The Puget Sound Business Journal the lettuce-related cyclosporiasis outbreak affected sales, but that the company has bounced back.

“Based on what we’re seeing today, we expect the overall impact to be relatively short-lived,” Harfert stated. “From a sourcing standpoint, we only work with trusted produce partners that maintain rigorous food-safety systems and protocols and who work closely with the appropriate regulatory agencies. We did not experience any supplier-related issues connected to the recent foodborne illness outbreaks.”

Franchising has always been the goal

Evergreens has seen significant growth, from 4.5% in 2024 to 9.2% in 2025, according to The Puget Sound Business Journal. The company’s website stated that while its roots are in Seattle, it has always had goals of expanding.

“Restaurants are always going to be challenging, and there’s a lot of great competition out there,” Harfert told The Puget Sound Business Journal. “But our customers love us, we’ve got a great [business] model, and it’s been going extremely well.”

Even as Evergreens branches out, Seattle and Portland will stay corporate-owned.

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