Wendy's seeks ‘real' change in fresh salad lineup

In a nod to the real food movement, materials plastered on the walls of Wendy's stores and pamphlets dropped in salad bags will tell diners where the ingredients are grown and describe the 11 varieties of greens.

"People are reading the ingredient labels more than they ever have," Calwell said. "They want to know where food is sourced from. People are digging into more detail."

Wendy's first introduced salad bars in its restaurants in 1979, and the company became the market leader in salad sales among its burger-selling peers. In 2002, it introduced its "Garden Sensations" line and enjoyed a big bump in sales. "It was a big hit for us," Calwell said.

But it has arguably become much harder to impress fast-food diners with salads in the intervening years. You can get salads at McDonald's, Burger King and Chick-fil-A. Even Hardee's, one of the most unabashedly calorie-heavy burger chains, offers a side salad.

Despite the proliferation of options, the salad market has wilted in recent years. Servings of main dish salads fell 7 percent and side salads dropped 8 percent in the year ending in April 2010, according to NPD Group. By comparison, total restaurant traffic and fast-food traffic were down 3 percent in that period.

It took Wendy's about a year and a half to bring the new salads to fruition. It tested them in Richmond, Nashville, Salt Lake City and Columbus, Ohio, after studying the salads offered by higher-end cafes in New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta.

"This is an important one," Calwell said of the launch. "During the year, you'll have A, B and C launches. This is clearly an A launch."