Giardino Gourmet Salads, the premier Miami-based fast casual salad concept focused on garden-to-bowl nutrition, is now featuring three new salads on its South Miami, Palmetto Bay and Kendall menus developed by Somerset Academy Bay elementary students at the end of last year as part of its school community partnership program.
The new salads are being offered all summer through Aug. 30 in an effort to educate and inspire children across South Florida to make healthier food choices.
The three winning salads were picked from more than 40 student submissions across kindergarten through seventh grade. The students were asked to develop their own healthy salads after learning about the five different food groups, portion sizes and food labeling.
Giardino Gourmet Salad’s founder Ody Lugo, a former teacher, developed the contest and corresponding nutritional education as part of the school’s STEM program accreditation and community partnership program.
“We were so proud of all the entries we received across the participating classrooms,” Lugo said. “This was an excellent opportunity for the students to learn about nutrition and healthier food choices while inspiring them to develop new creative menu items for our Giardino Gourmet Salads in South Miami, Palmetto Bay and Kendall.”
The three winning salads featured in the restaurants are:
Cooskie’s Shrimp Ceviche Salad (Gardener Chef Brooke, second grade) — quinoa, spinach, tomato, avocado, radish, corn, shrimp and a citrus cilantro vinaigrette;
Nicole’s Blue Summer Salad (Gardener Chef Nicole, seventh grade) — romaine lettuce, blueberries, bleu cheese, red onions, walnuts, all natural chicken breast and a Dijon vinaigrette, and R + A’s Spicy Grain Bowl (Gardener Chefs Andres and Rebecca, seventh grade) — quinoa, spinach, red cabbage, tomato, mandarin, cashews, all natural chicken breast and a spicy peanut dressing.
“Far too often we either empower our children to make poor food choices or we make them on their behalf because of today’s fast-paced lifestyle,” Lugo added. “At Giardino Gourmet Salads, we believe that fast food doesn’t necessarily have to be bad for you. By putting ‘Nutritional Empowerment’ back in the hands of our consumers, even our children, we put them in charge of building the right salad, wrap, or grain bowl that fits their lifestyle.”
What sets Giardino Gourmet Salads apart from the competition is the ability to offer the largest variety of salads in the market featuring over 65 ingredients including fresh chopped vegetables, all natural proteins, homemade croutons, deli-style salad mixtures, grain bowls, wraps, soups and a large variety of dressings, among other items. Giardino Gourmet Salads currently has 15 restaurants open across South Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee and was founded by Ody and Kenny Lugo, a former teacher and firefighter respectively, who developed the vision for the brand in Coral Gables in 2004.
For South Floridians interested in purchasing one of the Somerset Academy Bay winning salads, they are available at the school’s Giardino Gourmet Salads partner locations in South Miami, 6653 S. Dixie Hwy. (305-665-1770); in Palmetto Bay, 14455 S. Dixie Hwy. (305-259-3030), and in Kendall, 11624 N. Kendall Dr. (305-598-8599). Each of the three restaurants also offers catering and delivery.
For more information and hours of operation, visit giardinosalads.com.
